Chapter 9: IT

Summary Meg rushes forward to her father in his column, but she cannot penetrate its surface, and her father cannot see or hear her. In frustration, she hurls herself at Charles, but he punches her in the stomach. Calvin nearly releases the real Charles by reciting the lines from Shakespeare's The Tempest, which Mrs. Who gave him, but Charles ultimately remains in thrall. Finally, at wit's end, Meg remembers Mrs. Who's spectacles. By putting them …

…could resist IT single-handedly; Mrs. Who warned him to remember that he does not know everything, but Charles nonetheless warmed to the Man with the Red Eyes when he praised his neuropsychological complexity; Mrs. Which told all of the children to stay together at all times, but Charles insisted on going off with the Man in the CENTRAL Central Intelligence Building. Charles's downfall demonstrates that intelligence and intellect alone cannot resist the tyranny of uniformity.