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"But you're good at basketball and things," Meg protested. "You're good in school. Everybody likes you." "For all the most unimportant reasons," Calvin said. "There hasn't been anybody, anybody in the world I could talk to. Sure, I can function on the same level as everybody else, I can hold myself down, but it isn't me."
In this quotation, Calvin reveals just how out of place he feels, despite his social successes, which Meg envies at first glance. Though Calvin’s athleticism and good looks have earned him a place of popularity at school, he confides in Meg that this social acceptance does nothing to bring a true sense of belonging and purpose to his life. A slight foreshadowing into his gift of communication, his inability to feel understood by those around him suggests the conversations he wants to have are the kind that his peers are not capable of, leaving an emptiness in his life that is soon to be filled by members of the Murry family and friends he makes in the celestial realms.
Calvin, your great gift is your ability to communicate, to communicate with all kinds of people. So for you, I will strengthen this gift.
Before embarking on the rescue mission to Camazotz, Mrs. Whatsit gives each of the three children a specific gift to wield in the battle against evil. Calvin’s gift is an increase of his ability to communicate well, a quality that has made him feel out of place until the events of the novel unfold. On Camazotz, Calvin knows exactly what to say to Charles Wallace to create a rift in the hypnosis that takes Charles Wallace captive, and Calvin’s words to Meg throughout the story provide a safe place where she is comforted and strengthened.
That’s the funny part of it. I love them all, and they don’t give a hoot about me. Maybe that’s why I call when I’m not going to be home. Because I care. Nobody else does. You don’t know how lucky you are to be loved.
Calvin tells Meg about his family after he calls home to say he won’t be back for dinner, reminding them not to lock him out accidentally. Calvin has a great capacity to love, but his home environment is tragic and depraved, as he is one of eleven siblings with an abrasive and likely abusive mother. Although he loves them, Calvin receives no love in return, and he envies the deep familial love that pervades the Murry household, which Meg has often taken for granted.
