History Literature / AWrinkleInTime

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The people of Camazotz and the Mrs Ws. On Uriel, Charles has to translate and the people of Ixchel communicate by telepathy.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: "''And the [[Literature/TheBible light shineth forth in darkness]], and the darkness comprehendeth it not.''" More mildly, the Mrs Ws comfort Meg and Charles by saying that the townspeople who mock their father's disappearance are demonstrating their small-minded inability to recognize plain, simple love when they see it.
* ExpositingTheMasquerade: Meg and Charles find out that their father went missing because [[spoiler:the government had him experimenting with tesseracts, which left him stranded on Camazotz.]]

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Meg calls this on a mind-controled Charles Wallace to try and explain to her father that Charles isn't himself; first when he calls her "dear sister" and later when he is rude to his father by calling him "pop".

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Mrs Whatsit transforms into a winged-centaur being to escort Meg, Charles, and Calvin across the planet Uriel. Also, just for fun, Mrs Which transforms into a witch with a broomstick at one point, though it is about as material as she ever gets.

* WhosOnFirst: A minor running gag. When Charles mentions Mrs Whatsit for the first time...

-->'''Charles:''' No, that's the ''other'' one.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The people of Camazotz and the Mrs W's. On Uriel, Charles has to translate and the people of Ixchel communicate by telepathy.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: What the Mrs W's use, with the possible exception of Mrs Which, who has problems materializing fully and doesn't look like much of anything. Even when she does briefly materialize, she's in the form of a "stereotypical witch".
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the children note that, despite the Mrs W's efforts, [[PaperThinDisguise they couldn't actually pass for humans at all]]. Living in abandoned houses, [[NoSocialSkills completely ignoring normal social conduct]] and [[NoodleIncident stealing sheets to "use"]] might've gone a lot worse in different circumstances. And then Mrs Whatsit's line about "getting caught in a downdraft and blown off-course". ...[[{{Foreshadowing}} huh.]] [[{{Flight}} What could she mean by that]]?

* ItWasAGift: The children each receive gifts from the Mrs Ws when they first land on Camazotz to help them find their father. Later, Meg receives three gifts from the three Mrs W's when she returns to rescue Charles Wallace from IT.

* PunctuationShaker: An odd inversion: Meg's mother is "Mrs. Murry" but the witches are "Mrs Whatsit" and so forth. I.e., the witches don't have a period at the end of their "Mrs". What this ''means'' is up in the air...
** According to the author in a note at the end of the first book, "Mrs. Murry" uses the period at the end of Mrs. because she is American. The British spelling is "Mrs" without punctuation - she preferred using the British spelling, sans punctuation, to indicate the foreignness of the Mrs Ws.

** Finally, both Averted and Lampshaded with the Beasts of Ixchel. They physically resemble StarfishAliens more than the [[UncannyValley seemingly human]] inhabitants of Camazotz. They're little more than humanoid outlines covered in tentacles and are telepathic, but they are the dead opposite of IT: warm, gentle, empathic and life-giving, they are totally dedicated to fighting the Black Thing. They also have no eyes, and have no concept at all of light or sight.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: '''And how.''' The Man With Red Eyes is a soulless monster right at the bottom of the UncannyValley, as befitting IT's enforcer. Nevertheless, when Meg returns to rescue Charles Wallace, she contemplates him, and considers him a kindly old man, when compared with [[spoiler:IT]].

* AmbiguousSituation: We never learn the relationship between IT and the Black Thing. Is IT controlling the Black Thing? Is the Black Thing controlling IT? Is IT something else entirely? We never find out. The most accepted interpretation is that the Black Thing ''is'' evil itself, as in [[UltimateEvil the literal concept of evil personified]], and that IT is thus a manifestation / servant of the Black Thing with its own goals, which are of benefit to the Black Thing so long as said goals are evil.

* SuperiorSpecies: Played with. Many non-terrestrial species appear beautiful, kind, loving, and in touch with the music of the spheres, while Earth is a "shadowed" world that the UltimateEvil is trying to corrupt (other worlds, such as Camazotz, have already fallen, and are called "dark planets"). However, the fact that Earth is "shadowed" rather than "dark" implies that humans aren't quite lost yet, and Ixchel is also "shadowed": the protagonists were just lucky enough to end up among the creatures fighting it.

