Late rabbits, talking cats, and dancing cards are just some of the un-natural occurrences that take place in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In today’s society with competing books, such as Harry Potter, these elements in the book may seem like no big deal, but for the time period the book was published, these were anything but normal. This children’s book was first published in 1865 in the United Kingdom; during the Victorian time period, named after Queen Victoria. The book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland represents a satire on the Victorian Era and how people were expected to act, through which Carroll displays an overall theme of growing up.
In 1862, floating upon the river Isis, Charles Dodgson narrated for Alice Liddell and a few others in company his original tale of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Gliding along underneath the blue sky, Dodgson wove his words into one of the most classic children stories of all time. Thesis: Although Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland may have only begun as a children’s story, many adults have sought to discover the “true meaning” of the novel. Curiosity has led to years of searching and interpretation of the origins of Carroll’s novels, and the symbols inside, developing into theories ranging from practical to nearly impossible, eventually evolving into their own stories in the film industry.
In order to sound convincing, the first stage of our research we would like to devote to Lewis Carroll’s achievements as a gifted writer and his contribution to the world literature. It could be easily traced that his young years were happy. Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832. Dodgson was the eldest son and third child in a family of seven girls and four boys born to Frances Jane Lutwidge, the wife of the Reverend Charles Dodgson. His father was perpetual curate from 1827 until 1843, when he became rector of Croft in Yorkshire - a post he held until his death. As it has been already mentioned, Carroll had a happy childhood. His mother was patient and gentle, and his father tutored all of his children and raised them to be good people. The family lived in an isolated country village and had few friends outside the family but found little difficulty in entertaining themselves. Charles showed a great aptitude for inventing games to amuse them. He wrote a series of family magazines throughout his childhood, containing poetry, drawing, and prose. In 1846 - 1849 Dodgson attended Rugby School, from which he graduated to Christ Church College, Oxford. In 1854 he was awarded a degree in mathematics, and the following year he began work as a Lecturer at Christ Church in that subject and after taking holy orders, including the commitment not to marry,
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 childhood was pleasant. He was always full of ideas and he had many fun hubbies. Lewis Carroll’s hubbies contributed to all his own future creative works. Lewis Carroll enjoyed writing poems, playwrights, and word games. When Carroll was young he made up games and he liked it when his brothers and sister got involved in playing the games. Carroll’s siblings loved and enjoyed playing the unique games that he came up with. Carroll came up with stories that intrigued everyone who heard them. He was a magician, a marionette theater manager, and an editor of the family’s journals and their quotes.
I am Alice when I read; Alice goes seeking adventure in wonderland, just as I do when reading, to escape reality. Alice was finding out herself that people could be little pieces of something, something that could be exchanged by a senseless force. Lost in Wonderland, the little girl was confused and scared and nevertheless shows true bravery in the face of her insecurities. She exchanges sense for non-sense, in an all-encompassing attempt to be able to take hold of even the most intimate core of her, so that she is forced to discover who she really is and find her identity. Like a child who is sleeping, ideology in fictional stories, quietly seeps through the narrative cracks of novels. It is embodied as an unconscious knowledge, a knowledge that doesn't know itself, and that needs to be understood and pondered by the readers. ‘Alice in Wonderland’, seen to most as simply a children’s story, has so much more depth and deals with classis themes such as coming of
As said by Dario Fo, “It is hard... to enjoy or incorporate humor and satire” (Fo). Although, Lewis Carroll does a phenomenal with his use of satire within Alice in Wonderland, which is a story of a young girl, Alice, in Wonderland. The novel describes Alice’s encounter with the illogical, random and quite mad world of Wonderland, by following a white rabbit into a hole. Everything she experiences causes her to question her perception of of reality and plain out common sense.
From talking rabbits to many other strange and unusual things, Alice has a very memorable trip through wonderland. Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carrol,takes place in the victorian era. He wrote it for the Liddel family, he then published it and it is now a famous children book. There were many events that we can see Alice’s background from coming from the Victorian Era throughout the text. Although Alice enters wonderland as an immature and inexperienced child, throughout her adventure in wonderland she learns new skills and tools that help her grow and mature in many ways.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, more commonly known as Lewis Carroll, rose to fame from the birth of Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass. While he became a celebrated author among children and adults alike, conspiracies arose concerning his life outside the glamorized, innocent light from which the Victorian masses viewed him. Many modern critics have called into question Dodgson’s relationships with young girls, specifically holding a microscope under his interactions with Alice Liddell, the girl that inspired his famous tale. Despite the mix of reckless and groundless claims, Dodgson’s relationship with little girls never went beyond the confines of friendship.
Carroll creates a world where Alice is allowed to be very curious and free; he “elaborates a view of a composite reality that allows one to function safely in this curious and potentially destructive world” (Reichertz 7). Alice also displays good manners that were clearly taught well by her guardians even know she has little guidance from them in the novel. Alice is also inclined to learn from the animals in the novel, for learning is a distinctive trait of the rational
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
Lewis Carroll's use of puns and riddles in Alice in Wonderland help set the theme and tone. He uses word play in the book to show a world of warped reality and massive confusion. He uses such play on words to reveal the underlying theme of growing up', but with such an unusual setting and ridiculous characters, there is need for some deep analyzing to show this theme. The book contains many examples of assonance and alliteration to add humor. Carroll also adds strange diction and extraordinary syntax to support the theme.
'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
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was a children’s book written by Lewis Carroll. The focus of
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.