Bildungsroman

I've been reading A Wrinkle in Time as a kind of transitional story from childhood to adulthood. I remember being Meg's age and feeling so out of place. I really sympathize with her feelings of being ostracized from her social world. Especially because she gets pulled into such a fantastic world, where she gets to really step into her own awareness of self. But the idea of this alternate reality as formative space is interesting to me. Sure, we all have our designated spaces where we go when we're afraid, nervous, needing a break... But to live so fully in a world where you're needed, where you are challenged, and a place that not a lot of other people have access to, would be undoubtedly formative, but unrealistic. I'm sure there is a label for the development of the protagonist who "steps out of their shell" in an alternate reality. We see it all the time in movies. But I think it really hinders the conscious development of sympathetic readers. Why can't I move through space and time? Wouldn't I have felt more sympathetic in my skin? You see what I mean? It's an irrational jealousy. Maybe this is because I have such a vivid imagination that it's too easy for me to get caught up in a non-reality. And what is reality really? I'm reminded of one of my favorite movies, The Neverending Story. Sebastien has been warned by his father to "keep his feet on the ground." He finds a book in which he becomes the saviour, literally by being written into the story. It's the theory that the reader creates the story. But why is this kind of method not used for outcast kids? Because it's doesn't create functional members of society. Instead, it creates people who remain outcasts because they can't ever return to that original frame of mind once they have experienced something contrary to what they have been told. Really, the problem is not the alternate experience. It's the limits that are defined by the real world that keeps us from being able to extend ourselves into and through our imagination. And the death of imagination means the death of humanity.