A Wrinkle in Time (1962) (edit title/settings)

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

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• Margaret 'Meg' Murry: Meg is not pretty, and very conscious of that fact. She doesn't think she is very smart, gets bad grades, and most people hate her, but she loves her family especially her dad main character
• Sandy: Meg's brother and Dennys' twin
• Dennys: Sandy's twin
• Mrs. Buncombe: A neighbor of the Murry's
• Charles Wallace Murry: Charles is the little brother of Meg, and is really smart. He hardly ever talks to anyone but his own family, so everyone thinks he's stupid.
• Mr. Murry: Meg's father who is a scientist
• Mrs. Murry: Meg's mother who is also a scientist
• Fort: Family dog- full name is Fortinbras
• Calvin O'Keefe: an athlete and popular student in the same school as Meg. He befriends the Murry kids one day when they run into each other in the woods. He prefers spending time with the Murry family rather than his own.
• Mrs. Whatsit: The Stange old woman that wanders in on a stormy night.
• Mrs. Who: One of the strange women the children encounter. She constantly quotes literary works. Mrs. Who gives Meg her spectacles on Camazotz. This illuminates the fact that Meg can see things others cannot
• Mrs. Which: One of the strange women the children encounter.
• Dr. Alex Murry: Meg's father. He's a scientist who disappeared
• Dr. Kate Murray: Dr. Kate Murry is a microbiologist, wife of Dr. Alexander Murry, and mother of the four Murry children. She is considered beautiful by the Murry children and others, having "flaming red hair" and violet eyes. Her physical attractiveness, academic and scientific accomplishments give Meg a bit of an inferiority complex. She is introduced in Chapter One, and usually referred to as Mrs. Murry. As in her husband's case, her first name is given in the subsequently published An Acceptable Time. The television version of her character is renamed Dana
• Sandy Murry: Average "Normal" type of kid Meg's younger brother and Charles Wallace's older brother.
• Dennys Murry: Dennys Murry is the twin of Sandy Murry. Dennys and his twin are usually inseparable, with Dennys generally following Sandy's lead. However, Dennys is slightly less skeptical than his brother about the strange theories and even stranger adventures of Meg and Charles Wallace. (Note: The name Dennys is a shortened version of "Dionysus",which is the name of a Greek god, but is pronounced the same way as the more common spelling Dennis
• Aunt Beast: Aunt Beast is a character who takes care of Meg on the planet Ixchel. Aunt Beast has four arms, no eyes or mouth, and numerous long, waving tentacles instead of fingers. Tall, gray in color, sightless and telepathic, Aunt Beast has a motherly, nurturing attitude toward Meg. The name Aunt Beast is one that Meg and the alien come up with together, based on the character's perusal of Meg's mind. The character's actual name, if any, is not given. A loving, mother-like creature from another planet
• Happy Medium: .
• IT: An oversized giant brain.
• Mr. Jenkins: the school principal.
• Fortinbras: The Murrys' dog. He is known to bark when someone strange comes along
• Roy Huff: This was a good book. I remember reading it being captivated by the cover. A great book for fantasy and young adult readers.

Quotes edit see section history

• “"Maybe I don't like being different", Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either"”

  Meg

• “Wild nights are my glory.”

• “I must be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there IS such a thing as a tesseract!”

  Mrs. Whatsit

• “The two boys seem to be nice, regular children, but that unattractive girl and the baby boy certainly aren't all there”

• “The houses in the outskirts were all exactly alike, small square boxes painted gray”

• “"Good helps us, the stars help us, perhaps what you call light helps us. Oh my child, I cannot explain! This is something you just have to know or not know."”

• “I'm all confused again...”

  Meg

• “"Can't she see what's going to happen?" Calvin asked. "Oh, not in this kind of thing." Mrs. Whatsit sounded surprised at his question. "If we knew ahead of time what was going to happen we'd be—we'd be like the people on Camazotz, with no lives of our own, with everything all planned and done for us.”

