Alice In Wonderland Essay

For example one character within the story that critics are unsure of his symbolism and origin is the Cheshire Cat. In the story the Cheshire Cat is a mysterious character. He appeared when he choose to and disappeared a moment later. He had an odd sense of a personality, but spoke to Alice using wise words and thoughts. “It is not 100% clear why Carroll named this character ‘Cheshire Cat’. “To grin like a Cheshire Cat” was a common phrase in Carroll’s day. Its origin is unknown, but it may have originated from a sign painter in Cheshire, who painted grinning lions on the sign-boards of inns in the area” (Analysis). Even though the Cheshire Cat seemed crazy or “mad” he did give Alice a dose of reality in Wonderland. He said things to her such as “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” or “Every adventure requires a first step”. He had helped Alice realize that in order to find out who she is or where she must go she has to be brave and take the first step. The Chesire Cat relates to the idea of the child-adult conflict that Alice may be going through because he helps her understand that she has to move forward in order to find out where to go and if she is not sure what path to take in her life than she has endless possibilities. The Cheshire Cat was an important character that helped Alice come to her senses. Aside from the real life symbolism many of the characters possessed, Dodgson’s “Alice in Wonderland” series had a large impact on the music

Issues concerning her size, identity, and her social exchanges with both Wonderland and its creatures spur and characterize Alice’s development towards becoming a young woman.

From the moment she sees the White Rabbit taking his watch from his waistcoat pocket, Alice tries to understand the logic of Wonderland. None of the rules that she has been taught seem to apply in Wonderland. The characters in Wonderland have no sense of manners and respond to her questions with answers that make no sense. For example, the Mad Hatter asks the questions, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” (Alice 51). Alice assumes he is asking a riddle and she begins to try to answer it, thinking the Hatter would not ask a riddle without knowing the answer. When Alice is unable to figure out the riddle, the Hatter explains that there is no answer. He does not explain why he asked the riddle, he simply says, “I haven’t the slightest idea” (Alice 53). In which Alice replies, “I think you might do something better with the time, than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers” (Alice 53). The Hatter then responds with a lecture on Time, which he depicts as a person. Time being depicted as a person makes no logical sense to Alice. In the end, Alice rebels during the trial scene when the King said “Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court” (Alice 88). Alice objects to the absurd nature of the trial saying, “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” (Alice 91). This final scene is the end of her dream, and she wakes up with her head in her sister’s lap.

Alice can be very childish, but throughout the story, she encounters many animals with human qualities that make her change her perspective of the world she lives in. The main obstacle in Alice's life is growing up. As she grows up, she looks at situations in a very distinctive way, such as the moment when alice meets the March Hare, The Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse. By the time the story is over, Alice is already a grown up because of all the experiences she confronted such as, the mad tea party, the encounter with the caterpillar smoking a hookah pipe, also Alice's encounter with the Red Queen during the croquet game and the trial.

At the start of her journey, Alice’s blunt and direct form of speech drives the animals away in either offence or wariness. In a state of excitement, Alice inflicts this upon herself while exclaiming, ‘“Dinah’s our cat. Why, she’ll eat a little bird as soon as [she] looks at it!’” (Carol 38). Because of Alice’s little knowledge in social norms, she immediately frightens the party of birds as she talks about her cat. While she is perplexed at the animal’s offence in her words, she is contingent on their guidance in navigating the foreign wonderland. After several failed interactions, Alice develops the inclination of social awareness in her speech as she begins to stop herself when talking with the mock turtle quipping, “‘and perhaps you were never introduced to a lobster-’ (Alice began to say, “I once tasted-” but checked herself hastily)” (Carol 94). Alice’s growth in social awareness stopped her from saying anything offensive, giving her the benefit of stable, though not always helpful, dependency on the animal’s

In Wonderland the creatures and characters show Alice how the real world is but in hidden ways that she will not understand until she gets a little older. When Alice first encounters the Duchess, the Duchess is caring for a baby. Franticly the Duchess basically throws the baby into Alice’s arms, and Alice unsure of what to do, goes on a walk with the baby through the woods. Slowly Alice begins to realize that the baby she was carrying, was slowly beginning to transform into a pig (47-48). This symbolism that Carroll illustrates shows Alice how babies are going to change. By turning the baby into a loud messy animal, it demonstrates how babies will drastically change, and are handful. Since Alice is only a child, she has never had to deal with a baby from an adult perspective, until doing it unknowingly in Wonderland.

Alice scrutinizes the rules of the wonderland and discovers it as an adult world full of confusions and limited laws and nonsense. She acts as a commentator who refers to evident inadequacies of the native in wonderland. These characters don’t follow those conventions that she knows about the real world’s standards, yet the characters that dwell in the wonderland display the norms for a while and thereafter ridicule the same.

