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Series Intro: to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my FAVORITE BOOK EVER, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, I am filling 2012 with BLOG POSTS EXPLORING EVERY POSSIBLE ASPECT OF THIS BOOK IN GREAT DEPTH. I call it the Year of the Tesseract, and you can see what I've written already by clicking the year of the tesseract tag. There WILL be spoilers for Wrinkle and possibly other books throughout. So just go read it, already. Moving on:
Edit 2018: A newer (and probably better?) version of this post can be found at the GeekMom Blog.
There are characters, in fiction, whom you love, admire, disdain, hate, feel guiltily fascinated with or outright indifferent to. It's an outward reaction, like getting to know a person. But then there are the characters you identify with, the ones whose place you immediately take, the ones you can barely look at objectively because you think, "HEY, THIS IS ME."
That was Meg Murry for me. So profound is this feeling of connection that only upon this most recent, objective, rereading did I realize how little we actually are alike.
Don't be fooled by the glasses and braces. Meg's not a shy, nerdy wallflower at all. Well, she IS nerdy, but not in your typical ace-student way, just in that raised-by-brilliant-scientists-so-your-interests-and-vocabulary-are-a-little-odd way. She's a DELINQUENT. She sasses her teachers and rough-houses just "to try to make herself feel better." She's regularly in beat-down physical fights. She's failing school. She blurts out whatever she's thinking, and sees her most defining trait, for good or ill, as stubbornness.
That isn't me. That is the POLAR OPPOSITE of me.
But whatever her outward expression of it, on the inside is a girl with terrible self-esteem. She's a math genius, but can't see it (and maybe doesn't care), because it's not what people expect of her. She thinks she looks like a monster, even though more than one person sees a lot of potential in her looks (at least one of whom isn't even related to her). She's quick to notice the strengths in other people only to immediately compare herself unfavorably. She's convinced she's a failure before she's even begun.
Usually in stories, across media, crappy self-esteem is an issue either too easily solved ("All you need to do is BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!" "Okay, now I believe in myself-- and look! I did it!") or too easily made fun of ("Don't say anything negative! You'll ruin my self-esteem!") So it's a refreshing switch to watch Meg's character arc develop: how slowly, subtly, she grows-- from a girl convinced everyone else has some vital bit of worth that somehow skipped her, waiting for other people to solve her problems, to a young woman who volunteers to do the impossible because she sees she's the only one who has the remotest chance.
I've seen Meg described as "whiny"-- but what if she is? She IS terribly flawed. But that's the point. Meg needs to learn that she DOES have worth and purpose. She needs to learn to come into her own. But it's a slow, uneven process, just as it is in real life. She's working against deeply internalized insecurities, and it's hard to overcome those. Meg is not cut out to be a hero. Early on she believes everything will be better when her father is found. She gratefully accepts Calvin's sometimes overprotective instincts, and waits for the Mrs Ws to swoop in and save the day. But as time goes on, the more often she stands by her own opinions, makes her own decisions, and sometimes she's not even aware of the progress she's making. And sometimes what seems like a minor choice is really a huge leap-- as when an IT-possessed Charles Wallace is about to lead them to their father. "She wanted to reach out and grab Calvin's hand, but it seemed that ever since they had begun their journeyings she had been looking for a hand to hold, so she stuffed her fists into her pockets and walked along behind the two boys. --I've got to be brave, she said to herself. --I will be." A small choice. Not that noticeable. But this is no longer the girl who expected her five-year-old brother to comfort her during a storm. She's growing.
There are stars going supernova to cut through the darkness-- and then there's the power of love between family. Both are important. The point of Meg and her journey to the reader is summed up in the passage from Corinthians that Mrs Who offers as her final gift to Meg, from which comes the title of the last chapter: "...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." ---"I don't understand what she said," Meg thinks to herself later, "but I think it was meant to make me not hate being only me."
This is my favorite kind of hero. This is Samwise carrying Frodo up Mt. Doom-- the overlooked underdog who becomes a hero despite their apparent lack of heroic traits. The very small person who steps up to that challenge which only they can meet. It's this kind of hero who reminds us that we all have inherent worth, more than we may ever realize.
Everyone needs to be reminded, sometimes, that they, too, can be a hero. And that's why this is my Most Important Book.
Edit 2018: A newer (and probably better?) version of this post can be found at the GeekMom Blog.
There are characters, in fiction, whom you love, admire, disdain, hate, feel guiltily fascinated with or outright indifferent to. It's an outward reaction, like getting to know a person. But then there are the characters you identify with, the ones whose place you immediately take, the ones you can barely look at objectively because you think, "HEY, THIS IS ME."
That was Meg Murry for me. So profound is this feeling of connection that only upon this most recent, objective, rereading did I realize how little we actually are alike.
