Meg Murry
Encyclopedia
Margaret "Meg" Murry O'Keefe is the main character and main protagonist in Madeleine L'Engle
's Time Quintet
of Science fantasy
novel
s, the daughter of two scientists, the sister of twins Sandy and Dennys Murry
and telepath Charles Wallace Murry
, and the mother of Polly O'Keefe
and others in the O'Keefe series of books. About fourteen years old when introduced in A Wrinkle in Time
(1962), she is thirty-six and a mother of seven in her second published appearance, The Arm of the Starfish
(1965). The adventures of Meg, her three brothers and her two eldest children take place over the course of eight books, written between 1959 and 1989. A further novel about Meg as an adult, begun in the 1990s, remains unfinished.
student in the first two books about the Murry family, and an adult in the third. She wears glasses, has dental brace
s and "mouse-brown" hair, and considers herself "repulsive-looking" and "dumb", although she is quite good at math. However Calvin O'Keefe describes Meg's eyes to be beautiful "dreamboat eyes." As a misfit with an odd younger brother and (in the first book) a missing father, she is defensive in her dealings with people outside her family, and unpopular with her peers and teachers.
In A Wrinkle in Time (1962
, ISBN 0-374-38613-7), Meg longs for her father, who has mysteriously disappeared. She becomes friends with fellow student Calvin O'Keefe
, who joins Meg and Charles Wallace in traveling by tesseract
to other planets and provides Meg much-needed emotional support. Together they rescue Dr. Murry on the dark planet Camazotz. Meg ultimately rescues Charles Wallace from Camazotz as well, not through her own intelligence or strength but simply by loving him.
In A Wind in the Door
(1973
, ISBN 0-374-38443-6), Meg is much happier in school than previously, in part because of her friendship with Calvin. However, she is deeply worried about Charles Wallace, who has difficulty getting along with students and teachers and suffers from a mysterious illness involving his mitochondria
. Meg tries to intervene on his behalf with Mr. Jenkins, the school principal, whom she still resents due to past conflicts. Meg learns to love and appreciate Jenkins, however, when she is given the task of "Naming" him and distinguishing between the principal and his Echthroi
dopplegangers
. Meg, Mr. Jenkins, Calvin, and a "singular cherub
im" are then sent inside one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria to turn the tide against the Echthroi, the forces of Entropy
and "Unnaming." Meg learns to appreciate the cosmic harmony and interdependency of macrocosm and microcosm
. Meg also learns to "kythe
" with Calvin and others, communing with them essentially by telepathy
.
In A Swiftly Tilting Planet
, Meg is a stunningly beautiful young woman, and is pregnant with her daughter, Polly O'Keefe, although neither the baby's name nor gender is given.
In Many Waters
(1986
, ISBN 0-374-34796-4), Meg is about nineteen years old, in college, and writing a paper entitled "The Million Doller [sic] question: the chicken or the egg
, amino acids or their polymers." She is said to have a "long commute" to school, but apparently does not mind this because she "likes to drive." At the dentist with her mother and Charles Wallace as the book begins, Meg appears only in the book's final two pages. Her brothers Sandy and Dennys spend most of the story in the time of Noah
, but refer occasionally to Meg and Charles Wallace as the "special ones" in the family.
(called Poly and eventually Polly) shortly after the later book. Although she has not earned a doctorate, she is a mathematician who helps Calvin with his work in marine biology
. As of the later books about Polly, Meg is said to be "restless" and considers going back to school. Having outgrown her awkward "ugly duckling" adolescence, she is considered beautiful as an adult, with long chestnut hair and contact lenses.
In A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978
, ISBN 0-374-37362-0), Meg is heavily pregnant and at her parents' house for Thanksgiving, along with Sandy and Dennys. Meg is living in a furnished apartment
near the hospital where Calvin works, but it is said that they often visit Meg's parents on weekends. At the time of the book, Calvin is in London presenting a paper, but his mother, Branwen O'Keefe, reluctantly visits the Murrys. When Meg's father gets a phone call from the President of the United States
about a threat of nuclear war
, Mrs. O'Keefe recites a rune with which she expects Charles Wallace to prevent the end of the world. As Charles Wallace travels in time to change key events in the past, Meg supports his efforts by kything with him. Meg mourns the death of Fortinbras, the family dog mentioned in A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, but welcomes a new dog, Ananda, into the family. She also receives a call from Calvin during the course of the book, during which he reassures her and tells her he loves her.
