78 pages • 2 hours read
Madeleine L'EngleA Wrinkle In Time
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaChapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Absolute Zero”
Mr. Murry tessers to the planet Ixchel. There, Meg returns to consciousness slowly. She is cold and can’t move, her body “as lifeless as marble” (163). She hears Calvin and her father but not Charles Wallace, and she wonders why her brother doesn’t join the conversation. Mr. Murry tells Calvin about the tesseract project, how he was the second in a line of people to try tessering. The first man never returned. On Mr. Murry’s turn, he aimed for Mars but ended up on Camazotz, where he was imprisoned.
Meg finally manages to make a sound, alerting Calvin and her father that she’s awake. She opens her eyes. She, Calvin, and Mr. Murry are on a gray planet without Charles Wallace. Her father couldn’t take Charles Wallace with IT tugging on him, and Meg finds herself blaming her father for everything. Three vaguely humanoid creatures approach. They have tentacles for fingers and no eyes. One examines Meg, who is repulsed until the creature touches her, bringing warmth to her frozen body and heart. The creature picks Meg up and tells Mr. Murry and Calvin that it’s “taking the child” (175).
Chapter 11 Summary: “Aunt Beast”
The Black Thing damaged Meg during the tesseract. She needs “prompt and special care” to recover (179). The creatures take Meg, Mr. Murry, and Calvin to their home, where Meg falls into a long sleep. Meg wakes to one of the creatures, which she names Aunt Beast, rubbing warm oil into her skin. She tries to sit up, but Aunt Beast bids her lie still: “The Black Thing does not relinquish its victims willingly” (180). Meg argues, saying she needs to save Charles Wallace. Aunt Beast counters that Meg is not strong enough yet, and Meg falls back to sleep.
When Meg wakes again, Aunt Beast brings Meg to a large chamber for food and to make plans. Mr. Murry doesn’t know what to do, and Meg’s resentment toward him grows again. Out of ideas, she tries and fails to communicate about the Mrs. Ws to the beasts. This fails, too, but right when Meg is ready to give up, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive.
Chapter 12 Summary: “The Foolish and the Weak”
Meg’s relief is palpable. She explains her father left Charles Wallace on Camazotz, and Mrs. Whatsit reminds her the ladies can’t do anything on the dark planet. When the ladies tell Mr. Murry and Calvin they can’t go either, Meg wales that they want her to go but that she’s too weak. Mrs. Whatsit replies they “want nothing from you that you do without grace” or understanding (195). In an instant, Meg gains both grace and understanding. She has to be the one to go back because Charles Wallace understands her—not her father or Calvin.
The ladies each give Meg gifts again: Mrs. Whatsit, her love; Mrs. Who, Meg’s ability to love and appreciate herself, flaws and all; and Mrs. Which, the words “you have something IT does not” (203). Mrs. Which tessers Meg back to Camazotz, and Meg makes her way to IT, all the way trying and failing to understand what she has that IT doesn’t. Ultimately, she decides it doesn’t matter because “Mrs. Whatsit loves me” (205).
Facing IT and Charles Wallace, Meg struggles anew to find what she has that IT doesn’t. Charles Wallace says Mrs. Whatsit hates Meg, but Meg knows Mrs. Whatsit loves her. In that moment, Meg realizes she has love, which IT does not have. She projects her love for Charles Wallace, and the strength of Meg’s love breaks IT’s hold on her brother. Mrs. Whatsit saves them from IT’s anger and tessers them back to Earth. They land in their yard shortly before they left, just as Mrs. Whatsit promised. Calvin is there with Meg’s father, and the Murry family reunites.
Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive at the Murry house. They apologize for not having time to say a proper goodbye. They have to do something, but before they say what it is, the wind blows “and they were gone” (210).
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
Chapter 10’s title represents the numbing cold that nearly takes Meg’s life. The cold of the darkness damaged Meg both emotionally and physically. The combination of Meg’s anger and resentment toward her father with her poor tessering ability left her vulnerable. Only the unconditional love of Aunt Beast and the other creatures of Ixchel allows Meg to recover. Love and bravery fight against darkness and fear.
Mr. Murry’s explanation of the tesser project in Chapter 10 shows how he is not the perfect person Meg believed. He made a mistake with the tesseract, tessering without understanding how it worked. This mistake forms the backbone upon which A Wrinkle in Time’s conflict stands. If Mr. Murry hadn’t played with forces beyond his comprehension, the children would not have gotten swept up in finding him or the battle of light versus darkness.
The creatures of Ixchel have no eyes and, thus, do not see. Meg’s inability to communicate about the Mrs. Ws results from the beasts not having sight. Meg thinks in terms of what things look like and describes the ladies this way. Even when she tries to think about the essences of the ladies, her mind is so conditioned to think visually that this doesn’t succeed. L’Engle uses the communication gap between Earth’s language and Ixchel’s understanding as a metaphor for the language barrier between Earth’s different cultures. Despite speaking the same language, Meg struggles to make herself understood to Aunt Beast as much as someone speaking English would to someone who only speaks Spanish.
All three of the ladies’ gifts in Chapter 12 have to do with love—the thing Meg uses to defeat IT and win back Charles Wallace. Chapter 12’s title represents Meg and Charles Wallace—Meg as the weak and Charles Wallace as the foolish. Charles Wallace’s foolishness leads him to believe he can return from IT’s control on his own. Meg does not possess the same power as Charles Wallace, but her weakness allows her to absorb the strength of light. When all else fails, she is the weakness that protects the foolish.
The book ends with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which disappearing as suddenly and mysteriously as they arrived. Their mission is complete. They helped the children rescue Mr. Murry and defeat a piece of the darkness. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin become champions of Earth. It is not said but can be inferred that their victory helps dispel some of the darkness enshrouding Earth, as well.
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By Madeleine L'Engle
