Analysis Of Meg Murry's Character Development in "A Wrinkle In Time"

Everyone experiences changes in their life. Meg is a dynamic character and jerasticly changes throughout the novel. In A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle creates the character of Meg Murry who changed from self-conscious, dependent, and defiant to brave, independent, and passionate.

In the beginning of the novel, A Wrinkle In Time, Meg is characterized as self concious, dependent, and defiant. When Meg is afraid during the storm in her attic bedroom she thinks about how she does “everything wrong” (L’Engle 7). This is an example of Meg being self-conscious and shows how she doubts herself. She seems to not enjoy her life, is self-conscious, and has an incredibly low self-esteem. When Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace are on Camazotz Meg says,

“‘Suppose you don’t come out and we have to come in after you. Unh-Unh. Come on. Let's hold hands if you don’t mind.’”

This is and example of Meg being dependent and shows how she relies on others to help her through dark times.

This suggests to the reader that Meg needs help to conquer her challenges. When Meg is at school she is debating with her principal about where her father really is and stands up to him.

“‘I do face facts’ Meg said, ‘They are lots easier to face than people, I can tell you’” (L’Engle 32).

Meg is defiant because she is able to stand up for herself and her family. Meg able to face facts and she can easily get into arguments with others. Clearly, Meg Murry have a negative personality in the beginning of A Wrinkle In Time.

At the beginning of the novel Meg Murry becomes brave, independent, and passionate. When Charles Wallace is believed to have been taken over by IT, Meg stands up to the Man With Red Eyes and who has taken over Charles Wallace.

“Meg shook her head violently. ‘No!’ she shouted. ‘I know our world isn’t perfect, Charles, but it's better than this. This isn't the alternative! It cannot be!’”

This shows that Meg is brave. It implies that she brave because she is able to stand up for her little brother knowing that there could be consequences.

When Meg thinks her father will overcome it she realizes she must do it on her own. Meg says,

“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’” (L’Engle 220).

This shows Meg is brave. Meg realizes that she is the only person who can overcome IT to save Charles Wallace. Finally, when Meg is able to defeat IT with love.

“‘I love you, Charles’ she cried again..., ‘I love you! I love you! I love you!’” (L’Engle 230).

This shows that Meg is passionate towards Charles Wallace. She is passionate because she is able to love him even though she is not able to love IT. Clearly, Meg develops a positive personality at the end of the novel.

In Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time, Meg Murry is a dynamic character and changes throughout her adventures to other planets to save her dad. Meg changes from self-conscious, dependent, and defiant into a brave, independent and passionate character. Madeleine L’Engle creates a beautiful example of a dynamic character through Meg Murry in A Wrinkle In Time.

References

1. Barfield, O. (1990). Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry. Wesleyan University Press.
2. Fassler, J. (2018). Madeleine L’Engle’s faith in science fiction. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/03/madeleine-lengles-faith-in-science-fiction/555612/
3. L’Engle, M. (1962). A Wrinkle in Time. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
4. Le Guin, U. K. (1985). The language of the night: Essays on fantasy and science fiction. Putnam.
5. Lowry, L. (1993). Looking back: A writer remembers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.