In The Arm of the Starfish (1965
, ISBN 0-374-30396-7), Meg now has seven children, the oldest of whom, Polyhymnia or Poly, is twelve years old. The others, in order of decreasing age, are Charles, Alexander (initially called Sandy, later nicknamed Xan), Dennys (Den), Peggy (presumably Margaret), Johnny and Mary (nicknamed Rosy). Meg assists Calvin in his work with starfish
, particularly in tasks involving mathematics
. A friend of the family, Canon
John Tallis, otherwise known as Father Tom, is said to be the person who gave Poly her unusual name. They live on the fictional island of Gaea off the coast of Portugal, which provides both specimens and privacy for Calvin's work. Meg now appears to be secure and confident, and trusts Poly enough to let her travel without her parents in the company of Canon Tallis. During the book, Poly is kidnapped and then rescued, and her brother Charles shows signs of precognition
.
In Dragons in the Waters
(1976
, ISBN 0-374-31868-9), Meg appears briefly as she and her younger children drop off Calvin, Poly and Charles for a voyage by freighter
to South America, and shows kindness toward elderly Leonis Phair, whose great nephew, Simon Renier, is on the same ship. It is established that the O'Keefes are now living on fictional Benne Seed Island, not too far from Charleston, South Carolina
. Despite Poly's prior kidnapping, Meg is apparently secure enough about Poly's safety to allow her to travel with only her father and younger brother. Poly tells Simon that according to her father, her mother "could get a doctorate with both hands tied behind her back, but she just laughs and says she can't be bothered".
In A House Like a Lotus
(1984
, ISBN 0-374-33385-8), Meg is said by Maximiliana Horne, Polly's mentor, to be "restless" now that her children are growing older and less dependent. Polly writes that her mother intends to complete her Ph.D. once her youngest child, Rosy, is in school. Polly is aware that Meg does not want her eldest daughter to suffer the same difficult adolescence that Meg had in terms of peer relationships. Max suspects that Meg has been holding herself back professionally in order to avoid giving Polly an inferiority complex
similar to the one Meg had in comparing herself with her beautiful, Nobel Prize-winning mother. Meg appears to be at a loss how to help seventeen-year-old Polly through a crisis that Polly refuses to discuss, but again trusts her daughter to travel to other countries without her parents. This time it is Sandy Murry who is to chaperon her for part of the trip. Meg is said to be strong and slender and still relatively young-looking, in part because she takes care of herself and swims every day. Max and Polly agree that Polly's parents have a strong marriage and love each other. Meg confesses to Polly, however, that on occasion she has had to weather false rumors about Calvin's relationships with some of his female colleagues.
In An Acceptable Time
(1989
, ISBN 0-374-30027-5), Polly is staying with Meg's parents in Charles Wallace's former room. Polly has a brief telephone conversation with her parents Calvin and Meg, although they are not physically present in this book.
, which should take place over twenty years after Dragons based on character chronologies, makes the same end-of-century references. L'Engle refers to these stories as taking place in Kairos, which she defines in the front of the Many Waters hardback as "real time, pure numbers with no measurement" instead of "ordinary, wrist-watch, alarm-clock time." Nevertheless, it is possible to determine a plausible (albeit arbitrary) approximate date of 1970 for the events of A Wrinkle in Time. This would give Meg an approximate birth date of 1956. If Meg is 14 in A Wrinkle in Time (which is not definitively established in the book or elsewhere), then she is about 15 in A Wind in the Door, about 19 in Many Waters, about 24 in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, about 36 in The Arm of the Starfish, and about 42 as of An Acceptable Time. Reports about the unfinished book about Meg, The Eye Begins to See, place Meg as being in her forties or fifties.
in 2003. This Disney
production starred Katie Stuart
as Meg. The television version of the character is similar to the novel version in behavior and intelligence. However, the television Meg does not wear glasses, and has a troublesome encounter with a teacher that does not appear in the book. The film is available on DVD.
Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'Engle was an American writer best known for her young-adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time...
's Time Quintet
Time Quartet
The Time Quartet/Quintet is a fantasy/science fiction series of five young adult novels written by Madeleine L'Engle.Those novels are:*A Wrinkle in Time , , ISBN 0-374-38613-7*A Wind in the Door , ISBN 0-374-38443-6...
of Science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, the daughter of two scientists, the sister of twins Sandy and Dennys Murry
Sandy and Dennys Murry
Alexander "Sandy" Murry and Dennys Murry are fictional identical twins in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet. They play only minor roles in three of the books but are the protagonists of Many Waters...
and telepath Charles Wallace Murry
Charles Wallace Murry
Charles Wallace Murry is a major character in Madeleine L'Engle's young adult science fiction novels A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, sometimes referred to as the Time Trilogy...
