Reread the discussion between Charles Wallace, Meg, and Calvin about suffering and happiness. Who is right? How is this issue important in all people’s lives?

In Chapter Eight, Charles Wallace, having been taken over by IT, begins to tell the other children more about the nature of the planet Camazotz and who IT is. One particular phrase he uses is worth mentioning.: Charles Wallace describes IT as the “Happiest Sadist.” This is a malapropism, meant to convey the conflicting nature of life on Camazotz. A sadist is a person who takes pleasure from inflicting pain on others. Thus, IT derives his happiness from making others miserable, a state that contradicts Charles Wallace’s previous statement that everyone on Camazotz is “relaxed” and happy. The phrase is a malapropism because it deliberately confuses the word “sadist” with “saddest,” words that, though they sound similar, have completely different meanings.

This “happy sadism” is illustrated when Charles Wallace moves one of the walls and the children see the boy from a previous chapter who had mistakenly not bounced the ball in the correct rhythm being punished for his mistake. The boy is obviously in pain and Charles Wallace gleefully tells them that the boy will not make that mistake again. The mood of this planet is thus firmly established in this chapter as a world in which appearances of happiness are simply facades for an underlying deep pain caused by the Dark Thing.