In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, Wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wing.... (p. 3)

There was a typhoon in Cebu and the trees were tossing in the wind 

3. During p18 we finally know that it was Ms. Whatsit was the tramp and she was the one who stole the blankets why did she do it and what did she use it for?

Bunsen burner, preparing a dinner of thick stew. Calvin calls his mother to tell her that he will not be home for dinner, though he tells Meg that he doubts his mother would have even noticed his absence. Calvin is deeply moved by the warmth and love that permeates the Murry household, and exclaims to Meg that she is very lucky to have such a wonderful family life.

Before dinner, Meg shows Calvin a picture of her father with a group of scientists at Cape Canaveral. She also helps him with his homework. Calvin is surprised to learn that Meg, who is several grades below him in school, is able to help him with his math and physics. Mrs. Murry explains that Meg's father used to play number games with her when she was a child, thus teaching her all sorts of tricks and shortcuts.

After dinner, Calvin reads to Charles Wallace in bed while Meg sits with her mother downstairs. Mrs. Murry expresses her grief at her beloved husband's absence. She tells Meg that she believes that things always have an explanation, but that these explanations may not always be clear to us. Meg finds this notion troublesome because she likes to think she can understand everything. She comments that Charles Wallace seems to understand more than everyone else, and Mrs. Murry says that this is because Charles is somehow special.

In the evening, Meg and Calvin go out for a walk in the Murrys' backyard. Calvin asks Meg about her father, and she  

explains that he is a physicist who worked for the government first in New Mexico and then at Cape Canaveral. Meg tells Calvin that the family hasn't heard from their father for a year now, and Calvin alludes to all the rumors that the townspeople circulate about Mr. Murry's whereabouts. Meg becomes immediately defensive, and Calvin is quick to assure her that he has always doubted the rumors' truth. Calvin holds Meg's hand and tells her that her eyes are beautiful; Meg feels herself blushing in the moonlight.

Charles Wallace suddenly appears, announcing that it is time for them to leave on their mission to find Mr. Murry. Mrs. Who slowly materializes in the moonlight and Mrs. Whatsit scrambles over a fence, wearing Mrs. Buncombe's sheets. Then, in a faint gust of wind, their friend Mrs. Which announces in a quivering voice that she, too, is here, but will not materialize completely, as the process is too tiring and the little band has much to do.

Before they leave the Happy Medium, she shows the children, through her crystal ball, their mothers. First is Calvin's mother, an unkempt woman in a dirty kitchen who is whacking one of her children with a wooden spoon. Then they see Mrs. Murry, sitting on a high stool in her lab writing on a sheet of paper. Meg knows that her mother is writing to her husband. Meg is filled with a desire to do something to find her father.

They leave the Happy Medium and tesser to Camazotz, which is one of the dark planets. They stand on a hill, and everything appears very much like earth. Down the hill, there is a town. Mrs. Whatsit says that she must leave the three children on their own. She confirms that Meg's father is on Camazotz. Mrs. Whatsit gives each of them some help. She strengthens Charles Wallace's ability to communicate with all kinds of people. She gives Meg her faults, even though Meg protests that she always trying to get rid of them. For Calvin, Mrs. Who gives him a hint by quoting a passage from Shakespeare's The Tempest, about an imprisoned spirit. Mrs. Who gives Meg her glasses, telling her to use them only as a last resort. Mrs. Which then tells them to go down to the town, and not to allow themselves to be separated. Mrs. Whatsit tells Charles Wallace that he is in even more danger than the others, and he must beware of pride and arrogance.

Calvin, Meg and Charles Wallace go down to the town. They notice that all the houses look alike. Children are playing but they are all skipping rope and bouncing balls in exactly the same rhythm. Everything is identical. Then they see one boy who is not bouncing in rhythm. His mother emerges and looks shocked when she sees her boy. She grabs him and pulls him back into the house. The three children decide to investigate. They knock on the door of the house, wanting to return the ball. The woman denies that her boy dropped a ball, because all the children in their section are perfectly trained.

The children wonder why everyone seems so afraid. They move on beyond the houses to some apartment buildings. A boy delivering newspapers asks them what they are doing on the street. He talks about entrance papers and examiners and the Central Intelligence Center, which he says is located in the city. He boasts about how perfect the city is. He also says the city is home to IT, but does not explain what IT is.

