Vicky Austin
Encyclopedia
Victoria "Vicky" Austin is one of Madeleine L'Engle
's most frequently-used fictional characters, appearing in eight books and referred to in at least one more. She is the main protagonist
of the Austin family series of books. She is the first person narrator of Meet the Austins, The Moon by Night, A Ring of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, and (as a younger child) the picture book
The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. A nascent poet and writer, Vicky observes the everyday events in her large family, dates several boys, communicates with dolphins, faces the occasional mortal danger, and reflects on important issues about life and death, faith and family as she gradually comes of age
.
pageant at church. When a blizzard
forces cancellation of the pageant and the church service, Vicky must give up her moment in the spotlight, and instead welcome the birth of her baby brother, Rob.
of her mother, Victoria Eaton Austin.
Meet the Austins
(1960, ISBN 0-374-34929-0 for the 1997 edition) introduces Vicky at the age of twelve, just as her family goes through another major upheaval. When an airplane piloted by a family friend goes down, the Austins welcome the co-pilot's orphaned daughter, Maggy Hamilton, into their home. Vicky finds her home life disrupted as spoiled, selfish Maggy gravitates toward Suzy, causing chaos and straining Vicky's already difficult relationship with her younger, prettier sister.
(1963, ISBN 0-374-35049-3) rejoins Vicky when, at the age of fourteen, she begins to attract the attention of teenage boys. Vicky's life is disrupted yet again as Maggy moves away and the family prepares to move into a New York City
apartment. Having grown up outside the fictional village of Thornhill, Connecticut
, Vicky is unhappy with the move to the big city. As her parents soften the blow by taking the family on a ten week cross-country camping
trip, Vicky meets Zachary Gray
, a handsome, charming, mercurial boy who sweeps her off her feet. Later in the trip, Zachary has a rival in Andy Ford, who is more stable and dependable than Zach - and therefore less exciting. Vicky also struggles with her own identity issues as she begins to see herself as an individual, not just a member of the family. She is concerned about her developing looks and is even more concerned about her developing personality. Some of her concerns are eased by a talk with her Uncle Douglas, whom they visit in California
.
(1968, ISBN 0-374-38778-8) takes place the following winter in New York City. Told in the third person, the novel relegates Vicky to a more secondary role than in other titles, concentrating instead on family friends Josiah "Dave" Davidson and Emily Gregory. Abandoned by Zach, and with Andy having unexpectedly moved away, Vicky feels out of place and isolated in the big city, and is surrounded by mysterious dangers involving a street gang, a genie and a dangerous new technology.
(1980, ISBN 0-374-36299-8) is set during the summer following the events of The Young Unicorns, and again employs Vicky as protagonist and first person narrator. In a summer full of death and impending death, Vicky renews her relationship with Zach, somewhat unwillingly goes on a date with Leo Rodney, is encouraged in her writing by her dying Grandfather Eaton, and conducts experiments in dolphin communication with Adam Eddington
. Vicky again struggles with her identity and now begins to question the point of life. Her questions are fueled by Zachary's dark moods and ideas, Leo's stable and innocent ones, and theology she learns from her Grandfather. Adam supports her search for truth and eventually helps her find the answers she seeks. Vicky also faces problems within her friendships. While she would like to support Zach, she does not approve of his reckless behavior and dark mindset. Before the death of his father, Vicky assumed that Leo was "a slob". Over the summer, she finds he is kind, gentle and naive but lacks the spark she is looking for in a boyfriend. Adam instantly catches her attention as he is handsome, passionate, honest, kind and everything else she is looking for. But as she becomes close to him, he pulls away and treats her like a child. Vicky eventually breaks through his barriers in order to become friends with him again. Vicky also struggles with Suzy, her younger sister. She is slightly jealous of Suzy's beauty and intelligence but is also concerned about her relationship with Jacky Rodney. Her problems with Suzy are never fully solved. In the course of her work with Adam, she discovers a talent for telepathy
, a way of communing with others that is called kything
in L'Engle's Time Quintet. After coping with the deaths of Commander Rodney and a baby dolphin, and with her grandfather's physical and mental decline, Vicky has a mental breakdown after a child dies in her arms. Vicky believes these events are all indicating that Zachary was right and that life is hopeless, painful and pointless. She is roused from near-catatonia
by Adam and the dolphins. As she is saved from despair, she realizes the joy and the light in life, outweighs that darkness. She also realizes that when we focus on the darkness, it can overpower us. Joined in their passion for life and joy, it appears that Adam and Vicky begin a romantic relationship. In a television movie adaptation
of this novel, which aired on Disney Channel
in 2003
, Vicky was played by actress Mischa Barton
.
