Week Seven - A Wrinkle In Thyme

This week I took time to read Madeleine L'Engle's novel, A Wrinkle In Time. I remember reading this young adult novel way back in elementary school, so I decided to revisit it with a more experienced mind. Needless to say, it made slightly more sense as an adult than it did to me a long time ago.

Something that stuck out to me reading this was the mix of science and fantasy elements mixed into this story, which makes sense why some people classify this book as a science fiction novel. Meg's parents are both incredible scientists that have influenced her way of thinking. There are multiple references to mathematics and scientific equations, as well as examples of characters conducting logical thinking in the story.

One specific excerpt from the story stuck out to me through a conversation between Meg and her mother, Mrs. Murry:

"Do you think things always have an explanation?"
"Yes, I believe that they do. But I think that with our human limitations we're not always able to understand the explanations. But you see, Meg, just because we don't understand, doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist."

Something about Mrs. Murry's quote about explanations for things we cannot understand really ties into the theme of the book, that being a fantasy novel with scientific undertones. It could be put into context of the fantasy elements that occur in the novel, that even if they occur beyond human understanding, there happens to be a reason behind it. An example of this happens once Mrs. Who, Which, and Whatsit take the main children across multiple dimensions to save Meg's father. It definitely caught my interest when Mrs. Whatsit defined the different types of dimensions to the kids, and describe them in geometric terms so that traveling through them begins to make sense.

All in all, this novel was one of my favourites as a kid as far as I remembered. I can see why, as the story very unique.