, and the mother of Polly O'Keefe
Polly O'Keefe
Polyhymnia O'Keefe is the protagonist of the Madeleine L'Engle novels A House Like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time, and a major character in two previous books, The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters. The eldest daughter of Meg Murry O'Keefe and Dr...
and others in the O'Keefe series of books. About fourteen years old when introduced in A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle, first published in 1962. The story revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and...
(1962), she is thirty-six and a mother of seven in her second published appearance, The Arm of the Starfish
The Arm of the Starfish
The Arm of the Starfish is a young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle, first published in 1965. It is the first novel featuring Polly O'Keefe and the O'Keefe family, a generation after the events of A Wrinkle in Time...
(1965). The adventures of Meg, her three brothers and her two eldest children take place over the course of eight books, written between 1959 and 1989. A further novel about Meg as an adult, begun in the 1990s, remains unfinished.
As Meg Murry
Meg Murry is a teenager who hates being different, though different she is. She is a self conscious high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
student in the first two books about the Murry family, and an adult in the third. She wears glasses, has dental brace
Dental brace
Dental braces are devices used in the orthodontic industry that help align and straighten teeth and help to position them with regard to a person’s bite, while also working to improve dental health...
s and "mouse-brown" hair, and considers herself "repulsive-looking" and "dumb", although she is quite good at math. However Calvin O'Keefe describes Meg's eyes to be beautiful "dreamboat eyes." As a misfit with an odd younger brother and (in the first book) a missing father, she is defensive in her dealings with people outside her family, and unpopular with her peers and teachers.
In A Wrinkle in Time (1962
1962 in literature
The year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
, ISBN 0-374-38613-7), Meg longs for her father, who has mysteriously disappeared. She becomes friends with fellow student Calvin O'Keefe
Calvin O'Keefe
Calvin O'Keefe is a major character in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet series of books, and, as "Dr. Calvin O'Keefe", an important character in her O'Keefe series of young adult novels. In an interview released on the DVD of the TV adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, L'Engle describes Calvin as "the...
, who joins Meg and Charles Wallace in traveling by tesseract
Tesseract
In geometry, the tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron or cubic prism, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8...
to other planets and provides Meg much-needed emotional support. Together they rescue Dr. Murry on the dark planet Camazotz. Meg ultimately rescues Charles Wallace from Camazotz as well, not through her own intelligence or strength but simply by loving him.
In A Wind in the Door
A Wind in the Door
A Wind in the Door is a young adult science fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It is a companion book to A Wrinkle in Time, and part of the Time Quartet .-Plot summary:...
(1973
1973 in literature
The year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
, ISBN 0-374-38443-6), Meg is much happier in school than previously, in part because of her friendship with Calvin. However, she is deeply worried about Charles Wallace, who has difficulty getting along with students and teachers and suffers from a mysterious illness involving his mitochondria
Mitochondrion
In cell biology, a mitochondrion is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. These organelles range from 0.5 to 1.0 micrometers in diameter...
. Meg tries to intervene on his behalf with Mr. Jenkins, the school principal, whom she still resents due to past conflicts. Meg learns to love and appreciate Jenkins, however, when she is given the task of "Naming" him and distinguishing between the principal and his Echthroi
Echthroi
Echthroi is a Greek word meaning "The Enemy" . The singular form of the word, Echthros , is used in many versions and translations of the Bible for enemy...
dopplegangers
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
. Meg, Mr. Jenkins, Calvin, and a "singular cherub
Cherub
A cherub is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God...
im" are then sent inside one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria to turn the tide against the Echthroi, the forces of Entropy
Entropy
Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
and "Unnaming." Meg learns to appreciate the cosmic harmony and interdependency of macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
. Meg also learns to "kythe
Kything
Kything is from an old Scottish word, "kythe," meaning "to make visible." Madeleine L'Engle used it to describe a fictional type of communication, in a sense like telepathy, found in several of the books in her Time Quartet...
" with Calvin and others, communing with them essentially by telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
.
