The Door in the Wall

The opening chapters introduce Robin, a noble boy who is 10 years old and caught in plague-swept medieval London without his parents when he suddenly loses his leg strength. They also introduce the monks who get him out of the city, care for him, and help him to adapt to his new condition.

The story begins in London in the mid-1300s; de Angeli traveled to England to research the book’s setting and attempt to render it with realism. She incorporates many aspects of the architecture and layout of the city that are still standing almost 900 years later. Robin attempts to drown out the "deafening" church bells he hears from nine churches, demonstrating the pervasiveness of the Catholic Church in the era. He wakes to the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow Church, which is in today’s central London’s business district. The story names two other nearby churches that also still exist; one of them, St. Paul’s Cathedral, was rebuilt and is world-famous. The bells ring out the hour of “Nones,” the ninth hour since dawn, or 3:00pm, when clerics pause for a session of prayer. It’s a time when boys are outside playing, but Robin lies in bed at home, despondent.

Robin’s legs have lost their strength, and the rest of his body seems weakened. The only thing that a local doctor can determine about his illness is that he doesn’t have the plague, which is killing Londoners in droves. His symptoms are consistent with polio, but during the Middle Ages, polio and most other diseases were poorly understood. The author treats Robin’s ailment as a terrible mystery that appears randomly, which is consistent with the way many people of his era would have seen it. At that time, symptoms similar to Robin’s were often believed to be caused by curses or divine punishment. Some people thought poor hygiene or close contact with others caused the disease, and later centuries proved they were on the right track: During a polio epidemic, the disease usually is transmitted through inadequate hand-washing during food preparation or after using the toilet. Its cause wasn’t discovered until 1908, when a “poliovirus” was found, and the disease’s name shifted from “infantile paralysis” to polio. (Toole, Lisa. “The History of Polio.” The Borgen Project, 2 Dec 2013).

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held sway, and devotion was taken very seriously. The Church formed a major part of the social structure of a town or city, and priests and their assistants performed much or most of the charitable work. This is evident in the neighbor’s request that Brother Luke check in on Robin after his house’s staff flees the plague, as well as in the care that he receives when he is clothed and fed after being relocated to the monastery. Luke observes the monks’ care for numerous sick people and becomes involved in their efforts to care for others as his health improves, learning to do woodworking and making a doll for another child.

At first, Robin responds angrily to his paralysis. Not long after he experiences this, a sulking Robin deliberately spills his meal on Dame Ellen; later, at the monastery, he breaks a wooden piece he’s carving and hurls it and the chisel across the carpentry shop in a rage, barely missing Brother Matthew. Part of Robin’s convalescence involves getting over his sense of entitlement as a member of the noble class and coming to terms with the humanity he shares with everyone, rich or impoverished.

Brother Luke reminds the boy that every problem is like a wall in which there is a door to be found if he searches hard enough. This metaphor of finding the door becomes the principal theme of the book and clarifies the meaning of its title. Describing Luke and Robin’s first departure from Robin’s home on their way to the local monastery, de Angeli writes, “Out through the door in the wall of the courtyard they went” (17). Thus, Robin’s initial encounter with the monk becomes a door in the wall of his illness.

The story focuses on strength of character, and the author avoids detailed descriptions of the characters’ appearances. Thus, the book describes each character in simple terms. Brother Luke’s hair is “tonsured,” which means his head is shaved to leave only a narrow ring of hair like a halo. Robin’s hair is described as “dark and thickly thatched” (31), which symbolizes his youth and vigorous spirit. The author’s illustrations present him as a handsome lad with a ready smile. John-go-in-the-Wynd, a minstrel and courier who delivers letters between Robin and his father, figures importantly later in the book but is described merely as “big.”

Chief among Robin’s concerns is whether his father, Sir John de Bureford, will continue to love and respect him when he learns of his disability. Due to that concern and his longing for his father, Robin works with Brother Luke to write the letter to him. Luke carefully pens the words as Robin speaks them; he assists gladly because this also is an opportunity to begin teaching the boy how to read and write.

Brother Luke has a gift for bringing out the best in others. He uses this skill to nurture Robin during the boy’s convalescence, guiding him deftly toward activities and practices that will stimulate him mentally and improve his physical fitness. The other monks tutor him as well, and they show great patience with the boy as he works through his depression and frustration. Thus, Robin makes his first progress toward emotional healing and learns to use his arms and his crutches to regain mobility. By the end of Chapter 4, he is almost ready to return to the path on which he was about to embark before his illness—training for the knighthood.