(1994, ISBN 0-374-37783-9) is the last full-length novel about Vicky, and takes place several months after the end of A Ring of Endless Light. Again told in the first person, it begins with Vicky stranded alone on an iceberg
off the coast of Antarctica. The novel proceeds to tell in flashback
how Adam's Aunt Serena paid for Vicky to visit Adam at Eddington Point in Antarctica, and of the interesting people and unexpected dangers she meets along the way. Vicky is concerned with Adam's cooling interest in her but it is later revealed as his attempt to protect her.
As this is the last book in which Vicky appears, readers are left to imagine what happens to Vicky when she grows up. It is likely she becomes a writer. Whether she and Adam end up together, or if she finds love elsewhere, is unknown. From the last statements of the books, it is at least certain that Vicky and Adam remain close friends.
is the protagonist of three books (arguably sharing that function with Charles Wallace Murry
in one of these), while Polly O'Keefe
, although she appears in four novels, is the protagonist in only two of them.
Like Meg, Vicky lives in an old farmhouse near a "star-watching rock" outside a village in Connecticut; both settings are based on Crosswicks, L'Engle's actual house in Connecticut. Meg and Vicky each have three siblings, and have a closer relationship with their youngest brother than with other family members. Like Meg, Vicky learns to silently communicate with a male love interest via kything
.
Vicky Austin is about two years older than Polly O'Keefe, her contemporary. Adam Eddington meets first Polly and then, a year later, Vicky. Conversely, Zachary Gray meets and pursues a relationship with Polly a few years after alienating Vicky. Both heroines are caught up in international intrigue (Polly in The Arm of the Starfish, Vicky in Troubling a Star), and both are aided by Canon Tallis
when their families fall victim to conspiracy and kidnapping. Vicky and Polly are each characterized as loving and somewhat naive, and each must face the death of a beloved mentor
. Each of them keeps a journal, is given an international trip by an older woman to whom she is not related, and has difficulty deciding on a career path.
Vicky shares a similar personality to Madeleine L'Engle. Both share a passion for literature and poetry, and use writing to express their ideas as well as their emotions. In addition, both struggle with the problem of evil, but ultimately believe in the existence of a loving God. L'Engle once described herself as looking much more like Meg Murry but acting much more like Vicky Austin. In an author's note to a paperback reissue of the Austins series, she further acknowledged that "I share all of Vicky's insecurities, enthusiasms, and times of sadness and growth."
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 most frequently-used fictional characters, appearing in eight books and referred to in at least one more. She is the main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the Austin family series of books. She is the first person narrator of Meet the Austins, The Moon by Night, A Ring of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, and (as a younger child) the picture book
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. A nascent poet and writer, Vicky observes the everyday events in her large family, dates several boys, communicates with dolphins, faces the occasional mortal danger, and reflects on important issues about life and death, faith and family as she gradually comes of age
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
.
Character traits
Vicky is the second eldest of four children. With a future astrophysicist (John) for an older brother and a younger sister (Suzy) who has always wanted to be a doctor, Vicky sometimes feels at odds with others in her family with her less purposeful, more philosophical approach to life. She is intelligent and loving, an Anglican who questions her faith and considers the philosophies of others. Introverted and sensitive, she sometimes wanders off to be alone, a tendency that annoys and concerns her family in several of the books. Within her immediate family, she is closest to her younger brother, Rob, who shares her loving and questioning nature. She finds a mentor and kindred spirit in her maternal grandfather, retired minister Grandfather Eaton, who recognizes Vicky's poetic nature and encourages her to write.The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas
The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas (1984, ISBN 0-87788-843-4) is the reader's look at Vicky at the age of seven, five years before her introductory appearance in Meet the Austins. Tall and skinny, self-described as "the middle Austin and the ugly duckling", she is elated at having been chosen to play the angel in the Christmas EveChristmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
pageant at church. When a blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
forces cancellation of the pageant and the church service, Vicky must give up her moment in the spotlight, and instead welcome the birth of her baby brother, Rob.
A Full House: An Austin Family Christmas
A Full House: An Austin Family Christmas (1999, ISBN 0-87788-020-4) takes place when Vicky is eleven years old. She is a minor character in the story, which is told from the point of viewPoint of view (literature)
The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode...
of her mother, Victoria Eaton Austin.
Meet the Austins
Meet the Austins
Meet the Austins is the title of a 1960 novel by Madeleine L'Engle, the first of her books about the Austin family. It introduces the characters Vicky Austin and her three siblings, and Maggy Hamilton, an orphan...