In A Swiftly Tilting Planet
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
A Swiftly Tilting Planet is a 1978 science fiction novel by Madeleine L'Engle, part of the Time Quartet. In it, Charles Wallace Murry, an advanced and perceptive child in A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, has grown into adolescence...
, Meg is a stunningly beautiful young woman, and is pregnant with her daughter, Polly O'Keefe, although neither the baby's name nor gender is given.
In Many Waters
Many Waters
Many Waters is a 1986 novel by Madeleine L'Engle, part of the author's Time Quartet . The title is taken from the Song of Solomon 8:7: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it...
(1986
1986 in literature
The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
, ISBN 0-374-34796-4), Meg is about nineteen years old, in college, and writing a paper entitled "The Million Doller [sic] question: the chicken or the egg
The chicken or the egg
The Chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began....
, amino acids or their polymers." She is said to have a "long commute" to school, but apparently does not mind this because she "likes to drive." At the dentist with her mother and Charles Wallace as the book begins, Meg appears only in the book's final two pages. Her brothers Sandy and Dennys spend most of the story in the time of Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
, but refer occasionally to Meg and Charles Wallace as the "special ones" in the family.
As Meg O'Keefe
Meg marries Calvin between the events of Many Waters and those of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. She gives birth to her first child, PolyhymniaPolyhymnia
Polyhymnia , was in Greek mythology the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime. She is depicted as very serious, pensive and meditative, and often holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and veil and resting her elbow on a pillar...
(called Poly and eventually Polly) shortly after the later book. Although she has not earned a doctorate, she is a mathematician who helps Calvin with his work in marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
. As of the later books about Polly, Meg is said to be "restless" and considers going back to school. Having outgrown her awkward "ugly duckling" adolescence, she is considered beautiful as an adult, with long chestnut hair and contact lenses.
In A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
, ISBN 0-374-37362-0), Meg is heavily pregnant and at her parents' house for Thanksgiving, along with Sandy and Dennys. Meg is living in a furnished apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
near the hospital where Calvin works, but it is said that they often visit Meg's parents on weekends. At the time of the book, Calvin is in London presenting a paper, but his mother, Branwen O'Keefe, reluctantly visits the Murrys. When Meg's father gets a phone call from the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
about a threat of nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
, Mrs. O'Keefe recites a rune with which she expects Charles Wallace to prevent the end of the world. As Charles Wallace travels in time to change key events in the past, Meg supports his efforts by kything with him. Meg mourns the death of Fortinbras, the family dog mentioned in A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, but welcomes a new dog, Ananda, into the family. She also receives a call from Calvin during the course of the book, during which he reassures her and tells her he loves her.
In The Arm of the Starfish (1965
1965 in literature
The year 1965 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Lloyd Alexander - The Black Cauldron*J. G. Ballard - The Drought*Ray Bradbury - The Vintage Bradbury*John Brunner...
, ISBN 0-374-30396-7), Meg now has seven children, the oldest of whom, Polyhymnia or Poly, is twelve years old. The others, in order of decreasing age, are Charles, Alexander (initially called Sandy, later nicknamed Xan), Dennys (Den), Peggy (presumably Margaret), Johnny and Mary (nicknamed Rosy). Meg assists Calvin in his work with starfish
Sea star
Starfish or sea stars are echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. The names "starfish" and "sea star" essentially refer to members of the class Asteroidea...
, particularly in tasks involving mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. A friend of the family, Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
John Tallis, otherwise known as Father Tom, is said to be the person who gave Poly her unusual name. They live on the fictional island of Gaea off the coast of Portugal, which provides both specimens and privacy for Calvin's work. Meg now appears to be secure and confident, and trusts Poly enough to let her travel without her parents in the company of Canon Tallis. During the book, Poly is kidnapped and then rescued, and her brother Charles shows signs of precognition
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
.
In Dragons in the Waters
Dragons in the Waters
Dragons in the Waters is a 1976 young adult murder mystery by Madeleine L'Engle, the second title to feature her character Polly O'Keefe. Its protagonist is thirteen-year-old Simon Bolivar Quentin Phair Renier, an impoverished orphan from an aristocratic Southern family...
(1976
1976 in literature
The year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
, ISBN 0-374-31868-9), Meg appears briefly as she and her younger children drop off Calvin, Poly and Charles for a voyage by freighter
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
to South America, and shows kindness toward elderly Leonis Phair, whose great nephew, Simon Renier, is on the same ship. It is established that the O'Keefes are now living on fictional Benne Seed Island, not too far from Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. Despite Poly's prior kidnapping, Meg is apparently secure enough about Poly's safety to allow her to travel with only her father and younger brother. Poly tells Simon that according to her father, her mother "could get a doctorate with both hands tied behind her back, but she just laughs and says she can't be bothered".
