I was a
little girl when my mother started reading A
Wrinkle in Time to my brother and me.
It’s a fantastic beginning to a stellar series, and it contributed a lot
to my lifelong love of reading. Right
from the start, I adored the rich characters, the sci-fi/fantasy elements, and the
earnest prose. The first thing that
truly grabbed me, however, was this relationship.
When I
think about it, it would’ve been so easy for Meg to resent Charles
Wallace. As an awkward 14-year-old, she’s
a swirling bundle of insecurities. She
chafes at her clumsiness and lack of social graces, she bemoans her ungainly
appearance (especially compared to her lovely mother,) and she can’t really see
herself as the smart girl she is. Given
all of this, she could’ve regarded her brilliant 5-year-old brother as a
reminder of her own less-than-remarkable intelligence. Furthermore, the mere fact of Charles Wallace
is a source of ammunition her classmates use to ridicule her; she’s the girl
with the freak for a baby brother.
Many
stories about girls Meg’s age would follow a narrative of the girl learning not
to be embarrassed about the atypical member of her family, but Meg’s ferocious
love for Charles Wallace is one of her most admirable qualities. It’s a defining facet of her character that
she defends his honor at every turn, scrapping with those older and stronger
than she is and going to the principal for her troubles. She’s utterly thrown in her lot with Charles
Wallace, and this is what leads to the extraordinary experiences in her life.
Charles
Wallace is a great character, too – I don’t know why, but when I read his
dialogue, he really feels like a
child genius rather than an adult writer’s idea of what a child genius sounds
like. He’s knowledgeable, well-spoken,
and unnervingly insightful, but he can also be petulant and a bit bossy. Throughout A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind
in the Door, Madeleine L’Engle weaves in reminders of just how young he is,
and that goes a long way toward balancing out the more incredible aspects of
his character. Like his sister, he has a
strong sense of morality, and he doesn’t back down from a fight, though his are
usually mental rather than physical.
As terrific
as the Murrays are separately, they’re magnificent together. They generally talk to each other like adults,
discussing their problems and planning their next moves as a team. Although Meg sometimes pulls “big sister”
rank, she doesn’t run roughshod over Charles Wallace. For his part, Charles Wallace’s higher I.Q.
doesn’t diminish the importance of Meg’s input; he’s patient with her and
explains without condescending. Much is
made of their innate connection, and it becomes vital when they learn to kythe
in later books.
Most of
all, each character’s primary motivation is often protecting the other. From the very first chapter of A Wrinkle in Time, Charles Wallace gets
up in the middle of the night to make cocoa because he knows Meg is afraid of
the storm, and it only grows from there.
He’s her protector through their first adventure as much as she is his,
and Meg’s involvement in A Wind in the
Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet
are entirely for Charles Wallace’s sake.
The climax of A Wrinkle in Time
is perhaps the heart of the whole series.
It’s Meg at her most heroic, walking into an unspeakably dangerous
situation that plays on all of her insecurities, and her greatest weapon is her
love for Charles Wallace. It’s them
against the world (all the worlds,) and there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for
each other – now that’s a love that can topple evil.
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