Don't be fooled by the glasses and braces. Meg's not a shy, nerdy wallflower at all. Well, she IS nerdy, but not in your typical ace-student way, just in that raised-by-brilliant-scientists-so-your-interests-and-vocabulary-are-a-little-odd way. She's a DELINQUENT. She sasses her teachers and rough-houses just "to try to make herself feel better." She's regularly in beat-down physical fights. She's failing school. She blurts out whatever she's thinking, and sees her most defining trait, for good or ill, as stubbornness.
That isn't me. That is the POLAR OPPOSITE of me.
But whatever her outward expression of it, on the inside is a girl with terrible self-esteem. She's a math genius, but can't see it (and maybe doesn't care), because it's not what people expect of her. She thinks she looks like a monster, even though more than one person sees a lot of potential in her looks (at least one of whom isn't even related to her). She's quick to notice the strengths in other people only to immediately compare herself unfavorably. She's convinced she's a failure before she's even begun.
Usually in stories, across media, crappy self-esteem is an issue either too easily solved ("All you need to do is BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!" "Okay, now I believe in myself-- and look! I did it!") or too easily made fun of ("Don't say anything negative! You'll ruin my self-esteem!") So it's a refreshing switch to watch Meg's character arc develop: how slowly, subtly, she grows-- from a girl convinced everyone else has some vital bit of worth that somehow skipped her, waiting for other people to solve her problems, to a young woman who volunteers to do the impossible because she sees she's the only one who has the remotest chance.
I've seen Meg described as "whiny"-- but what if she is? She IS terribly flawed. But that's the point. Meg needs to learn that she DOES have worth and purpose. She needs to learn to come into her own. But it's a slow, uneven process, just as it is in real life. She's working against deeply internalized insecurities, and it's hard to overcome those. Meg is not cut out to be a hero. Early on she believes everything will be better when her father is found. She gratefully accepts Calvin's sometimes overprotective instincts, and waits for the Mrs Ws to swoop in and save the day. But as time goes on, the more often she stands by her own opinions, makes her own decisions, and sometimes she's not even aware of the progress she's making. And sometimes what seems like a minor choice is really a huge leap-- as when an IT-possessed Charles Wallace is about to lead them to their father. "She wanted to reach out and grab Calvin's hand, but it seemed that ever since they had begun their journeyings she had been looking for a hand to hold, so she stuffed her fists into her pockets and walked along behind the two boys. --I've got to be brave, she said to herself. --I will be." A small choice. Not that noticeable. But this is no longer the girl who expected her five-year-old brother to comfort her during a storm. She's growing.
There are stars going supernova to cut through the darkness-- and then there's the power of love between family. Both are important. The point of Meg and her journey to the reader is summed up in the passage from Corinthians that Mrs Who offers as her final gift to Meg, from which comes the title of the last chapter: "...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." ---"I don't understand what she said," Meg thinks to herself later, "but I think it was meant to make me not hate being only me."
This is my favorite kind of hero. This is Samwise carrying Frodo up Mt. Doom-- the overlooked underdog who becomes a hero despite their apparent lack of heroic traits. The very small person who steps up to that challenge which only they can meet. It's this kind of hero who reminds us that we all have inherent worth, more than we may ever realize.
Everyone needs to be reminded, sometimes, that they, too, can be a hero. And that's why this is my Most Important Book.
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 07:01 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 03:10 pm (UTC)From:um, contains a little spoilage for subsequent L'Engle books
Date: 2012-01-27 07:00 pm (UTC)From:Re: um, contains a little spoilage for subsequent L'Engle books
Date: 2012-01-27 08:21 pm (UTC)From:Re: um, contains a little spoilage for subsequent L'Engle books
Date: 2012-01-27 09:19 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-01-28 12:46 pm (UTC)From:When I re-read Wrinkle a month or so ago, I did love that bit about Meg not letting herself hold Calvin's hand. Such a small thing, making a world of difference.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-28 08:23 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 06:44 am (UTC)From:My comment is just going to be "me too, me too, me too"! Book that changed my life, yup. Book meaningful 'cause I read it when I was young and impressionable (and then kept re-reading as I was getting older and being impressed), yup. Totally identified with Meg even though we're totally different, yup.
And one comment about the science: I was in high school biology class when we were learning about mitochondria (guess our elementary school was behind the times; don't remember it from my grade five class!), and I was so excited that something I had thought was fantasy was actually real. A girl that I knew only a little at the time raised her hand and asked the teacher if there were such things as farandolae. The teacher was flummoxed, of course, as was most of the class, but I turned around in my seat to exchange a meaningful glance with my soon-to-be newest friend.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-02 02:40 pm (UTC)From: