A Wind in the Door (1973)

Even though I know it’s not in the same league as A Wrinkle in Time or A Swiftly Tilting Planet, I still have a soft spot for A Wind in the Door.  It might be the most out-there of the time quartet, and for a series whose first book features the likes of Mrs. Whatsit, that’s saying something.  There’s a lot of neat stuff here, even if it doesn’t quite come together as well as it should.

Meg is worried about her little brother Charles Wallace.  At first, she thinks it’s just the awfulness of him being a super-genius 1^st grader in a town full of people who are suspicious of anyone different, but it’s more than that.  There’s something wrong with Charles Wallace, deep within his cells – there’s something wrong with the universe, in fact, at both the macro- and microscopic levels.  With the aid of a mysterious otherworldly “Teacher” and an awesomely-monstrous-looking cherubim, Meg and Calvin fight to save Charles Wallace from the forces that would destroy and erase.

In a way, this book is a bridge between A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.  It gets a lot more into kything, the type of deep soul telepathy that Meg and Charles Wallace have been doing unconsciously, and brings it forth as a conscious practice, which factors big into A Swiftly Tilting Planet.  I like the kything scenes between Meg and Proginoskes, and it all pays off well when our heroes are in Yadah, where everything is conducted through kything.  The book also introduces the Echthroi, who, again, are a big deal in A Swiftly Tilting Planet.  Their MO between the two books seems a little different, and on the whole, I’d say they’re freakier and more menacing here.  The whole concept of X-ing is really eerie, and that first scene with the false Mr. Jenkins seriously wigged me out when I was a kid.

There are a lot of interesting bits here:  the idea of farandolae “living” within a mitochondrion, whose human host is like a galaxy to them; Proginoskes and his whole slightly imperious but genuinely caring vibe; Meg toiling to discover the real Mr. Jenkins.  However, it’s undoubtedly messier than A Wrinkle in Time, and I think it succeeds with overarching themes and individual details more so than with a cohesive plot.  It’s weird – even though there are many different threads to pull at in A Wrinkle in Time, the book never really feels disjointed or overly busy to me, but it doesn’t work quite as well here.

It doesn’t help that Charles Wallace, while very important to the story, doesn’t have a very big role within it.  Little-boy Charles Wallace is such a knockout of a character, and this book sidelines him for much of the time.  We get a little of him being inscrutable and amazing, like with the “drove of dragons” in the first chapter, but not nearly as much as I’d like.  Not that I don’t love Meg and Calvin, because I really do; however, it’s the dynamic between the three of them that I love best of all.

Warnings

Scary moments for kids, sci-fi/fantasy violence, and thematic elements.

Relationship Spotlight: Meg & Charles Wallace Murray (Time Quintet)

 

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.