For the past several years, I have seen two sequels to A Wrinkle in Time in my mother-in-law's book cabinet. Repeatedly, I have commented that I should borrow them, and finally, for my birthday, my in-laws decided to remedy this by buying me the four - yes, FOUR - sequels to A Wrinkle in Time. Who even knew there were four sequels?
For the past week, I entered back into the world of A Wrinkle in Time. Since I had read this novel a few times, I decided to read all of the accompanying materials to add depth to my understanding of the novel.
After reading the brief introduction, I realized that many of the novels and short stories that I have enjoyed over the years revolve around themes prevalent in the Post-World War II Era.
One of the central themes at this time was the resistance of creating complete sameness in the name of equality. This theme can be found in A Wrinkle of Time, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, "Harrison Bergeron," and even slightly in C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy.
Until I read the introduction, I failed to notice this commonality, and I wondered why this theme was so dominant during this time period. After learning about Vietnam background information for "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien, I'm guessing this theme is a push-back against Communism. How could I have never made that connection before?
In 2011, concepts like personal learning styles, personality inventories, and differentiated instruction make the fight for individuality seem a bit unnecessary; however, I still love these stories. Maybe the importance of understanding one's unique role in the world is a timeless theme...at least in Western cultures. Maybe my lies in an interest to cultivate student potentials rather than squash them in normalcy. Or, maybe I just enjoy Science Fiction, and this literature was influential, thus recommended, by the generation before mine.
In any case, I'm looking forward to reading the remainder of the series and enjoying my Post World War II literary themes.
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