In A House Like a Lotus
A House Like a Lotus
A House Like a Lotus is a 1984 young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle. Its protagonist is sixteen-year-old Polly O'Keefe, whose friend and mentor, Maximiliana Horne, has sent her on a trip to Greece and Cyprus. As she travels, Polly must come to terms with a recent traumatic event involving Max...
(1984
1984 in literature
The year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
, ISBN 0-374-33385-8), Meg is said by Maximiliana Horne, Polly's mentor, to be "restless" now that her children are growing older and less dependent. Polly writes that her mother intends to complete her Ph.D. once her youngest child, Rosy, is in school. Polly is aware that Meg does not want her eldest daughter to suffer the same difficult adolescence that Meg had in terms of peer relationships. Max suspects that Meg has been holding herself back professionally in order to avoid giving Polly an inferiority complex
Inferiority complex
An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
similar to the one Meg had in comparing herself with her beautiful, Nobel Prize-winning mother. Meg appears to be at a loss how to help seventeen-year-old Polly through a crisis that Polly refuses to discuss, but again trusts her daughter to travel to other countries without her parents. This time it is Sandy Murry who is to chaperon her for part of the trip. Meg is said to be strong and slender and still relatively young-looking, in part because she takes care of herself and swims every day. Max and Polly agree that Polly's parents have a strong marriage and love each other. Meg confesses to Polly, however, that on occasion she has had to weather false rumors about Calvin's relationships with some of his female colleagues.
In An Acceptable Time
An Acceptable Time
An Acceptable Time is a 1989 young adult science fiction novel by Madeleine L'Engle, the last of her books to feature Polyhymnia O'Keefe, better known as Poly or Polly ,...
(1989
1989 in literature
The year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.-Literature:...
, ISBN 0-374-30027-5), Polly is staying with Meg's parents in Charles Wallace's former room. Polly has a brief telephone conversation with her parents Calvin and Meg, although they are not physically present in this book.
Dating the books
The chronology of the Murry-O'Keefe books is problematic at best, largely because the books about Meg and her various family members were written over a period of decades. Any attempt to tie character events and ages to real world chronology results in discrepancies, such as the first moon landing being mentioned (in A Wind in the Door) as taking place well before A Wrinkle in Time, while 14-year-old Polly O'Keefe makes reference, about 28 years after Wrinkle (in Dragons in the Waters), to the present as being the "end of the twentieth century". The Austin family book A Severed WaspA Severed Wasp
A Severed Wasp A Severed Wasp A Severed Wasp (1982, is a novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It continues the story of a pianist, Katherine Forrester, who was first seen in The Small Rain. Now a widow in her seventies, Katherine Forrester Vigneras returns to New York City in retirement from concert touring...
, which should take place over twenty years after Dragons based on character chronologies, makes the same end-of-century references. L'Engle refers to these stories as taking place in Kairos, which she defines in the front of the Many Waters hardback as "real time, pure numbers with no measurement" instead of "ordinary, wrist-watch, alarm-clock time." Nevertheless, it is possible to determine a plausible (albeit arbitrary) approximate date of 1970 for the events of A Wrinkle in Time. This would give Meg an approximate birth date of 1956. If Meg is 14 in A Wrinkle in Time (which is not definitively established in the book or elsewhere), then she is about 15 in A Wind in the Door, about 19 in Many Waters, about 24 in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, about 36 in The Arm of the Starfish, and about 42 as of An Acceptable Time. Reports about the unfinished book about Meg, The Eye Begins to See, place Meg as being in her forties or fifties.
Television adaptation
A television adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time was broadcast on ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 2003. This Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
production starred Katie Stuart
Katie Stuart
Katherine Anne "Katie" Stuart is a Canadian actress who has appeared in over 15 movies, ranging from the obscure to the more well-known . She has guest-starred on numerous television shows as well as appearing in the television movie A Wrinkle in Time.Stuart was born in Vancouver, British...
as Meg. The television version of the character is similar to the novel version in behavior and intelligence. However, the television Meg does not wear glasses, and has a troublesome encounter with a teacher that does not appear in the book. The film is available on DVD.