FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES IN A WRINKLE IN TIME 1

Feminist Perspectives in A Wrinkle in Time

In our society, feminism is spread all over the world, it resists the idea that women

should be treated differently from men as their stereotypes are led by the majority. A Wrinkle

in Time is a science fiction which secretly informs audiences about feminism. It was

published in 1962 by LEngle, she was born in 1918 and studied in her private school. After

she graduated from Smith, she got the idea of Wrinkle in Time from Einsteins writings

about relativity. LEngle aims for influencing the reader's notion with feminism. The story

follows three children: Margaret Murry(Meg), Charles Wallace, and Calvin OKeefe, as they

cross a wrinkle in time by using the special way of travelling called tesseract. They get

support from magical three witches: Mrs.Whatsit, Mrs.Who, and Mrs.Which. Finally they

can overcome the evils and save their families. In the novel, Meg, as a protagonist, shows

feminist thoughts through her characteristic. LEngles A Wrinkle in Time conveys the

Feminist thoughts through characters personality, conformity ,and breaks with gender

stereotypes.

First of all, females in the story are adjusted to be strong women while mens

characteristic are more like a woman. The author resists a patriarchy through female

characters. A Wrinkle in Time is succeed for feminist movement, as the main character of the

story, Meg, is good at math and science. Her mother, Mrs.Murry, is scientist who has a lab at

home. Her father, Mr.Murry, was missing for a few years so Mrs.Murry has to take care of

her family alone as a single mom. A man with the red eyes is bad guy in the story; Meg has

to travel to Camazotz alone to fight him and finally saves her family. Charles Wallace shows

that he cares everyone in his family, even the small details. From the novel in page 18,

Charles asked his mother while making sandwiches, Lettuce on your sandwich, Mother?.

This proves that LEngle purposely makes males weaker than women and adjusts mens
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES IN A WRINKLE IN TIME 2

personalities to be more like a woman. According to Romance Novels for Feminists website,

it stated that L'Engle broke with gender stereotypes by making Calvin O'Keefe is a

communicator who interests in true love and far better at history and literature and three

witches who help Meg, Charles, and Calvin are all women (Horne, 2013). This passage

demonstrates that there is no patriarchy in the novel because women are exactly stronger than

men. Furthermore, Megs personalities, confidence and braveness, are enlarged by

Mrs.Whatsit s gift so Meg has more feeling about love. Her equality is no less than men in

any circumstances. She is chosen to be the one who solves the conflict in this story, which

actually these factors should be mens personalities and actions. Thus, besides the females

equality, the signs of mens weakness are shown throughout the story.

In addition, even though A Wrinkle in Time is a book for children, it inserts feminist

ideas through the characters. The one major difference in A Wrinkle in Time from other

novels is that it has a female as a heroine. This book was published in the same year when

The Feminine Mystique came out. From the very start of the first chapter, Meg is being

treated like an oddball at school. Megs personalities are more like a man, so she is strange

in everyones eyes. She is forced to believe that her father, Mr.Murry, is already death. Only

Murry family doesnt believe that Mr.Murry is died. There are parts in the story where

Mr.Murry studied about tesseract without any knowledges about it so he was accidentally

stuck in Camazotz as this part was told by three witches. After Meg tessers to Camazotz, she

finds her father lying on the floor hopelessly while Charles Wallace is controlled by a man

with the red eyes. His mind is brainwashed and replaced by a disembodied brain called IT.

Finally, Meg uses the power of love to flee Charles from ITs telepathic snare without any

help from men in the story. According to Individuality and the Heros Journey: A Look at

Gender website, it said that, female heroines show that they do not need a traditional male
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES IN A WRINKLE IN TIME 3

hero to save them because they have the powers to defend themselves. Meg shows this when

she tessers to Camazotz alone, even though Calvin wishes to go with her(Maloney, 2015).

As the three witches said that Meg has a special power that IT doesnt have which is love.

She finally uses this advantage to overcome IT. Thus, feminism is conveyed throughout the

book, as it is the authors purpose.

Moreover, the setting in the story, Camazotz, enhances the feminist ideas through the

conformity. When three children leave their magical helpers, they instantly tesser to

Camazotz where Megs father is captured. After the arrival, they are surprised that every

houses have exactly same shape, color, and size. The citizens in there are ruled by a brain,

IT, which forces people with absolute conformity, so people are all do the same actions in a

town. IT doesnt care about genders or stereotypes, it only focuses on building a perfect

world where everyone is truly equal. If IT sees individual is independent then I will capture

that person and brainwash them. So, women are definitely equal to men in Camazotzs

society as everyones actions are the same. According to FOR YOUNG VIEWERS; Coming

of Age: Mostly a Matter of Time website, it states that, IT, a brain that demands conformity

among Camazotz's citizens that children must do the same actions in the same precise rhythm

(Macneille, 2004). This evidence proves how LEngle wants to reveal the feminism

throughout the story.

To sum up, LEngle conveys feminism in A Wrinkle in Time by using many factors

such as characters personalities, setting, and gender stereotypes. This book is purposely

made for children because they believe something so easily. Also, It is clear that the author

wants to change the present society as women are treated differently from men.
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES IN A WRINKLE IN TIME 4

References

Horne, J.C. (2013). A wrinkle in time goes graphic. Romance Novels for Feminists.

Retrieved from

http://romancenovelsforfeminists.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-wrinkle-in-time-goes-graph

ic.html

Macneille, S. (2004). For young viewers; Coming of age: Mostly a matter of time. The New

York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/tv/for-young-viewers-coming-of-age-mostly-a-

matter-of-time.html

Maloney, K. (2015). Individuality and the heros journey: A look at gender. Magnificat.

Retrieved from

https://commons.marymount.edu/magnificat/individuality-and-the-heros-journey-a-lo

ok-at-gender/