44 pages • 1 hour read
Madeleine L'EngleA Wind In The Door
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1973A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: A Wrinkle in Time Series
While A Wind in the Door can stand alone, readers benefit from having a background in A Wrinkle in Time, the award-winning novel that starts the Time Quintet, to which this novel is a sequel. A Wrinkle in Time introduces readers to the Murry family and Calvin O’Keefe. All members of the Murry family have characteristics that make them unique in such a small community, including talent in science and math, high intelligence, and social awkwardness. Some of the characters’ conflicts and insecurities established in the first novel are developed further in A Wind in the Door. For example, Meg and Mr. Jenkins are in conflict in the first novel; the second novel continues that conflict, but they resolve it by the end.
In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg and Charles Wallace, with Calvin’s help, must save their father, who has been taken by IT and is held captive on Camazotz. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which help the children locate Mr. Murry while also helping them develop as characters and overcome internal conflicts. In the end, Meg uses love to overcome IT just as she uses it to beat the Echthroi in A Wind in the Door. Thus, L’Engle weaves some of the same elements introduced in the first novel into the second novel in the series.
Scientific Context: Mitochondria
Throughout A Wind in the Door, L’Engle repeatedly refers to farandolae and mitochondria as the source of Charles Wallace’s deteriorating health. While L’Engle created farandolae as fictional organelles that exist within mitochondria, mitochondria are organelles found in the cells of humans and plants. Scientists refer to mitochondria as the powerhouse of a cell. They take the energy from an animal’s food and turn it into energy for the cell. This transfer of energy allows the cell to grow and move. When mitochondria stop functioning normally, the cell they are in loses energy, as described in the novel.
Mitochondria are so critical to an animal’s survival that a primary role of eating food is to provide energy to the mitochondria. One purpose of breathing is to deliver oxygen to the mitochondria. Even an animal’s cardiovascular system supports the healthy maintenance of mitochondria. Thus, when the Echthroi attack Charles Wallace’s mitochondria, L’Engle is tapping into a critical life function all humans share. Though some characters in the book think Charles Wallace is making the organelles up, mitochondria are vital to many organisms. Without them, life would cease to exist, just as the Echthroi desires.
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