Summary
The main character, Robin, wakes up to hear multiple church bells ringing, and he feels as if they were inside of his head. Robin does not let himself cry, as he is training to become a knight, and knights do not cry. He thinks back to the moment he left his family and said goodbye to his father and mother; at that moment, he had resisted the urge to cry. A month earlier, right after Robin turned 10, he was sent away to stay with Sir Peter de Lindsay to escape the danger of the plague and learn to be independent.
Robin listens to the noises outside his window. Dame Ellen comes to see him. She tries to make him eat his porridge and Robin does not respond, missing his mother and her nurturing ways. Frustrated, he knocks the bowl of porridge out of Ellen’s hand, which angers her; she goes away. Robin stays in his bed and examines the carvings on the roof beams.
It becomes afternoon and Robin continues to listen to children outside, playing games and wishing that he could join them. He can’t walk or even get out of bed because of his legs. He becomes hungry and wishes for the porridge that Ellen had brought him. The evening bells start ringing and Robin hears someone coming.
It is a monk named Brother Luke. He has brought Robin fish to eat. Brother Luke informs Robin that Dame Ellen has come down with the plague, along with Robin’s other servants. Luke tells Robin that the boy’s noble father has given money before to his hospice, St. Mark’s, and thus Luke is volunteering to take care of Robin. The boy informs the monk that he is handicapped due to a malady. The surgeon who previously diagnosed Robin never returned—physicians at this time are very preoccupied with those who have the plague.
The monk reminds Robin of the long wall around the garden of his father’s house; he tells Robin that these sort of walls always have a door. Brother Luke takes care of Robin, easing his muscles and dressing him. Luke hoists up Robin on his back and carries him to his horse, Jenny. They ride to the hospice. Luke assures Robin that a messenger will inform Robin’s parents of his whereabouts as soon as the plague dies down somewhat.
Time goes by; it is now May. Robin continues to be cared for at the hospice by Brother Luke. He spends most of his alone in bed, listening to the activity around him and sleeping. One day, Luke asks Robin to try sitting up and doing something with his hands, like whittling. Robin becomes so involved in whittling a little boat that he does not wish to eat the food Luke brings him. With this new activity, the days pass quickly again.
Working on the boat gives Robin a sense of happiness and accomplishment. He wishes to whittle a dwarf next, but Brother Luke advises him to make something simpler. So, Robin makes a cross instead. As he completes this project, he finds that he is regaining more and more of his strength each day. One time, Robin admires a handwritten manuscript of Luke’s and asks the monk to teach him to write. Luke tells him that he will do this once there are fewer sick people to care for—currently, the hospice is very crowded.
A boy in the hospice who also has lame legs makes fun of Robin, calling him “crookshanks.” Robin is angry at first, but he takes note of the boy’s crutches and wonders if one day he will be able to use crutches to walk again. Luke explains that the boy meant no harm by the name, and he explains where different names come from. Luke tells Robin to pray and declare what he is thankful for. Robin doubts this at first, but when he starts to pray, he feels better.
Analysis
The Door In The Wall right away takes us into the life of its protagonist, Robin. It is not until a few pages in that we are told directly that Robin has a disability that makes him mostly bound to his bed. In this way, his perspective is very limited. He listens to the many passing sounds of the rich world around him, and yet he is unable to go outside and play like most boys his age. His immobility, however, does not prevent him from having a curious and observant mind, as he takes careful note of even the details on the roof beams above him.
The reader is informed that Robin was meant to begin training to become a knight, even though he is just 10 years old. As a result, he has been somewhat abandoned by his parents, who are busy noblepeople, to be cared for instead by Dame Ellen and now Brother Luke. Robin is at the age where he is just beginning to become a young man; thus, his illness and aloneness are a struggle for him, and we can sympathize with the fact that he has been left alone without a true mothering figure to care for him. At the same time, we can see that he is also cultivating a sense of independence and determination.
The book is set at a particular moment of history: the bubonic plague in Middle-Ages England. It is a time of great uncertainty, when people are dying in mass numbers and no one knows who will be next to come down with the “Black Death.” This is demonstrated when Dame Ellen, who had been taking care of Robin, suddenly comes down with the sickness and must be sent away. As a result, Robin’s world transforms radically as he is taken into the care of Brother Luke. The gravity of the plague is illustrated well in the scene where Robin sees “hundreds of people within the hospice.”
Author Marguerite de Angeli has also been faithful to the historical era and its Old English language, using dialogue, in particular, to showcase how people of this time actually spoke. For example, Brother Luke says to Robin: “‘It is well known that thy noble father hath of his goodness given money to St. Mark’s.’”
At St. Mark’s, Robin is encouraged to sit up and start engaging in activity again after a long time of being bound to bed. His whittling of a boat proves to be a helpful way for him to regain strength and enthusiasm for life again. Finally, the boy has something to focus his energy into once again, and by working at carving he is also able to start feeling a renewed strength in his health as well. A new sense of hope is indicated in these pages and is also alluded to in Brother Luke’s statement about there always being a door in any wall, which means that there is always an opportunity in every seeming challenge.
