LOST in A Wrinkle in Time

Behind the Story• Many of Madeleine L’Engle’s beliefs and thus her works, including A Wrinkle in

Time, were strongly influenced by George MacDonald.• Was rejected over twenty times for being too “risky” of a novel before being

published in 1962.• Is now L’Engle’s most famous novel.• While easy to read as a stand-alone novel, A Wrinkle in Time is the first of five

books in what is known as Madeleine L’Engle’s “Time Quintet.”– A Wrinkle in Time– A Wind in the Door– A Swiftly Tilting Planet– Many Waters– An Acceptable Time

• Received a lot of heavy criticism:– Too Christian– Sacrilegious

• Won the Newbery Award.

A Quick Peek Into the Story• Follows the adventures of Meg Murray, her younger brother Charles Wallace, and

their friend Calvin O’Keefe.• With the help of three mysterious entities (Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs.

Whatsit), the three children use a tesseract to “wrinkle” through space and time to rescue Meg and Charles Wallace’s father, Mr. Murray.

• During their travels, the three Mrs. W’s take the children to different places so that they may see the battle of good and evil that is being waged in the universe.

• Eventually, the three children travel to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murray is being held captive by the evil entity known as “IT.”

• In the process of rescuing Mr. Murray however, Charles Wallace is captured and brainwashed. Unfortunately, Meg, Calvin, and Mr. Murray are forced to temporarily leave him behind.

• Due to her direct encounter with “The Black Thing,” Meg is “frozen” and must take refuge on planet Ixchiel where she is healed.

• Meg returns to Camazotz alone to confront IT and save Charles Wallace.• After rescuing Charles Wallace, Meg and company return home.

A Wrinkle in Time LOSTMeg Alex, Juliet, Kate, Hurley, Penelope, Claire, Ana

Lucia, etc.

Charles Wallace Walt, Aaron, Locke, Ben, Desmond, Charles Widmore, etc.

Calvin Karl, Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Desmond, etc.

Mrs. Murray Penelope, Susan (Walt’s mother)

Mr. Murray Desmond, Christian, Michael, Anthony Cooper, Sawyer, David (Hurley’s father), etc.

Mrs. W’s Eloise Hawking, Richard Alpert, Desmond, Hurley, Locke, Mr. Eko, Ben, Daniel, Juliet, etc.

Happy Medium Eloise Hawking, Desmond, Malkin

Aunt Beast The Island, Rose, Juliet, Libby, Locke, Issac

“The Man With Red Eyes” Ben, Abaddon, Ethan, Tom

IT Jacob, Charles W., Ben, Richard, The Island

The Black Thing Smokezilla

Comparing Characters

Time and Space• LOST

– The Island can move through time.– The Island can move through space.– The Island’s invisibility. (A pocket?)

• A Wrinkle in Time– The characters can move through space without changing time.

• A Swiftly Tilting Planet (4th in the Time Quintet)– Charles Wallace can move through time without changing space.

“…the fifth dimension’s a tesseract […] you can travel through space without having to go the long way around […] a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points” (L’Engle 75).

“…if a very small insect were to move from the section of skirt in Mrs. Who’s right hand to that in her left, it would be quite a long walk for him if he had to walk straight across…” (L’Engle 72).

FaithA Wrinkle in Time LOST

Mrs. Whatsit, as a star, sacrifices herself to fight off “The Black Thing.”

Mr. Eko stands up for his faith and is killed by Smokezilla.

Charles Wallace purposely allows his mind to be infiltrated by “The Man With the Red Eyes,” believing he is strong enough to stand up against him, but ends up brainwashed.

•Desmond tries to fight against the flow of time only to be swept along by it again.•Sawyer becomes a conman to find the man responsible for his parents’ deaths, but winds up becoming him in the process.•“The Long Con” between Sawyer and Cassidy.•Charlie fights against using drugs like his brother only to become an addict.

Meg struggles with her faith throughout the novel:•Has little to no faith in her own worth.•Temporarily falls into darkness.•Comes back from her fallback and overcomes IT with faith.

Locke struggles with his faith throughout LOST:•Has little to no faith in his own worth outside of the Island initially.•Loses his faith temporarily.•Comes back stronger than ever.

Camazotz/Dharmaville

“The houses […] were all exactly alike, small square boxes painted gray […] a small, rectangular plot of lawn in front, with a straight line of dull-looking flowers edging the path to the door…” (L’Engle 98).

The Cold War in 1954• Secretary of State John Foster

Dulles announced that “massive retaliation” was the goal.

• Manila Conference and the SEATO Pact

• Overthrew suspected communist governments such as Guatemala’s

• French union forces battled against Vietnamese forces in the climatic battle of the First Indochina War

• Pakistan and the U.S. signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement

All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

• Meg• Charles Wallace• Calvin

• Jack• Kate• Sawyer• Locke• Hurley• Claire• Ben• Alex• Aaron• Penny• Walt• Jin• Sun

“[Meg] had found her father and he had not made everything all right […] If the long search for her father was ended, and he wasn’t able to overcome all their difficulties, there was nothing to guarantee that it would all come out right in the end. There was nothing left to hope for” (L’Engle 165).

Island Research Bases

In The Arm of the Starfish, Calvin is working on an island where they are researching organ regeneration by

studying starfish.

Everybody is Connected

Other Similarities

• Brainwashing• Kidnapping children• Reliance on psychics• Strong female characters• Characters searching for something

Works Cited

Kelly, Liz and Jen Chaney. Lost Book Club: A Wrinkle in Time. The Washington Post. 19 December 2007. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/11/28/DI2007112800669_pf.html>.

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. New York: Crosswicks, Ltd., 1962.