(1960, ISBN 0-374-34929-0 for the 1997 edition) introduces Vicky at the age of twelve, just as her family goes through another major upheaval. When an airplane piloted by a family friend goes down, the Austins welcome the co-pilot's orphaned daughter, Maggy Hamilton, into their home. Vicky finds her home life disrupted as spoiled, selfish Maggy gravitates toward Suzy, causing chaos and straining Vicky's already difficult relationship with her younger, prettier sister.
The Anti-Muffins
The Anti-Muffins (1997, ISBN 0-8298-0415-3) is a chapter that was omitted from Meet the Austins when it was first published, but restored to the book's later editions in hardcover and paperback. This missing chapter was published separately in 1980 as The Anti-Muffins. In it, Vicky is part of an Anti-Muffin Club, a small group of the Austin children and their friends, who believe in not judging by appearances and background. "Muffins" are a metaphor for conformity and snobbery. The chapter was apparently removed from the 1960 edition of Meet the Austins because it begins with a fight between boys who have just attended a church service and goes on to promote diversity; it also depicts the Austins as having a friend who is poor and Hispanic. "The Anti-Muffins" is Chapter Five of the post-1997 Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover and Square Fish paperback editions of Meet the Austins.The Moon by Night
The Moon by NightThe Moon by Night
The Moon by Night is the title of a young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle. Published in 1963, it is the second novel about Vicky Austin and her family, taking place between the events of Meet the Austins and The Young Unicorns , and more or less concurrently with the O'Keefe family novel The...
(1963, ISBN 0-374-35049-3) rejoins Vicky when, at the age of fourteen, she begins to attract the attention of teenage boys. Vicky's life is disrupted yet again as Maggy moves away and the family prepares to move into a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
apartment. Having grown up outside the fictional village of Thornhill, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Vicky is unhappy with the move to the big city. As her parents soften the blow by taking the family on a ten week cross-country camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
trip, Vicky meets Zachary Gray
Zachary Gray
Zachary Gray is a fictional character in the young adult novels of Madeleine L'Engle...
, a handsome, charming, mercurial boy who sweeps her off her feet. Later in the trip, Zachary has a rival in Andy Ford, who is more stable and dependable than Zach - and therefore less exciting. Vicky also struggles with her own identity issues as she begins to see herself as an individual, not just a member of the family. She is concerned about her developing looks and is even more concerned about her developing personality. Some of her concerns are eased by a talk with her Uncle Douglas, whom they visit in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
The Young Unicorns
The Young UnicornsThe Young Unicorns
The Young Unicorns is the title of a young adult suspense novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It is the third novel about the Austin family, taking place between the events of The Moon by Night and A Ring of Endless Light...
(1968, ISBN 0-374-38778-8) takes place the following winter in New York City. Told in the third person, the novel relegates Vicky to a more secondary role than in other titles, concentrating instead on family friends Josiah "Dave" Davidson and Emily Gregory. Abandoned by Zach, and with Andy having unexpectedly moved away, Vicky feels out of place and isolated in the big city, and is surrounded by mysterious dangers involving a street gang, a genie and a dangerous new technology.
A Ring of Endless Light
A Ring of Endless LightA Ring of Endless Light
A Ring of Endless Light is a 1980 novel by Madeleine L'Engle. The book tells of a girl named Vicky and her struggle to understand life and significance in the universe as she deals with her dying grandfather, while at the same time finding love....
(1980, ISBN 0-374-36299-8) is set during the summer following the events of The Young Unicorns, and again employs Vicky as protagonist and first person narrator. In a summer full of death and impending death, Vicky renews her relationship with Zach, somewhat unwillingly goes on a date with Leo Rodney, is encouraged in her writing by her dying Grandfather Eaton, and conducts experiments in dolphin communication with Adam Eddington
Adam Eddington
Adam Eddington III is a major character in three young adult novels by Madeleine L'Engle. A marine biology student, he is the protagonist of The Arm of the Starfish , and a reluctant love interest for Vicky Austin in A Ring of Endless Light , a relationship that continues in Troubling a Star...
. Vicky again struggles with her identity and now begins to question the point of life. Her questions are fueled by Zachary's dark moods and ideas, Leo's stable and innocent ones, and theology she learns from her Grandfather. Adam supports her search for truth and eventually helps her find the answers she seeks. Vicky also faces problems within her friendships. While she would like to support Zach, she does not approve of his reckless behavior and dark mindset. Before the death of his father, Vicky assumed that Leo was "a slob". Over the summer, she finds he is kind, gentle and naive but lacks the spark she is looking for in a boyfriend. Adam instantly catches her attention as he is handsome, passionate, honest, kind and everything else she is looking for. But as she becomes close to him, he pulls away and treats her like a child. Vicky eventually breaks through his barriers in order to become friends with him again. Vicky also struggles with Suzy, her younger sister. She is slightly jealous of Suzy's beauty and intelligence but is also concerned about her relationship with Jacky Rodney. Her problems with Suzy are never fully solved. In the course of her work with Adam, she discovers a talent for 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...
