Student Question
In A Wrinkle in Time, what is Charles Wallace's strategy for school next year?
Quick answer:
Charles Wallace plans to conceal his intelligence when he starts school next year. Aware that he will face bullying if his mental gifts are discovered, he decides to pretend he is not smart to avoid attention. However, he anticipates that his intelligence might eventually be revealed by his teachers, which could lead to increased bullying as his peers may resent feeling deceived.
Charles Wallace was slow to learn to talk, not speaking at all until he was almost five years old, and then speaking in complete sentences. He is made fun of (and Meg has to constantly defend him) by the boys in the neighborhood. It is assumed that he is mentally challenged. However, he is unusually bright. When he enters school the following year, he knows that, as much as he is picked on for not talking, he will face serious bullying if the other children discover how mentally gifted he is. So he decides to let them think that he is not smart, holding out as much as possible from revealing the fact that he has a superior intelligence. While this is a reasonable method of self-protection, he will eventually have to reveal his genius level IQ; it will probably be discovered by his teachers. This will most likely cause even more bullying, since the other children will resent his deception and making them seem like fools.
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