Glass Houses (novel)

Transcription

This is a story about a girl named Meg Murry who is struggling in her school life and home life. She is teased for her looks, but also because her family is different. Rumor has it that her father has ran off and that her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, is slow. Meg also lives with her mom, a scientist, and twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys. One day, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin, a boy from school, explore a local haunted house. They are greeted by three women, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, each a little odder than the next. The three women seem to know about Mr. Murry and so the children follow them. However, as they are walking through the forest, something strange happens to them. They travel by tesseract, an advanced form of traveling through space and time, to a distant planet. At first, Meg is overwhelmed by the experience, but she grows to like the new planet, as its very beautiful. The children are told that Mr. Murry has been fighting The Black Thing, a large shadow-like being, and that they too must join the fight. The children agree and are taken to Camazotz, the home of IT, a dark and mysterious entity that craves control and power. After arriving in Camazotz, the children encounter a community that is centered around routine and schedule. Events happen at a certain time and there is general sameness amongst the people. The children eventually meet IT, which turns out to be a grotesque brain. IT mind-controls Charles Wallace, using him as its voice. Meg rescues her father from a glass prison and just as IT attempts to mind-control Calvin and Meg, Mr. Murry teleports them by tesseract to a distant planet. On this planet, the group encounters a tentacle creature named Aunt Beast. There, Meg gains the courage to face IT alone. Meg returns to Camazotz to get Charles Wallace back. She tries to fight IT with anger, but discovers that love is its greatest weakness. And in the end, after defeating IT, all of them return home where Meg's father is reunited with his family. First, this story enters an interesting genre within children's literature. Technically, it's primarily science fiction, dealing with time and space travel and beings from different planets. And yet, at the same time, it's about children dealing with issues that are relatable to a younger audience. One of these issues is maturity and the ability to identify the weaknesses within oneself. Each of the children is told their weakness, yet their weaknesses still manage to create problems. In fact, the reason Charles Wallace becomes mind-controlled by IT is because of his weakness, pride. Even Meg uses her weakness, anger, against IT, but fails. From this fight between Meg and IT, the story presents the conflict of love, or emotion, versus intellect. IT is literally a giant brain that shuns emotions and calculates and schedules the behavior of the Camazotz people to create a totalitarian society. Everyone is the same and, therefore, there are no worries because all of the decisions are already made for the people. Yet, Meg recognizes the emptiness of the situation. So while everything is taken care of from the perspective of the society as a whole, the people, as individuals, are not given the opportunity to celebrate the differences amongst themselves. And it's here that the message of the story is conveyed. All of the characters, whether from Earth or beyond, are unique and interesting. Their characteristics and personalities are celebrated, not scorned. And it's these differences that make life worth living. In fact, it's good to be different.