, a way of communing with others that is called kything
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...
in L'Engle's Time Quintet. After coping with the deaths of Commander Rodney and a baby dolphin, and with her grandfather's physical and mental decline, Vicky has a mental breakdown after a child dies in her arms. Vicky believes these events are all indicating that Zachary was right and that life is hopeless, painful and pointless. She is roused from near-catatonia
Catatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
by Adam and the dolphins. As she is saved from despair, she realizes the joy and the light in life, outweighs that darkness. She also realizes that when we focus on the darkness, it can overpower us. Joined in their passion for life and joy, it appears that Adam and Vicky begin a romantic relationship. In a television movie adaptation
A Ring of Endless Light (film)
A Ring of Endless Light is a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie based on the Madeleine L'Engle book of the same name filmed on location in Australia, and starring Mischa Barton in the main lead role. It is one of two Disney adaptations of novels by Madeleine L'Engle, the other being A Wrinkle in...
of this novel, which aired on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
in 2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
, Vicky was played by actress Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
.
Troubling a Star
Troubling a StarTroubling a Star
Troubling a Star is the last full length novel in the Austin family series by Madeleine L'Engle. The young adult suspense thriller, published in 1994, reunites L'Engle's most frequent protagonist, Vicky Austin, with Adam Eddington, both of whom become enmeshed in international intrigue as they...
(1994, ISBN 0-374-37783-9) is the last full-length novel about Vicky, and takes place several months after the end of A Ring of Endless Light. Again told in the first person, it begins with Vicky stranded alone on an iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
off the coast of Antarctica. The novel proceeds to tell in flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
how Adam's Aunt Serena paid for Vicky to visit Adam at Eddington Point in Antarctica, and of the interesting people and unexpected dangers she meets along the way. Vicky is concerned with Adam's cooling interest in her but it is later revealed as his attempt to protect her.
As this is the last book in which Vicky appears, readers are left to imagine what happens to Vicky when she grows up. It is likely she becomes a writer. Whether she and Adam end up together, or if she finds love elsewhere, is unknown. From the last statements of the books, it is at least certain that Vicky and Adam remain close friends.
Comparison with other L'Engle heroines
Vicky Austin is the most frequent protagonist in the fiction of Madeleine L'Engle, filling that function in four novels and two shorter works. Meg MurryMeg Murry
Margaret "Meg" Murry O'Keefe is the main character and main protagonist in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet of Science fantasy novels, 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...
is the protagonist of three books (arguably sharing that function with 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...
in one of these), while 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...
, although she appears in four novels, is the protagonist in only two of them.
Like Meg, Vicky lives in an old farmhouse near a "star-watching rock" outside a village in Connecticut; both settings are based on Crosswicks, L'Engle's actual house in Connecticut. Meg and Vicky each have three siblings, and have a closer relationship with their youngest brother than with other family members. Like Meg, Vicky learns to silently communicate with a male love interest via kything
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...
.
Vicky Austin is about two years older than Polly O'Keefe, her contemporary. Adam Eddington meets first Polly and then, a year later, Vicky. Conversely, Zachary Gray meets and pursues a relationship with Polly a few years after alienating Vicky. Both heroines are caught up in international intrigue (Polly in The Arm of the Starfish, Vicky in Troubling a Star), and both are aided by Canon Tallis
Canon Tallis
Canon John Tallis is a major character in the young adult novels of Madeleine L'Engle, appearing in four books. The character is based on L'Engle's real-life spiritual advisor, Canon Edward Nason West of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City....
when their families fall victim to conspiracy and kidnapping. Vicky and Polly are each characterized as loving and somewhat naive, and each must face the death of a beloved mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
. Each of them keeps a journal, is given an international trip by an older woman to whom she is not related, and has difficulty deciding on a career path.
Vicky shares a similar personality to Madeleine L'Engle. Both share a passion for literature and poetry, and use writing to express their ideas as well as their emotions. In addition, both struggle with the problem of evil, but ultimately believe in the existence of a loving God. L'Engle once described herself as looking much more like Meg Murry but acting much more like Vicky Austin. In an author's note to a paperback reissue of the Austins series, she further acknowledged that "I share all of Vicky's insecurities, enthusiasms, and times of sadness and growth."