• “In your language you have a form of poetry called a sonnet." "Yes, yes," said Calvin. . . ."It's a very strict form of poetry, is it not?" "Yes" "There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. That's a very strict rhythm or meter, yes?" "Yes"Calvin nodded. "And each line has to end with a rigid rhyme pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet, is it?" "No" "But within this strict form the poet has complete freedom to say whatever he wants, doesn't he?" "Yes." Calvin nodded again. "So," Mrs. Whatsit said. "So what?" "Oh, do not be stupid, boy!" Mrs. Whatsit scolded. "You know perfectly well what I am driving at!" "You mean you're comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but freedom within it?" "Yes." Mrs. Whatsit said. "You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you."”

• “"I'm—I'm sorry, Father." He took both her hand in his, bent down to her with his short-sighted eyes. "Sorry for what, Megatron?" Tears almost came to her eyes at the gentle use of the old nickname. "I wanted you to do it all for me. I wanted everything to be all easy and simple. . . . So I tried to pretend that it was all your fault . . . because I was scared, and I didn't want to have to do anything myself—" "But I wanted to do it for you," Mr. Murry said. "That's what every parent wants." He looked into her dark, frightened eyes. "I won't let you go, Meg. I am going." "No." Mrs. Whatsit's voice was sterner than Meg had ever heard it. "You are going to allow Meg the privilege of accepting this danger. You are a wise man, Mr. Murry. You are going to let her go."”

• “We look not at the things which are what you would call seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But the things which are not seen are eternal.”

  Aunt Beast

• “A straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.”

• “Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift their voice; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD!”

• “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point. Pascal(The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.)”

• “Thee onnlly wway ttoo ccope withh ssometthingg ddeadly sseriouss iss ttoo ttry ttoo trreatt itt a llittlle lligghtly.”

• “Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything. Euripides”

• “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

  Charles

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.”

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• “We look not at the things which are what you would call seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But the things which are not seen are eternal.”

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• But of course we can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.

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• The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.”

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• Like and equal are two entirely different things.

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• Beware of pride and arrogance, Charles, for they may betray you.”

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• “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

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• “I wanted you to do it all for me. I wanted everything to be all easy and simple. . . . So I tried to pretend that it was all your fault . . . because I was scared, and I didn’t want to have to do anything myself—” “But I wanted to do it for you,” Mr. Murry said. “That’s what every parent wants.”

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• Euripides. Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything.”

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• “Qui plus sait, plus se tait. French, you know. The more a man knows, the less he talks.”

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Meg's House: The story starts and ends here. It's probably a three-story house, with a first and second floor and an attic. It's in a remote town somewhere in Conneticut.
• Black Thing: This seems to be a place where all darkness and evil are gathered.
• Uriel: The first planet outside the solar system Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin have seen.
• Camazotz: A place where people do everything at the same time.
• Ixchel: The planet in which Aunt Beast and the other lovely, tentacled creatures without light or sight inhabit and where Meg, Mr. Murry and Calvin land during the failed tessering out of Camazotz.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Gamboled: --verb. To skip about, as in dancing or playing; to frolic.
• Tesseract: In geometry, the tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron or cubic prism, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells. The tesseract is one of the six convex regular 4-polytopes.
• Ymbryne: Describe this term.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Trust: The characters must trust each other as well as the strangers they meet along the way. They also trust that their Father will return to them, despite the rumors to the contrary.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by A Wind in the Door.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Madeleine L'Engle (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Newbery Medal (1963, Winner)
• Sequoyah Book Award (1965, Winner)
• Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1965)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.L5385 Wr 1962
• Dewey: F Wright

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Lexile Score: 740

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror › Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
• Books › Children's Books › Series › Classics › Wrinkle in Time, Time Quartet
• Books › Children's Books › Series › Fantasy & Adventure › Time Quartet
• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Classics by Age › Ages 9-12
• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( L ) › L'Engle, Madeleine
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Science Fiction
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

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