payment page
Calvin O’Keefe is an athletic, curious, and large-hearted boy who accompanies Meg and Charles Wallace on the journey to rescue Mr. Murry, experiencing profound self-discovery along the way. Calvin’s journey as a character reveals the failure of superficial popularity to bring a true sense of belonging and suggests that those who have been deprived of love may be the most capable of showing it. Calvin is admired by his peers for his talents in sports and good looks, but as he confides to Meg, he is well-liked “for all the wrong reasons.” In Meg’s eyes, his ability to fit in at school is aspirational, but she later realizes his home life severely lacks the depth and emotional richness that she has in abundance. When Calvin comes to visit the Murry house, following a compulsion, as he deems it, he calls home to let his family know and asks them not to forgetfully lock him out as they have done before. Calvin admires Mrs. Murry’s beauty and maternity, and later when the Happy Medium shows the children Calvin’s mother, it is clear that he has been neglected and likely abused in his own household.
As the quest for Mr. Murry’s rescue unfolds, Calvin’s romantic interest in Meg blooms and his remarkable capacity for care finds fertile ground in Meg’s tender heart. Calvin’s special gift of communication allows him to break into the hypnosis that holds Charles Wallace captive during the story’s climax, and his ability to understand intuition mysteriously links him to Charles Wallace as well as Mrs. Whatsit. Calvin helps Mr. Murry nurse Meg back to health after her most dangerous tesser through The Black Thing, and he is by her side when she and Charles Wallace return to Earth at the story’s resolution. His dependency, ability to love and unique abilities prove that, as in Meg’s journey, one’s greatest weaknesses may also prove to be their greatest strengths.
