A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
"A Wind in the Door" is the second book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet, continuing the adventures of Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and friend Calvin O'Keefe. The story begins with Charles Wallace falling ill, a condition linked to malevolent forces called the Echthroi, which threaten to disrupt the universe by erasing stars. As the characters embark on a journey through the tesseract, they shrink to the size of farandolae and enter Charles's cells, specifically his mitochondria, to combat the forces harming him. Guided by a unique cherubim named Progo, they face several tests that challenge their understanding of love and identity, including identifying their principal, Mr. Jenkins, and convincing a crucial cell component to grow stronger. Through these trials, themes of love, the interconnectedness of life, and the struggle against evil are explored. Ultimately, Meg learns to channel her love to save Charles and others, demonstrating that love can transcend challenges, even those posed by deep-seated animosities. The narrative intertwines science fiction and fantasy with profound emotional depth, making it a compelling read for both young and adult audiences.
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A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1973
Type of work: Novel
The Work
A Wind in the Door takes the children of the Time Quartet even further into the science-fiction and fantasy world of the tesseract as they eventually travel time and space to enter the mitochondria of Charles Wallace’s cells, as tiny as the farandola that they are accompanying.
The novel opens with the discovery that Charles Wallace is ill and weakening. This illness, readers discover later in the novel, is caused by evil forces of the Echthroi, who are eliminating stars in the universe and creating a rip in the galaxy. The forces of the Echthroi are also affecting Charles Wallace’s mitochondria by encouraging his fanadolae not to follow their course and take root and grow strong. Therefore, he is weakening and dying from lack of oxygen.
He leads Meg to make the discovery of the cherubim, Progo, a supernatural creature with many wings and many eyes who looks nothing like the human idea of a cherubim. He will be part of her class, and the teacher Blajeny will instruct them in their three tests. Calvin is also part of this class and will be alongside Meg again to communicate his love and confidence to empower her. With the cherubim, she must pass the first test: identify the real principal Mr. Jenkins, whom she dislikes, out of three other imposters. She struggles and eventually is able to choose the real Mr. Jenkins by thinking of something lovable about him and using that against the others.
The reoccurrence of the guide, as seen in Progo, follows the theme of the series, which presents the children with a quest and supernatural obstacles to overcome. However, it differs a bit in A Wind in the Door as Progo is also learning and must pass these tests with the children, or he will cease to exist. The group must tesser not only in time but also in space, as they shrink in size to that of a farandola and enter Charles Wallace’s body. Once they learn to breathe and kythe as the farandolae do, their second test requires them to convince the farandole Sporos to deepen and grow roots in the mitochondria and become a fara in order to save Charles Wallace by fixing his mitochondria. The group, including the real Mr. Jenkins, Progo, Calvin, and Meg, attempt to kythe to Sporos, without luck. Meg is saved by Mr. Jenkins when she is pulled into the Echthroi. Their final test is to save Mr. Jenkins, as he is pulled into the Echthroi for Meg’s sake. She must then kythe to him and fill the emptiness created by the evil with her love for him, for Calvin, and for Charles Wallace.
She succeeds by forcing all of her power of love into the Echthroi and naming it herself, giving it a meaning. As she does this, she is returned to Charles Wallace, along with Mr. Jenkins and Calvin.
Her power of love again allows her to place herself between the powers of evil and those whom she must save. L’Engle gives readers another dichotomy of supernatural ability paired with the ultimate power that is love and the discovery that she can love strongly and deeply even those whom she believed she could not love.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. Women Writers of Children’s Literature. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1998.
Chase, Carole F. Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L’Engle and Her Writing. Philadelphia: Innisfree Press, 1998.
Hein, Rolland. Christian Mythmakers: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, J. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, Dante Alighieri, John Bunyan, Walter Wangerin, Robert Siegel, and Hannah Hurnard. Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 2002.
Hettinga, Donald R. Presenting Madeleine L’Engle. New York: Twayne, 1993.
Shaw, Luci, ed. The Swiftly Tilting Worlds of Madeleine L’Engle. Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw, 1998.