The children continue to walk through the city. The people they observe seem peculiar, as if they are moving automatically.

In a section of office buildings, the children see the largest building they have ever seen. They realize it must be the Central Intelligence Center. They discuss what to do. Calvin says that if they go into the building they will be in terrible danger.

.

 Rosie-Calvin wants to enter the Central Intelligence Building by himself and then report back to Meg and Charles Wallace, but the Murry children insist that they heed the parting words of Mrs. Which and stay together. Just as they are trying to figure out how to enter the building, a door opens before them, revealing a great entrance hall of dull, greenish marble and icy cold walls. Filling the hall are a number of similar-looking men wearing nondescript business suits.

 Avery-The children decide to ask one of the suited men how things work in central. The man instructs them to present their papers to a series of slot machines. He seems unable to understand the fact that they are strangers to the planet and do not know anything about the elaborate mechanical system governing all transactions and interactions. He says that he runs a "number-one spelling machine" on the "second-grade level." He warns that he will have to report the children to the authorities in order to avoid the risk of "reprocessing." Before he leaves, he advises them, "just relax and don't fight it and it will all be much easier for you." 

Charles leads Meg and Calvin down a long white corridor. As they walk, Meg is reminded of Mrs. Whatsit's gift to Calvin: his ability to communicate. She encourages him to try to speak with her brother. For a moment, Calvin's tone of jocular friendliness seems to reach Charles Wallace, but then the boy drifts away again; Charles tells them that instead of searching for Mr. Murry, they should turn themselves over entirely to IT, whom he identifies as the "Boss" and the "Happiest Sadist." He extols the virtues of IT and declares that on Camazotz, the total conformity prevents all war or unhappiness. Meg notes that sometimes a little bit of unhappiness is a necessary precondition for happiness.

Suddenly, Charles waves his hand and the wall of the corridor grows transparent to reveal a small room radiating a dull, sulphurous light. In response to Meg's questioning, Charles says that he simply moved around the wall's atoms to make it open. He shows Calvin and Meg another room in which the little boy that they saw that afternoon is bouncing a wall to a pulsing rhythm, wincing with pain each time the ball hits the ground; Charles explains that it is a punishment for the boy's earlier deviance. Then he shows Meg and Calvin another small cell, in which stands a transparent cylinder or column; Mr. Murry sits trapped inside.

Commentary

When Charles Wallace advises Meg to "stop fighting and relax," IT is speaking through him. The words echo the counsel of the second-grade spelling machine operator who told them, "just relax and don't fight and it will all be much easier for you." Of course, the children know the dangers of submitting; if they fail to fight Evil and rescue Mr. Murry, darkness will engulf the world as they know it.

Meg and Calvin try to rescue the real Charles by tightly gripping his arm, an extreme version of the repeated gesture of holding out one's hand in love. Calvin's grip is one of a fierce love only strengthened by the attempts of Camazotz's inhabitants to sever the emotional ties between individuals. Ultimately, however, Calvin's grip is not strong enough to rescue Charles.

Even though Mrs. Whatsit has informed Calvin that his greatest gift is his ability to communicate, Calvin's attempt to win back Charles Wallace through words is just as futile as his effort to reach him by physical touch. Words once again prove woefully inadequate, just as they did when Mrs. Whatsit struggled to translate the beautiful dance on Uriel into speech, or when Charles had such difficulty explaining the tesseract in normal language. Charles is only momentarily released from IT when Calvin refers to him affectionately by his silly, playful nickname "Charlibus"; thus the one "word" that succeeds even partially is a nonsense sound, not a part of a real language at all.

Charles then leads the way to IT. Meg is in despair because her father does not seem to understand that Charles has been taken over by IT. They go down an elevator and out into the street. Meg wants her father to do something to save them all.

Meg says goodbye to her father, Calvin, and Aunt Beast, and also apologizes to her father for her accusatory outbursts. Mrs. Which tells Meg that she will tesser with her through the Black Thing so that Meg will arrive at Camazotz safely. Once again each of the Mrs. W's presents Meg with a gift: Mrs. Whatsit enhances the force of her innate love; Mrs. Who gives her a blessing from the New Testament; and Mrs. Which strengthens in her the one thing that she has that IT has not. However, Meg must discover this thing for herself.