Tipical Teenager Essay, Research Paper

Typical Teenager

Meg is a typical teenager who makes many changes in the course of Madeleine L Engle s, A Wrinkle in Time. At first she is insecure, angry, impatient, dependent, and has a lack of self-confidence despite her considerable abilities. As she matures, she learns a great deal about her supposed weaknesses that later become strengths and help her to become more self-reliant and responsible for her own problems. Meg uses her impatience, lack of respect for authority, and anger to help her fight and grow throughout the story. These faults help her find her inner strengths and become more self-reliant, and willing to deal with her own problems.

From the beginning, Meg is a somewhat dependent person. She never wants to face a situation by herself; she needs to have someone there holding her hand and walking her through her troubles. For example, when she is first brought to see the black thing and has to be tessered there, She was completely alone. She had lost the protection of Calvin s hand. Charles was nowhere, either to save or turn to (50). She always needs someone to hold her hand and comfort her whenever trouble arrives, or when she is scared of what is going on. I think these are the acts of a typical teenager who is not ready for the world, but thinks they are until they are faced with reality. Breaking away from this need for security from her brother, father and Calvin is a hard battle to overcome, but soon Meg learns that her so-called fault of impatience helps her to move forward and be more independent. One time, when they are on their way to the Central Intelligence building and Calvin and Charles want to make stops along the way, Meg says Come on. Meg pulled at them. How many times was it she had urged them on? Let s go find Father. (101). Meg uses this impatience to push the others forward in this journey, now becoming the leader of the search, not waiting to see what the others wanted to do. She is determined to find her father with or without the others. Out of this impatience and determination grows an independent Meg ready to fight alone if need be. That is the case when she realizes that she is the only one who can return to Camazotz to fight IT in the battle to save her brother. She is now ready to stand on her own, without looking for someone else to solve the problem. She will do it herself!

Meg s anger and stubbornness also play a big part in her growth from beginning to end of the novel. Once again, just like most teenagers, she thinks she knows everything and doesn t need help from anyone. She is in constant conflict with Mr. Jenkins, the school principle, showing she will not back down from anyone.

Mr. Jenkins, you ve met my mother, haven t you? You can t accuse her of not facing facts, can you? She s a scientist. She has doctor s degrees in both biology and bacteriology. Her business is facts. When she tells me that my father is coming home, then I ll believe that. (23)

Meg has her own view of the world, and nothing will change that, no matter what is going on in her life. This very attitude plays a key role in her being the only one able to fight IT at the end of the story. IT s whole power is drawn from people buying into his way of life, everyone being equal only when everyone is doing the same thing, and everyone having the exact same goals in their life. It demands that everyone be alike. There were two arguments Meg uses in her fight with IT, Maybe if you aren t unhappy sometimes you don t know how to be happy, and Like and equal are not the same thing at all! Her stubborn ways will not let her buy into the beliefs of IT, and this allows her to be able to free her mind of his hold.

Finally, Meg s anger helps her develop into a more self-reliant person willing to deal with her own problems. Meg s anger is a big part of her character throughout the course of the novel. This very anger gets her in a lot of trouble, yet ends up being one of the qualities that helps her deal with her problems. Meg uses her anger to drive away things she is afraid of or does not understand. For example, when Meg is talking with Aunt Beast she explains about being afraid, I m less afraid when I m angry. Through this anger come strength and the confidence that she is able to do anything; she is able to deal with her problems by herself. This anger also helps her figure out what she has that IT does not have in the final battle. She becomes angry to gain that strength, but she realizes that IT has anger and can gain strength from his anger too, but IT does not have love. Meg s love for her brother is what IT cannot duplicate or imitate. Only through her anger is this discovered, and with that, strength comes to a more self-reliant Meg.

Meg is no different then any other teenager. She learns that the things that once held her back in life; her anger, impatience, and stubbornness can also be good qualities to have. These very qualities are what make her an individual that no one can duplicate; she is someone special. These weaknesses, in the end, turn out to be strengths in her fight against IT. They happen to be very powerful traits as she uses her stubbornness to not buy into IT s way of life. These traits help her figure out that love is the key in the battle for her brother and father. This process of change is something all teenagers go through at some time in their lives.