In the novel, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, Meg realizes the importance of individuality through her journey to find her father. After living without her father for many years, Meg is offered an opportunity to find him by a mysterious group of old women. These women take Meg, along with her brother, Charles, and her friend, Calvin, through the universe to a strange planet called Camazotz. Meg and her friends must fight an evil force that controls the planet, called IT, to reach her father and rescue him. Meg’s character development throughout the novel demonstrates that when one is exposed to a society where conformity is praised, they start to value their unique traits.
Before going on her life-changing journey, Meg desperately wants to fit in. Her grades, her family, and her personality are consistently mocked at school. She can’t control her emotions and finds herself frequently starting fights. As her life spirals out of control, all Meg wishes for is to blend into the background and not be noticed for once. When put in a social situation, “familiarity is the social glue that bonds people together, and [people] deliberately seek out the similar and the recognizable in order to feel secure” (Cannon). Meg strives to find that familiarity by fitting in with her ‘normal’ family members and ends up comparing herself to them. Whether she compares herself to her charismatic, popular brothers or her brilliant parents, she always ends up seeming like the inferior one. Her family fits into society perfectly, while Meg, on the other hand, stands out like a sore thumb. This feeling of ‘being different’ leads Meg to question her individuality and strive to fit in.
Meg first starts to understand how her character is positively influenced by her unique traits when she meets Calvin O’Keefe. When they return to Meg’s house to have dinner, they both have homework to finish. Calvin explains how he struggles with math, and Meg’s mom suggests that Meg helps him with his math homework. At first, Calvin is doubtful, since he is several years older than Meg and has to do more complicated problems. Quickly, Meg starts teaching Calvin how to do the problems. She starts to develop a “…sense of pride and identity…and a positive view of [her] life” (Segal and Robinson) as she helps him. By proving that she isn’t dumb to Calvin, she gains a little sense of personal identity. When Meg realizes she can use her differences to help—as small as helping Calvin with homework or something bigger, like changing something about the world—she begins to value her insecurities more.
As Meg faces the downsides to conformity head-on, she realizes how it can hinder a person and a society overall. When she visits the planet Camaztoz, she faces the leading force, IT. This force controls the people of Camaztoz by forcing them to conform. The whole population is forced to do daily tasks, such as bringing in the newspaper or playing outside, at the same time. Through her battle with IT, Meg directly fights conformity, causing her to accept her unique differences. When Meg tries to fight against IT’s rhythm and power, “it was to her faults that she turned to save herself now” (L’Engle 176). As Meg uses her faults to save her father and brother, she realizes that they aren’t faults at all—they are talents. She uses her talents, strength and courage, to defeat IT. Without anybody having unique quirks and talents, a society is left with people going through the motions of life, not living it. Meg comes to accept this and realizes that she wouldn’t trade her talents for the world.
Meg explores her personality and uses her imperfections to her advantage when she defends her friends and family from IT. While she starts off desperately wanting to be normal and blend into the background, throughout her adventure she learns that differences make people human. She uses this knowledge to ultimately fight against the communistic planet, Camaztoz. It takes courage to fight against a system that values conformity above all else. But as history has shown time and time again, communistic societies lead to an imbalance of power that threatens the wellbeing of all citizens. Fighting to protect this, like Meg did, will form a person’s character and shape their personal identity into one the person will have for the rest of his or her life.