Womanhood and Coming of Age in Madeleine L. Engle´s A Wrinkle in Time

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When Madeleine L’Engle first published A Wrinkle in Time in 1962, women’s place in society differed greatly than what L’Engle portrays in her novel. L’Engle broke barriers of the time with her portrayal of women in A Wrinkle in Time. The novel is infused with the themes of womanhood and coming of age. To be more specific, it is a novel which is thoroughly blended with the strengths of womanhood and with the concept that how women in a society can bring forth specific positive changes. The protagonist, Meg Murry, is a gifted adolescent who constantly harps on being different from other children. Her mother, Mrs. Murry, defines empowerment in women. Mrs. Murry is a phenomenal mother, devoted wife, and genius chemist. During the 1960s it was unheard of for women to be in a science career or many career fields that were limited to only men. The novel also follows Meg Murry’s literal and personal journey as she begins as a confused young woman who eventually accepts her individuality and begins to show the same extraordinary womanhood as her mother, Mrs. Murry. Meg blossoms into her own identity and accepts her uniqueness as she journeys to the planet of Camazotz to rescue her father. A Wrinkle in Time broke barriers for its time through its empowerment of women and as a coming of age novel and provides evidence of this through the protagonist characters of Meg and Mrs. Murry.
It is a fact that when the novel was first published in 1962, it was already infused with a view on women which was quite ahead of its time (Schneebaum, 1990). The predominance of women and the inclination of the entire plot towards the glorification of womanhood can be confirmed by the fact that the central protagonist in the novel is a female who is motivated ...

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... women can also be considered as great social leaders who can surely prove the worth of womanhood by bringing about positive changes in the society. So, considering from this angle, it can be seen that the novel is a glorification of womanhood. It can be interesting to know that the glorification of womanhood is quite visible in the selection of the protagonist and in the depiction of academic objectives accomplished by the female characters in the novel. Being a genius in the realm of science, and specifically in the realm of physics, had been a fantasy for women in the 1960s and this was because the male section of the populace solely owned those spheres and those professions. However, by showing that women too can be capable of attaining great feats in the sphere of science and academics, L’Engle’s shows her inclination towards the glorification of womanhood.

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