Getting Fond

One of my favorite lines in A Wrinkle in Time comes from the Happy Medium, who says, in the chapter bearing her name, "It's my worst trouble, getting fond. If I didn't get fond I could be happy all the time." It is a problem, isn't it? As soon as we become attached to someone, we set ourselves up for pain: the pain of empathy and of loss. The Buddhist take on this is that we should strive to remain unattached, to either people or things, because it will hinder our serenity. Perhaps, and sometimes I'm tempted to keep to myself as much as possible for this very reason. But think of the depths of joy we'd be missing out on if we refused to connect with other people.

It reminds me of the theme songs of Rankin and Bass's versions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, especially the latter, which poses the question, "What good is it to love when the loving always ends?" and notes, "If you never say hello, you won't have to say goodbye." Obviously, Frodo is not controlled by such thoughts. He agrees to take the Ring all the way to Mordor out of love for his friends and for the entire population of the Shire, even those he doesn't know. He has gotten fond, and therefore he puts himself into great danger. And he is a hero to emulate.

Meg returns to the oppressive Camazotz for Charles Wallace because she loves him. Mrs. Whatzit gives up her life as a star because she loves what is good and right in the universe. Love drives so many brave actions in this novel and so many others. Getting fond. It may not be the easiest way to live. But it must be the most fulfilling.

Favorite Moments

I keep having good intentions about posting here...but days keep slipping by! At one point, a couple of weeks ago I had mentally composed at least the beginning of a couple of posts, but those seem to have slipped out of my tired brain. So I'll fore-go profundity and just share some of my favorite moments from WiT.

There are many favorite moments in this book, from the opening when Madeleine trots out that old warhorse of a first line "It was a dark and stormy night..." and then really does something creative with it. I still feel thrilled whenever Mrs Whatsit shows up, caught in a downdraft and blown off course. I think she's definitely my favorite of the Mrs W's, though they're all wonderful in their own ways. I especially enjoy their interaction -- one of the best lighthearted moments for me comes when Mrs Which accidentally tries to tesser them onto a two-dimensional planet, sending the "younger" two into gales of giggles.

But the deeper moments in this book are worth pondering too. The one that struck me deepest as a kid, and still resonates with me, is the moment when Meg realizes she has to be the one to go back to Camazotz to rescue Charles Wallace. I love how she moves from despair and frustration and near-hysteria to real peace about that. There's a quality of Frodo's "I will take the ring" there...acceptance and courage from a very small, limited creature facing impossible odds. I also always loved how Mrs Whatsit so patiently and creatively explained things to Calvin, via the sonnet metaphor. Our lives are like a "strict form, but freedom within it" -- I still love that line.

Many, many more moments I could write about...but I need to finish making dinner. What are some of your favorites?

Speaking In Quotes

I really like Mrs. Who's habit of speaking in famous quotations, finding that she's better able to express herself through the words of others. It gives us an opportunity to discover what words of wisdom inspired L'Engle, and to get a little crash course in some of the great thoughts of history. I also often find myself speaking in quotes, especially among people with a common reference point. Usually it's quotes from books, movies, television and songs rather than ones that are from significant figures throughout history, but in any case, there are so many to choose from, with well-ordered thoughts on just about every possible subject. I think it would be fun to try speaking like Mrs. Who for a day. It would make quite a challenge!

My all-time favorite quote is Gandalf's admonition to Bilbo at the end of The Hobbit: "You are a fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!" But there are so many others I carry around with me everywhere. It's a comforting thought, really, to have such a deep well of wise and funny and inspiring quotes to draw from. Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Meg and Charles Wallace

What I always remembered best about this book was the strength of the relationship between Meg and Charles Wallace. Glancing at the back cover, I noticed that inside, I had written in pencil 3-24-92. I presume that this is the day that I finished reading the book for the first time, 16 years almost to the day from this read. That would have made me 11 at the time and Nathan 3 and a half, so no doubt I thought of him as I read, and delving into it again, I couldn't help but compare. I've always felt especially close to my littlest brother, who is rather like Charles Wallace in terms of his skills as an artist. Just as Charles waited a long time to talk but started using complete sentences right away when he did, Nathan resisted drawing altogether until he was four or five, at which point he immediately started drawing in great detail.

I love how attuned the two are to each other. That scene in the kitchen is so great; Meg's wishing Charles Wallace would come upstairs to comfort her, and he's one step ahead of her, waiting for her to come downstairs and ready with a glass of warm milk. Throughout the book, their understanding of one another is so important, especially in the end, when Meg must use her love for her brother to crack through his trance. (I wonder if George Lucas is a fan of this book; there's a scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that is strikingly similar to Meg's rescue of Charles Wallace, and now that I think of it there are shades of it in Return of the Jedi as well.)

I actually had forgotten about the twins in this book, but then they don't come into the story that much. Do they show up more later in the series? Anyway, there are so many great things about A Wrinkle in Time, but my favorite aspect has to that incredible bond between Meg and her little brother.

Loving Something to Pieces

It's difficult for me to take A Wrinkle in Time off my shelf. No, I don't mean emotionally...though in the wake of Madeleine's passing this past fall, there was a bit of that involved too. I mean it's literally hard to take the book off my shelf because my original copy is broken in three pieces.

Wrinkle is one of the few books of my life that I have loved so much I have literally read it to pieces. The binding broke years ago, on who knows which repeated reading. It's in tatters. The pages are brownish-yellow. The cover is completely off. I used to keep a rubber band around the whole thing to hold it together, but that seemed to hurt it worse, so now I just let it be, sandwiched in between Dance in the Desert and A Wind in the Door, near the beginning of my L'Engle collection.

I confess, when I re-read Wrinkle last fall, I read another copy, one I bought at a used book sale. But I just can't get rid of this one. It was the first Madeleine book I ever read, the copy I clutched in my eager eleven year old hands the first time I followed Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin to Camazotz. Even broken, maybe especially broken, it's one of my book treasures.

Here We Go Again!

Well, our "Re-Reading Harry" blog was so fruitful (and so much fun!) that Erin and I have decided to give it another go. This time around, we'll be reading books by Madeleine L'Engle. Madeleine's been one of the "authors of my heart" since I first read A Wrinkle in Time when I was eleven years old. Her works have a place of honor on...and take up two shelves of!...my living room bookcase.

I'm eager to get the discussion started, but first we've got to decide on what to read. Erin has expressed an interest in re-reading Wrinkle, which would seem a natural place to start, and then we might head into non-fiction territory with perhaps my favorite of all Madeleine's non-fiction books: Walking on Water. After that, who knows? It should be a wonderful springtime conversation!