Name: Jirayu Mahatongkum 1

Class: English 12-02

Date: December 8, 2017

Margarret Murry and Her Non-traditional Feminine Quality in A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy novel written by Madeleine LEngle, American writer,

which first published in 1962. This novel is about Meg Murry, a high school-age and awkward girl,

who travels through the time to another planet to find her father who left her for many years with

her friend Calvin OKeefe and Charles Wallace, Megs younger brother. At the beginning of the

story, there is a clue about tesseract by Mrs.Whatsit that they try to fix it out. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs.

Which and Mrs. Who take Meg, Charles and Calvin to another planet called Uriel. Mrs.Whatsit

changes herself to be another creature then she takes three children to Camazotz where Megs

father is. This planet is controlled by IT, a giant disembodied brain. While they confronted with IT,

Charles tried to fight but he lost. He is controlled and get arrested by IT. When Meg meets her

father, they escape to another grey planet called Ixchel. After that, Meg decides to get back alone

to Camazotz to rescue her brother. Three Mrs. Ws give her a gift to fight with IT. At the end of the

story, Meg wins a fight, and she realizes a thing that can defeat IT is a power of love. Finally, Meg

can get her brother back, and they returned to Earth. Therefore, In A Wrinkle in Time, there are

three ways that Meg Murry demonstrate masculine quality.

Meg acts against the stereotypically feminine by not being timid and valiant. Meg is a

twelve years old girl who is a lovely sister to her younger brother, Charles. Also, she is an

intransigent and brave person who has no fear. At the beginning of the story, on the way home from

school, she walks back to her house and accidentally hear a boy talking about her brother. As a boy

says, dumb baby brother. At this she'd thrown die books on the side of the road and tackled him

with every ounce of strength she had, and arrived home with her blouse torn and a big bruise under

one eye(p.8). From this quote, it can be seen that she does not care anything including full
MEGS NON-TRADITIONAL FEMININE QUALITY !2

of books on her arm and throw it on the floor then she fights with him with anger. Within this

scene, Meg can fully demonstrate a masculine quality through bravery, which she takes different

traits from women. According to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, it quotes, while men

are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive(n.d.). It can support that Meg has

masculine stereotype. Furthermore, towards the last chapter, Charles loses a fight with the man with

red eyes then he got arrested and dominated by IT while he tried to find his father with Meg and

Calvin. Eventually, Meg decides to go to Camazotz alone to rescue her brother. LEngle writes,

Immediately Meg was swept into the darkness, into nothingness, and then into icy devouring cold

of the Black Things(p.223), detailing that Meg straightforward to help Charles without fright of

Black Things and IT. By this action, Meg exposes the character with fearlessness which breaking a

feminine quality as in the society women is being frightened. Not only the actions that show

masculine attributes which contrast to feminist theory, but also her personality.

Megs personality shows that she is the decisive person which opposes to usual feminine

quality. To begin with, Meg borns in relatively big family including father, mother, and three

younger brothers. She is the only girl and the oldest child in the family. In society, women are

typically irresolute, but her action shows that she is breaking through it. In the words of noted

University of Wollongong professors Arijit Sikdar and Sumit Mitra, In general, men are

characterized as aggressive, risk-taking, decisive, and autonomous, whereas women are

characterized as kind, caring, relational, and humble(2008). This quote demonstrates a stereotype

of how women cannot make their own sudden decisions; however, this quality is opposed by Meg.

As in the story, Meg can quickly settle by herself in many serious situations. For example, while

Meg, Charles, and Calvin try to save their father, Charles gets dominated by IT, so Meg sudden

decides to go to Camazotz to help Charles, she says, All right, Ill go! Meg sobbed. I know you

want me to go(p.215). From this quote, it can be considered that Megs act entirely breaks the
MEGS NON-TRADITIONAL FEMININE QUALITY !3

traditional stereotype of women in a term that she can immediately think and determine what to do

by herself. Moreover, she is willing to have their standpoints which cultural females do not have.

Therefore, stereotypically feminine contradicts to Meg's characteristic which is presented in the

novel.

Megs non-traditional appearance made her embarrassed and uncertain from others. Meg

is the only girl who is mentioned in a story. Everyone saw her as an awkward person because of her

looks. At the beginning of the story, Meg had a conversation with her mother about her mothers

looks compared to her. It says, Mrs. Murry's flaming red hair, creamy skin, and violet eyes with

long dark lashes, seemed even more spectacular in comparison with Meg's outrageous plainness(p.

16-17). Within this quote, it can be seen that she is not as beautiful like her mom. Also, her hair

was cut, so that she looked even plainer than before(p.17). With this quote, it can be linked to

Anna Davtyan Gevorgyans journal as she mentioned the beauty standards, They have flawless

skin, slender stature and embody all components of beauty as perceived in society(2016). It can be

seen that, in our society, women need to be beautiful to be accepted from the society. Moreover, in

the text says, Mother's not a bit pretty; she's beautiful, Charles Wallace announced, slicing

liverwurst. Therefore I bet she was awful at your age. How right you are, Mrs. Murry said. Just

give yourself time, Meg(p.18). This quote is another evidence that the author tries to explore the

idea of Meg not being as pretty as her mother. Consequently, Megs appearance shows that she is

breaking the stereotypically feminine.

Megs action, personality, and appearance are three ways that Meg demonstrates masculine

attribute which is against and contradicting stereotypically feminine. To explain this, Meg shows the

masculine quality through her action of being brave and non-timid by fighting with a boy.

Moreover, personality of Meg which is a decisive person reveals that she manifests the virile quality

by showing their own standpoint and decision. Furthermore, non-traditional looks of Meg makes
MEGS NON-TRADITIONAL FEMININE QUALITY !4

her unaccepted by others because of her non-beauty appearance. Therefore, mankind should not

judge each other by their appearance and should treat males and females equally.
MEGS NON-TRADITIONAL FEMININE QUALITY !5

References

Gevorgyan, D.A. (2016). Feminism and Gender Democracy. Retrieved from http://www.feminism-

boell.org/en/2016/04/08/women-and-mass-media

Planned Parenthood Federation of America. (n.d.). What are gender roles and stereotypes?.

Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-

gender-identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes

Sikdar, A. & Mitra, S. (2008). An Exploration of Gender Stereotypes in Perception and Practice of

Leadership. Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1004&context=dubaiwp