A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is a book. It was listed as one of the novels on the canon of childrens litterature. The canon of childrens litterature is significant because "all of the works on the list have had a large influence on works later written; the majority of works that came afterwards, even if they are famous or influentioal in their own right,  were in some way influnced by works from within the canon." (Paraphrased from Colliers respons to a question I posed, why are older books in the canon but not some popular contemporary books) I read a wrinkle in time because it was in the canon. I want to do all of my readings from books that are within the canon. I want to see what the foundation which childrens litterature is built upon. However, I also chose a wrinkle in time for another reason. The description of the book made me feel like that I might be able to associatte with it; it seemed like it was going to shed some light on some religius/spiritual changes I was going through at the time.

There are certain aspects we are supposed to focus on while writting out journal entries. These include our personal connections to the book; how the book relates to our view of the world, are their characters in the book we associate with or at least understand, how does the book make us feel, does it make us think of our own lives in anyway, and we are also expected to comment on the craft of the book; its characters setting and plot, its belivability, and the emotional reaction is gives us. I think that by thinknig about these prompts while reading from the canon, I will be able to identify some key roots and aspects of what I would personaly consider good writting, and I might be also able to find attributes from within the canon that may appear to me later while reading more recent books.

There are three root ideas that really struck me while reading a wrinkle in time. Because a wrinkle in time is part of the canon, maybe these root ideas have had an influence on later writting. However, it is for certain that the root ideas certainly had a personal impact on me. The thee root ideas were 1) A battle being fought between good an evil. the battle is described and shown in the book, but it is a battle that I as a reader feel like I am acutaly a part of in my own personal life. I feel like the story is describing something that I am a part of, not that I am drawn into the story, but that the story is about myself. 2) The second common theme is that the people fighting in this battle are children; symbolic of honesty, fairness, kindess and compasion. And the enemy that these children are opposing is a somewhat unseeable and unexplainable negative evil. 3.) The third idea that I noticed is, in my expereince,  not so common accross childrens litterature, but it was prominent in a wrinkle in time. The idea was allusion. A litterary technique that draws other widely known notions into the story in order to ellucidate something within the text.

The notion that a wrinkle in time is presented in such a way that the reader feels like the story is about the readers own life has been modeled in other childrens litterature. For example, in Harry Potter there is a battle between good an evil, but another better example is the Never Ending Story. the way that both Harry Potter and the Never ending story are set up, is in such a way that the reader thinks it plausible that the books are actualy discribing the readers own reality. In the never ending story, at the end of the text, the reader of the book is directly addresed, and tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the nothing does not take over the universe, the reader must keep their imagination, for this is what overcomes the nothing. In Harry Potter the wizards leave the world of humans and engage in an alternate world for wizards. This alternate world is on the same planet, which leads the reader to wonder if that realm is actualy real and a part of our planet. A wrinkle in time depcts a battle between good and evil, of which planet earth plays a small but important role. Since the majority of the story takes place off of earh, but is presented in a possible and tangible way, it is easy for the reader to belive thaat the story may really be about my own life.

That the context is set up in such a way that it seems to be describing my reality, allows the novel to become about my life, and the fact that personal expereinces I have in my life relate directly to the theme of the story strenthens that notion. There are times in my life that I feel like I am on the side of good and that I am trying to wage a battle against unseen forces of evil. For example, in my pursuit of religion I am constantly engaged in the challenge of pursuing knowledge and beutty and peacefull empowering expereinces, and to have a very positive influence on the people and world around me, but simultainiusly I have to battle against the possibility of closemindedness, prejeduce, and hurt feelings.  Also the battle becomes internal from time to time, and I have to monitor my own thinking to make sure that I am staying open minded and looking for the positive in life, instead of being cynical and judgemental. As my own notions and understandings of religion are challenged nd evolved, a story like a wrinkle in tyime makes me feel like I am part of a story bigger than myself.

A unique thing about a wrinkle in time is that is also uses a lot of allusion to make the reader connect to the theme in a personal way. The author incorporated descriptions of several famous people, such as Jesus, Einstien, and Michealangelo, and said that these people were also part of the war being waged against evil, (or in the book as it is called, the dark thing) Incorporating world history into the theme further strenthens my place in the story, as I to am a member of world history. There are also a lot of quotes incoproprated into the text, such as "and a light shinieth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends in not," How small the earth is too him who looks from heaven," "faith is the sister of justice", "nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable". The quotes were usualy attributed to an author, and knowing that other people in the world are thinknig about such ideas helps me feel I am part of a bigger team, and that both a wrinkle in time and my own life are small snapshots of something larger.

As a title on the Canon of childrens litterature, a wrinkle in time shows an excellent template for books that the make the reader feel a part of the story, and place the reader as a participant in the battle of good against evil. I think that a lot of childrens litterature sets up the reader to feel like they are a part of something bigger then themselves. How this is accomplished is the appreciable art. The book must be written in such a way that it is beliviable, yet emblamatic. It must be interesting, yet something the reader can relate to. A wrinkle in time is a good example of childrens litterature because it accompolishd both of these goals for me.