* UltimateEvil: We never learn much about the Black Thing other than it is MadeOfEvil.

* TheEchoer: Ms. Who can only speak by quoting other people. She is kind enough to provide proper attribution.

* {{Meganekko}}: Played with. Calvin learns to love Meg for herself, glasses and all... when she takes off her glasses, he's amazed by how beautiful her eyes are, and asks her to keep wearing them because he wants to keep their beauty secret. Awww.

Followed by ''Literature/AWindInTheDoor''

Disney made a [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie adaption]] in [[Film/AWrinkleInTime2003 2003]], and a different one in [[Film/AWrinkleInTime2018 2018]].

* OtherworldlyVisitsYoungestFirst: Charles Wallace is the youngest of the Murphy children, and the first to meet Mrs. Whatsit and her friends, having chased the family dog onto their property. It isn't long before the rest of his family meets them. And it isn't much longer after that that the Mrs. Ws are whisking them off on an interstellar adventure to rescue their father from the planet Camazotz.

* {{Pride}}: The cause of Charles Wallace grabbing the IdiotBall. His arrogance and confidence in his telepathic abilities and intelligence leads him to willingly put himself under the control of an EldritchAbomination thinking he can simply break out whenever he wants. The first time he tries, Meg has to forcefully break him out of IT'S grasp. Does this close call faze him in the least? Of course not! The second time, he goes ''even deeper'' and this time [[spoiler:IT takes complete control of his mind and personality.]] He was repeatedly warned and still practically swallowed the IdiotBall. This at least partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact he's five years old, and this pride is implied to at least be partially due to his immaturity despite being a ChildProdigy.

* {{Pride}}: The cause of Charles Wallace grabbing the IdiotBall. His arrogance and confidence in his telepathic abilities and intelligence leads him to willingly put himself under the control of an EldritchAbomination thinking he can simply break out whenever he wants. The first time he tries, Meg has to forcefully break him out of IT'S grasp. Does this close call faze him in the least? Of course not! The second time, he goes ''even deeper'' and this time [[spoiler:IT takes complete control of his mind and personality.]] He was repeatedly warned and still practically swallowed the IdiotBall.

* RealityEnsues: Meg can't make herself [[spoiler:love IT, even though the act would probably destroy IT and free Camazotz]]. But she can [[spoiler:love and free Charles Wallace, and she does, escaping with him and leaving the rest of the planet to its fate]].

* ChildProdigy: Charles Wallace, though the novel plays it unusually realistically, focusing on both the social alienation his intelligence causes in his peers and the pride and arrogant certainty of his own abilities that it has given him.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Probably one of the more infamous examples: the definition of "tesseract" in this book has nothing to do with its real meaning. The error is compounded later on in the book when the characters start using "to tesser" as a verb: the root word of "tesser" in Greek actually means "four" and has nothing to with warping space.
** Well, there is that description about dimensions (a tesseract is a four-dimensional structure similar to a three-dimensional cube, or a two-dimensional square.)
** {{Justified}}: "Mrs Whatsit sighed, 'Explanations are not easy when they are about things for which your civilization still has no words.'"

* UndressingTheUnconscious: When Meg wakes in the care of Aunt Beast after her father's bungled attempt at tessering, she finds that she's been stripped and swaddled in fur. Aunt Beast explains that for a while, Meg will need to let herself be cared for like a little child.

* UndressingTheUnconscious: When Meg wakes in the care of Aunt Beast after her father's bungled tesseract, she finds that she's been stripped and swaddled in fur. Aunt Beast explains that for a while, Meg will need to let herself be cared for like a little child.

The further adventures of the Murrys and, especially Meg, are detailed in the sequels: ''Literature/AWindInTheDoor'', ''Literature/ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'', ''Literature/ManyWaters'', and ''Literature/AnAcceptableTime''; the five books are known informally as the "Time Quintet." Subsequent books centered around Meg and Calvin's daughter Poly include ''The Arm of the Starfish'', ''Dragons in the Waters'', and ''A House Like a Lotus''.

** Justified: "Mrs Whatsit sighed, 'Explanations are not easy when they are about things for which your civilization still has no words.'"

* MindControlEyes: Whenever IT is directly taking over someone, their pupils dilate almost completely.