Many themes are explored when reading Lewis Carrol’s, Alice in Wonderland. Themes of childhood innocence, child abuse, dream, and others. Reading the story, it was quite clear to see one particular theme portrayed through out the book: child to adult progression. Alice in Wonderland is full of experiences that lead Alice to becoming more of herself and that help her grow up. It’s a story of trial, confusion, understanding, and success. And more confusion. Though others might argue that the story was distinctly made for children just to get joy out of funny words, and odd circumstances, the tale has obvious dynamics that confirm the fact of it being a coming of age story.

Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland portrays animals with anthropomorphic characteristics, creating a sense that the animals are humans, just like ourselves. Anthropomorphism in this book, was quite apparent, as usually animals cannot talk, smile, keep sense of time or smoke from a hookah. Human characteristics add a sense of diversity to these animals in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and lend a hand to creating the sense of adulthood within them. Alice tends to think of these animals as if they were superior- or in charge of her. The White Rabbit shows anthropomorphic features, as well as the caterpillar and the cheshire cat, and for us, this helps to create the idea of adulthood.

The Victorian Era was a time where not many ethical ideals and moral standards were sustained. Yet, it is also an Era in which modern society uses to make advancements in both humanity, and philosophy. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, was a novelist who wrote pass his time. He wrote further in the future of the "common" Victorian Era. The ideology he presents in Alice in Wonderland is conducive to an individual attempting to bring attention to the deteriorating mental health and humane conditions in Victorian-Era England. Alice is representative of a normal child in everyday-Victorian England. This child, Alice, has not been exposed to the likes of diversity, but instead solidarity. The type of solidarity that is all too prevalent throughout the Victorian Era, primarily in the upbringing of children during this time. Children in Victorian Era England were taught to be followers of the norms already established by adults, and to ask no questions. These types of parameters placed restraints on children growing-up during this time; not only physical restraints, but also mental restraints, such as their imaginations'. Carroll was no stranger to this ideal or the likes of this concept; In fact, he constructed Alice in The Wonderland with this in mind, to defy the imaginative 'norm' of Victorian-Era England. He created a character that dreamt of falling down a rabbit hole into another universe. This dream or imagination becomes so vivid in his novel that the

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland shows us how a child's innocence can create an imaginative world that would be considered abnormal and insane through the eyes of an adult. Alice dreams of creatures and animals that have the ability to talk, and she constantly shifts in shape and size, perverting the proportions of Wonderland around her. She also has conversations with other characters that the are full of nonsense and odd remarks. Perhaps Alice's irrational personality is best displayed during the scene "A Mad Tea-Party" when Alice encounters a Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse sitting down for teatime. She walks up to the crew nonchalantly and sits down to join them. Immediately, the Hatter begins to make remarks about Alice's appearance and her manners. He is rude and snappy, having a criticism for everything that Alice

When Alice felt very desperate, she was ready to ask anyone for help. According to Carroll 1865, p. 8, when the White Rabbit came near her, she began in a low, timid voice, “If you please, Sir-----“ The White Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid-gloves and the fan, and scurried away into the darkness as fast as he could go. In my opinion, Lewis Carroll disobeyed the audience by having the rabbit going away in the dark. Why would anyone want to read an animal characters being negative influence in children’s literature? Why Lewis Carroll would use the animal to abandon Alice? If I were in front of Alice, the argument I would use pathos (Arguments from the Heart, Lunsford) because of the way she expressed herself to animal character.

'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll seems a first a simple fairy tale, but in fact its meaning is a lot more profound. This novel criticizes the way children were brought up during the Victorian era. Carroll presents the readers with the complications these offspring must endure in order to develop their own personalities/egos, as they become adults. For Alice, Wonderland appears to be the perfect place to start this learning adventure. A way to understand her story is by compering it to the world as if being upside-down. Nothing in Wonderland seems to be they way it’s supposed to. The first lesson, Alice must learn in this peculiar journey through Wonderland is to achieve separation from the world around her and to stop identifying herself through others, in order to discover who she

     This book, in my opinion, uses many examples of symbolism and ambiguous terms and comments. It also has some great themes. Expressed examples of this are found throughout the novel. I think that this novel may have been influenced by the use of opium. In the author’s time, opium was habitually used in 5 out of 6 families. The caterpillar smoking was probably alluding to the use of opium. Also, the caterpillar talking about the mushroom would do to Alice if she ate

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll endures as one of the most iconic children 's books of all time. It remains one of the most ambiguous texts to decipher as Alice 's adventures in Wonderland have created endless critical debate as to whether we can deduce any true literary meaning, or moral implication from her journey down the rabbit hole. Alice 's station as a seven year old Victorian child creates an interesting construct within the novel as she attempts to navigate this magical parallel plain, yet retain her Victorian sensibilities and learn from experience as she encounters new creatures and life lessons. Therefore, this essay will focus on the debate as to whether Alice is the imaginatively playful child envisaged by the Romantics, or a Victorian child whose imagination has been stunted by her education and upbringing.