Literary Essay - The Truth that Lies Beneath the Character

The Truth that Lies Beneath the Character

When put through tough and boundary crossing situations, true characters can strive. Madeleine L'Engle frequently shows this through character traits and conflicts. In the book A Wrinkle in Time, Meg has to save her father who has ended up in a whole other world despite her fears and awkwardness. She goes on a big quest to find him and has to defeat the powerful IT. In Meet the Austins, Vicky has to accept the unsetting change in her family, a 10 year old orphaned girl named Maggy. Maggy shakes up the perfect Austin family and Vicky doesn’t want her to be in it. Madeleine L’Engle believes that putting troubled characters in tough situations can show their true ability.

Madeleine L’engle shows her character’s true inner strengths when they are faced with fear. In A Wrinkle in TIme Meg had to get IT out of Charles Wallace, and she was petrified. IT is a brain that can control minds. It takes minds and tricks it or hypnotises it to think something else or to do something that it wants it to do. IT got control of Charles Wallace’s mind and was attacking him. Meg had to fight against Charles to get to IT out of his mind, but she ended up fighting the battle differently than she expected. “But she, in all her weakness and foolishness and baseness and nothingness, was incapable of loving IT. Perhaps it was not too much to ask of her, but she could not do it. But she could love Charles Wallace. She could stand there and she could love Charles Wallace.” (Page 229) This was the battle that she feared the most, but she knew that she loved her brother more than anything. Even though Meg was terrified and not thinking clearly, she knew that she had to just love Charles Wallace and IT would go away. She showed herself that she can be strong and powerful and not just the awkward and babyish Meg. Sometimes being scared can show people who they really are and what they can do.

Sometimes, Madeleine L’Engle sets up scary situations so that her characters can strive. In Meet the Austins, Vicky has to take charge when Rob goes missing on their summer vacation. She normally was very shy and lets John, her older brother, take charge. Vicky also can become flustered very easy and it can be hard for her to think straight, but when Rob went missing, she knew just how to handle the situation and the untrustworthy Maggy. “John suddenly looked terribly old and grownup. “We’ll have to go to Grandfather,” he said. Then I had an idea. “Maggy, did you play the trick on Rob? Did you go off and leave him for a joke?” Maggy nodded. All the pink went out of Maggy’s cheeks and she went very white and the darks of her eyes seemed to get very big.” (Page 206)This was the moment where Vicky took charge and was able to finally get Maggy to tell the truth. Maggy lies so that she won’t get in trouble, and Vicky just knew that Maggy must know about where he was. This was a true moment of character change because Vicky went from being young and babish Vicky to being the grown up and Vicky is a quiet and sensitive, so having to take charge was a challenge but she showed herself that she is capable of showing who she really is.

After Madeleine L’Engle’s characters conquer these situations, they come out stronger and better people. After Meg conquered IT, in A Wrinkle in Time, she felt like she finally did something that was worth it or something that mattered. When she was using all of her energy to defeat IT, it was like she was defeating her fears, as if she was letting a part of herself go. “She blinked her eyes rapidly and against the rhythm until the redness before them cleared and she could see.” (Page 227) As she blinked against IT she was blinking away the parts of herself that held her back from being who she really is. Also with each blink she was becoming more and more clear of who she really is and what she can accomplish. She showed herself that she really is worth something and is ready to be something better.  

Madeleine L’Engle believes that putting troubled characters in tough situations can show their true ability. Madeleine L’engle shows her character’s true inner bravery and power when they are faced with terror. Also, she sets up frightening situations so that her characters have work to show who they really are. After Madeleine L’Engle’s characters conquer these situations, they come out of the problem to be better and stronger people they really are. Sometimes, the most unexpected, helpless characters can turn out to be the most amazing heroes.