Womanhood and Coming of Age in Madeleine L. Engle´s A Wrinkle in Time

“Meg soon found that there was no need to cling to Charles Wallace or Calvin” (62). Meg is usually nervous but eventually she realises that she doesn’t need to be scared or worried

Meg is an oddball and is dislike by everyone but her family, she gets made fun of and defends her brother Charles Wallace. While Meg is at school she gets in trouble and has to talk to the principal. She is made fun of for being dumb and ugly. Mr. Jenkins quotes, “Do you enjoy being the most belligerent, uncooperative child in school?”(L’engle 28). This is what Meg’s principal said to her when she got in trouble.

Birth, whether of children or desires, existplays an active motif throughout The Awakening. Edna Pontellier, as one of the leading characters, is a child discovering her very sense of self. Her attitude toward her children reveals that she is not the typical “mother-woman” the preferable type of woman in Edna’s society. The term, mother-woman is a reductive one which implies a singular purpose or value. The mother-woman is a mother; being one defines and regulates every aspect of her life. (51). The critical elements to identifying Edna’s awakening. One thing that different Edna from other women in the society such as Madame Ratignolle is that she has not accepted her role unquestionably.

Typically in novels there are many supporting themes to create the storyline in the novel; in “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle a major theme in the novel is courage. It shows in almost every chapter, through Margaret (Meg) Murry and Charles Wallace Murry. The quest the kids go through in the novel corresponds to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s journey also the type of courage found within the Christian framework. Courage is having the strength to resist and endure fear, danger, and difficulty; it is the main thing that can keep the children together on the journey.

As Meg encounters conflict, she feels anger and protectiveness for those who she is close to. Charles Wallace had delved into the mind of IT, who took him over. Meg yells angrily, “‘Where is he? She demanded of the

In her book she challenges the government of France and their ideas that women should not be exposed to the same education as men. She gives warning that women will not forever be satisfied with only domestic concerns, and she demands justice for the female race.

The depression caused multiple hardships for them to endure. World War II saw many women join the workforce due to necessity, taking up jobs that had previously been considered only for men. Social attitudes towards what women were capable of doing had been changed due to the experience; this point in time was of high importance. During the time in the text, woman’s rights were very underdeveloped, women were powerless and men were alpha. The female characters were often portrayed as nothing but housewives that weren’t able to express their own opinions without facing a critical

The two main women in Edna’s life serve as foils of each other and static characters to which Edna can compare. Adele Ratignole presents the ideal, socially-accepted woman figure. She exemplifies all that is perfect: devoted wife seeking only to please her spouse, loving mother, knowledgeable, conventional, “mother-woman,” elegant, charming, simple, and servant to both her family and society. Completely opposite of the dependent woman is Mademoiselle Reisz who personifies all that Adele would disgust. Reisz remains isolated from society, shunned as a recluse for her passion of music. She is unpopular, solitary, unmarried, childless, but also courageous, passionate, independent, inspired, and free. The two figures rest on polar ends of a societal spectrum. This distance creates a horrific gap within which Edna finds herself. Edna identifies with both women, having qualities and tendencies of each. This dual connection complicates Edna’s identity; she cannot fully embody either woman type while she possesses qualities of the other. Edna remains in a situation in which success cannot be achieved.

The role that women play in society has changed and evolved numerous times throughout our nation’s history. Women have been viewed as both pious and ungodly, chaste and immoral, and both precious and worthless. However, what has continued to remain constant in the lives of women is the unchanging feeling of inequality and insufficiency compared to their male counterparts. Those feelings endured by women are decidedly timeless, no matter what other circumstances exist within their lives. There are indeed similarities between the lives of the women in Lepore’s biography Book of Ages and Wilson’s autobiographical novel Our Nig. Both Frado and Jane Franklin Mecom were born at a disadvantage because of the sole fact that they were female. They each

Gender inequality is a very interesting topic in the world today or even in the past. All through the 17th to the 18th century, women expectations were entirely different from the expectations in the current 21st century. Females were expected to work typically in their homes only; those who did the opposite were looked down by the society. The sole purpose of women was to be a maker of the home and bear kids while the man was expected to work outside the house. This type of mentality is evidenced in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, and “A&P” by John Updike; they all illuminates on the submissiveness, the obedience of women to a man 's authority that was considered unexceptional at the onset of the twentieth century because the themes of the inscrutability of women, domesticity, patriarchal dominance and female identity are present in all these works.

Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique, should be apart of the American literary canon for not only spurring the second wave of feminism in America, but for exposing one of the many social injustices plaguing the United States at the time, and for inspiring young women as well.

The subjects of the two novels, Edna Pontellier and the Narrator, undergo a similar change; at the onset of the novel they meet all societies expectations and standards for women of their time- Mrs. Pontellier is described as shy and reserved and neither protagonist ever disobey their husbands- but with each coming page, the women convert into someone unrecognizable to their antierior selves. Though their metamorphose are both ignited by a new environment, they had internally harbored yet suppressed their need for independence and freedom. Like these two, every woman holds creativity and free will; however during this time they were unable to practice them, as doing so was almost unheard of and rarely tolerated. The Narrator and Edna themselves serve to represent the healthy creative urges within women that have been suppressed.

When this book was written in the late 60’s/70’s, gender role was an extremely important theme. Women

Women are often perceived as mother figures who stand by their husbands no matter what type of situation they encounter. They are expected to give a perfect image to society and do not get the greater say. Eugene O 'Neill’s play, A Long Day’s Journey into the Night (1940), gives the reader a representation of a woman who is still influenced by these standard societal expectations. The character, Mary Tyrone, depends greatly of her husband and will not leave him even if she wanted to. In The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, the reader is introduced to Edna Pontellier who is the complete opposite. She exposes the dissatisfaction that women feel and decides to act upon it. These two characters feel that they do not belong in the lifestyle they are given. They struggle with their identity due to their husbands’ lack of affection. As a result, marriage becomes a barrier to their happiness and individual fulfillment. The sense of displacement, marital dissatisfaction, and loss and gain of identity pushes both Mary and Edna to take major decisions in order to deal with their pain and desires.

Tickled by the affection of being read, the book is full of joy as it's anxiety slowly but surely settles down.The book’s chest loosens up, unlike before when it had a tightness that would not go away , it's happiness takes over the darkness that once consumed it,which is also a new experience for the book. Jessica was the opposite, still happy, but on a thrill ride that this book is taking her on, she couldn’t contain her excitement so her heart was pounding, and she was sure everyone in the book store could hear the thump thump thumping of her nervous heart. But no one could, every now and then though,the book could feel the girls racing heart in her hands as she held the book’s sides firmly and protectively.