Tesser-Actions Speak Louder Than Words
[Keeping the Darkness at Bay, Part Two]
Before the “Tesseract” was an infinity stone stolen by Loki in the first Avengers movie, Madeline L’Engle made her own version of geometry’s four-dimensional cube. In the timeless science fantasy classic A Wrinkle in Time, the tesseract is a five-dimensional wrinkling of the fabric of space-time allowing people to “tesser” between two points via wormhole. This tesseract is not only the mode of transportation in this imaginative adventure, but it’s also the subject of Mr. Murray’s scientific studies before he disappears.
I read the book for the first time this year after seeing the movie trailer (funny how that works), and my first thought after reading was, “Why didn’t I read this when I was younger?” On par with the Narnia series in depth (but completely unique and not comparable to anything else), I was shocked at how complex and creative the book was. The story is imaginative, its imagery is vivid, and it displays an infinitely complex universe while maintaining enough simplicity to not alienate the target audience.
In the book, our main character Meg Murry, along with her little brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin O’Keefe are recruited by mysterious celestial beings to tesser through space to rescue her father from a being called the IT. In their adventure, they come across a planet infected by what’s known as “The Black Thing”—a force of darkness and chaos that’s destroyed worlds and has been spreading through the universe for a long time.
In part one of this series, Keeping the Darkness at Bay, I answered Galadirel’s question, “Why the Halfling?”, and the answer applies here as well: Somehow, in the grand scheme of the cosmos, this darkness-defying mission can only completed by two naïve teens and a kid.
The beings that bring Meg, Charles, and Calvin across the universe (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which) explain many things to the trio before the real action begins. The Black Thing is the source of all evil and darkness. The Black Thing wants to annihilate the universe, and has even infected Earth. A few of the greatest warriors against the darkness were from Earth, including scientists, artists, philosophers, and even Jesus. Also, Meg and Charles’ father Mr. Murray is trapped in the darkness-covered planet of Camazotz.
There’s a lot that I can say about the depth of A Wrinkle in Time, including Meg’s personal journey, the gift of her “faults”, the Happy Medium, the creepy people in Camazotz, the Mrs. Ws, the list goes on. I may talk more about this book in future Musings Monday posts, but today my focus is on the ending—the way Meg was able to keep the darkness at bay and save her family.
Near the end, Meg escapes Camazotz with Calvin and her father, but Charles Wallace is captured and controlled by the IT. It’s clear that only she can save him and break the IT’s hypnosis on him, since she knows him the best. When Meg finally confronts the IT and enters the darkness to rescue her brother, in the struggle she realizes the one thing the IT doesn’t have: Love.
When Meg loves her brother, only then does he break free from IT’s control. Love breaks the control of darkness, the trance of selfishness, the power of hate. Only love can keep the darkness at bay.
We don’t have to be beautiful, powerful cosmic beings to fight the darkness. In your everyday life, in your Shire, you the halfling—you the naïve child—can fight evil. You can live your life and be the hero every time you have the opportunity to love.
And what is love? Love is caring for others. Love is putting other people’s needs above your own. And, though sometimes accompanied by emotions, love is separate from feelings. Love is a choice, a commitment.
So what will you choose? Will you join the universe’s greatest heroes in the battle for Earth?
Love fills the gaps that separate us. Love is the tesseract wrinkling the fabric of time and space. Love brings us together and love is the only way to keep the darkness at bay.
So one question remains: How far would you tesser to save the ones you love?
