A Wrinkle in Time, Summary and Analysis

Madeline L'Engle (1918-2007) was an American author of children's literature who is best known for writing the novel A Wrinkle In Time, for which she won the Newbery Medal. She wrote A Wrinkle in Time in 1959 while living in New York. Many of her works are concerned with themes such as the conflict of good and evil, family life, and individualism, and this is true of this book as well.

In the first chapter, we find out about a teenager named Meg Murry, who is very upset that she is not liked at school because she is so different from everyone else. She does poorly on her tests and often gets in trouble because she fights anyone who bullies her younger brother, Charles Wallace. Meg is also jealous of her twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, who are "normal" and do not get bullied at school. This section, the exposition, introduces our main characters and the conflicts, which are the fact that Meg's father is missing, and she is depressed because of her individuality.

Later, Meg goes downstairs and meets Charles, who is brilliant for a five-year-old, and usually knows what she and her mother are thinking. Their mother comes downstairs, and they soon meet a visitor, which is strange, given that it is the middle of the night and there is a heavy storm outside. The visitor, Mrs. Whatsit, seems acquainted with Charles, and appears to be a crazy old woman. However, before leaving, she mentions that "the tesseract exists", which rattles Mrs. Murry. This section introduces the theme of deceiving appearances, which will appear later as well.

The exposition continues into the second chapter with a peek into Meg's school life, and a meeting she has with the principal of the school, where he tries to convince her that her father isn't going to return. She does not think so, trusting her mother's words over the principal's. This indicates that Meg trusts her family and loves them. This section continues the theme of family love.

Later, she meets Charles and they go to visit the haunted house. On the way, they meet another of our main characters, Calvin, who appears to be a regular high schooler, but in fact has the same gift of intuition as Charles, although he hides it so he can fit in at school. He is encouraged, upon meeting Meg and Charles, that there are other individuals like him. This section continues the themes of deceiving appearances and individuality.

At the haunted house, they meet Mrs. Who, who often uses quotes from renowned authors to get her point across. She, too, looks like an ordinary old woman, but seems to know about a way to save Mr. Murry and tells Charles that the time isn't right to do so. This section continues the theme of deceiving appearances.

After meeting Mrs. Who, everyone goes to Meg and Charles' home, where Mrs. Murry is cooking. Calvin mentions how lucky Meg is to have a family who loves her, unlike his family, which, he thinks, dislike him. Calvin reveals how he doesn't really have any friends at school even though he tries to fit in, in fact, he is depressed because he cannot show who he really is and is thankful he has made friends with Meg, another oddball like him. This section continues the theme of individuality and the theme of friendship.

From Calvin's conversation, Meg realizes that she had taken her loving family for granted. Later, Calvin and Meg go out for a walk, and talk about Meg's father, whom she misses. She mentions that he is out on a government mission and did not come back or reply to their letters for a long time. This shows the theme of family love, shown by Meg's crying at the memory of her missing father.

Meg, Charles, and Calvin are tessered, or transported through space to a planet far away using a tesseract, which was mentioned earlier in the book. They see that the Mrs. Ws have all arrived as well, and Mrs. Whatsit turns into a winged centaur. This section continues the theme of deceiving appearances, and also resolves the foreshadowing of the tesseract, which was mentioned earlier.

Later, the children are at the top of a mountain, where they see a big Black Thing, which is spreading in the distance. They find out that Mr. Murry is in the Black Thing, fighting it. This is another continuation of the theme of deceiving appearances, as the Black Thing is only visible from a distance.

There is also an allusion in this chapter to a verse from the book of Isaiah.

Next, the children and the Mrs. Ws are tessered to a different planet, where the Happy Medium lives. The Mrs. Ws introduce them to the Happy Medium, a sort of fortune-teller. It's ironic that Meg actually meets the Happy Medium, as she was told by her mother to find a happy medium to be able to sort out her feelings.

The Happy Medium shows them Earth is being covered in the Dark Thing and shows them a star fighting the Dark Thing by sacrificing itself to dispel the Darkness. This might be an allusion to Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross to remove our sins.

Later, the children and the Mrs. Ws travel to Camazotz, the center of the Black Thing, where they see that everyone on the planet acts the same way, like robots. They see what would happen if all individuality were removed. Where everything looks peaceful and happy, all the people living there are terrified of the consequences of making a mistake in their uniformity. This section continues the themes of individuality and deceptive appearances.

The children enter the CENTRAL Central Intelligence Building, where they meet a bunch of people waiting in a large room. They speak with one of the people there, who tells them they have to go to be reprocessed, and lets them in another large room full of machines, which also look identical. At the end of the room is a man with red eyes. This section continues the theme of individualism, which is lacking in Camazotz. It's also ironic that the only individual in this area, the man with the red eyes, is also just a metaphorical cog in the machine and tries to get the children to become the same.

The man with the red eyes attempts to hypnotize the children, but they resist him. He focuses on Charles, and manages to convince him to look into his eyes, but Meg tackles Charles and snaps him out of his trance. Later, food is brought to the children, which tastes like sand for Charles but like turkey for Meg and Calvin. Charles is finally hypnotized, thinking that he would be able to resist the attempt and find out about whom the man with the red eyes really is. This section continues the themes of individualism and deceptive appearances.

Charles tries to get Meg and Calvin to turn to IT as well, but after he fails to do so, the man with the red eyes sends him to guide them to Mr. Murry. This section continues the theme of deceptive appearances, while Charles looks like he was before getting hypnotized, he is no longer the same person.

On the way to seeing Mr. Murry, Meg and Calvin see a person being "reprocessed" and learn from Charles how IT controls the population, making them all similar and killing off those who are sick to "make them happy" by dying. This section continues the theme of individualism in opposition to conformity.

Meg and Calvin find Mr. Murry, who is trapped in a column of glass. Meg uses the glasses she got from Mrs. Who to get inside the cell and get Mr. Murry out. Charles takes the rest of the crew to see IT. IT is a large disembodied brain which controls the entire planet's population. IT is also a metaphor for cold, merciless, reasoning, Mr. Murry and Meg try to reason against IT, but fail. Finally, Mr. Murry tessers them away and Meg falls unconscious. This section continues the themes of individuality, which is important to combat IT and truth versus deceit.

Finally, Meg awakes on another planet, and hears Mr. Murry talking to Calvin. She is freezing and cannot move, and she hears that they won't leave her behind, showing that they love her. However, Meg is disappointed that her father isn't solving every problem when he shows up. This section shows the themes of family and friendly love and imagination versus reality.

A bunch of "beasts" appear, which have furry bodies and long tentacle arms. They look dangerous, but in fact are friendly to Mr. Murry, Calvin, and Meg. They take Meg to heal her of the pain she had after tessering through the Dark Thing. Meg meets one of these creatures whom she calls Aunt Beast, who takes care of her. This is another example of deceptive appearances, where the Beasts look frightening and evil, they are also fighting the Black Thing and are very kind to the travelers, giving them food and helping Meg.

After eating, the Mrs. Ws show up and tell Meg that she has to face IT alone to save Charles. She is at first reluctant to do so, but realizes that she is the only one capable of saving Charles because she loves him most. In the final showdown between Meg and IT, she tells Charles that she loves him, and he comes back to his senses. Everyone gets tessered back to Earth and Meg's family is finally reunited. This section continues the theme of family love, that dispels evil.