A Wrinkle in Time

Mr. Jenkins Chap 7 SG

Pg. 123 "Why are being so belligerent and uncooperative?"  Charles echoes the words that Meg's high-school principal Mr. Jenkins, who asked her if she "enjoyed being the most belligerent, uncooperative girl at school." Charles, like Mr. Jenkins, has become a figure of uncompromising and unfeeling authority. His resemblance to Mr. Jenkins emphasizes the extent to which Meg's journey from Earth by means of a wrinkle in time is also a journey into the psychological content of her own consciousness. Through the transformed Charles Wallace, Meg revisits her memories of a crucial experience on earth.

 

I found the meaning of this passage on SparkNotes.com. not only are the summaries outstanding, but the comments really give you a great perspective!

Juicy Color Words

Hello everyone, I wanted to draw to your attention page 31, the third paragraph...

"Just because I'm tall." Calvin sounded a little embarassed. Tall he certainly was, and skinny. His boney wrists stuck out of the sleeves of his blue sweater; his worn courduroy trousers were three inches too short. He had orange hair that needed cutting, and the appropriate freckles to go with it. His eyes were oddly bright blue."

As I was reading this paragraph, I couldn't believe what a vivid image I got from the author's description of the character. You have probably already noticed, but Madeleine L'Engle does a fantastic job of giving the reader a mental image of what she is writing about. I chose this paragraph because a few weeks ago in our fourth grade class we did a lesson called "Juicy Color Words." The lesson involve making lists of descriptive adjectives which would then be posted for students to use during writers workshop. I thought it would be great to read students a paragraph such as this one, so that in addition to seeing the words, students could see how the words are used by writers. Any other ideas?

Finally the explanation - Ch.5 - FW

After the first four chapters of guessing and being dangled by a string, we are introduced to "the tesseract" that has been so widely talked about by our characters.  The reader is now introduced to the definition of a tesseract and what it means for "our civilization."  According to the three witches they have explained it to us in ordinary terms.  The real explanation lies in a language that is far from understood by us regular people.

Starting at the very bottom of page 75 Mrs. Whatsit begins to explain what a tesseract is, or more familiar, a wrinkle in time.  We finally know that traveling in time can be performed by finding that wrinkle.  A line between to points is not actually the shortest distance, but it is bringing those two points together in a wrinkle and skipping the long trip.  I had to read this chapter twice paying close attention to the first couple of pages.  That is what I would recommend for anyone else having trouble with the understanding.

Quotes Chapter 4 JF

"She keeps thinking she can explain things in words," Mrs. Who said. "Qui plus sait, plus se tait. French, you know. The more a man knows, the less he talks."

I think this passage is interesting because it makes you realize that Mrs. Who, Whatsit and Which have a special bond with Charles that Calvin and Meg can not share. They "know" by simply reading each others minds and do not have to talk. But, in order for Calvin and Meg to understand what is going on, they have to communicate through speech. I like this quote, what do you guys think?