Analysis of Animal Characters in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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.

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

Using anthropomorphism in children’s literature brings in an element of discovery for the child. The child is able to make connections in early childhood to animals with human traits as believable characteristics. Anthropomorphism could be used as building blocks for older children. Literature based upon more vivid and believable animal characters could cause the child to easily identify with the character, while allowing their imagination to take them into the story.

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.

In Alice’s Adventures, Alice falls down a rabbit- hole for what seems like forever, while bits and pieces of her identity remain trapped at the entrance. After this fall,

Alice following the rabbit down the hole shows the curiosity she, like most other children, has. She follows the rabbit throughout Wonderland, almost as if it’s a guide. The rabbit can also be seen as an older figure in Alice’s life that sparks the curiosity into adulthood for her. Alice sees something intriguing in that person and their being older that gets her curious as to what it might be, just as a talking rabbit might spring her interest. She looks up to them and wants to have the qualities they do. Alice follows the rabbit as she would this person to quench her curiosity and see exactly what is going on in this part of life that Alice is so far naive to.

First, it is widely accepted that Lewis Carroll was criticizing aspects of Victorian Education of children. There is strong evidence that Carroll thought negatively with regard to Victorian Education. Carroll does not explicitly come out and say that he dislikes Victorian Education, but rather drops subtle clues throughout that suggest that he didn’t approve of education in his times. “Carroll cleverly uses nonsense to criticize rote school learning in a way that would have been impossible to do within the bounds of more serious writing” (Kwoka). For example, when Alice is falling down the rabbit hole, she is using words like “longitude” and “latitude”, when she doesn’t have the slightest clue what they mean. Victorian Education was just memorization and regurgitation of information, rather than absorbing the topic of study. This is clearly represented when Alice is falling down the rabbit hole, using words that she doesn’t know the meaning of while reciting information.

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 Wonderland is a queer little universe where a not so ordinary girl is faced with the contradicting nature of the fantastic creatures who live there. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a child's struggle to survive in the condescending world of adults. The conflict between child and adult gives direction to Alice's adventures and controls all the outstanding features of the work- Alice's character, her relationship with other characters, and the dialogue. " Alice in Wonderland is on one hand so nonsensical that children sometimes feel ashamed to have been interested in anything so silly (Masslich 107)."

In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the animal characters are very strange. In audience’s expectation, Lewis Carroll was supposed to guide Alice throughout the traditional fairytale world she has created, but instead they were negative influences on this child. Do the animal characters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland disobey the animal characters in traditional fairytales? The animals in Alice argue with her, confuse her, and tell her upsetting stories instead of guiding her through the fairytale world she has created.

Alice in Wonderland by Charles L Dodgeson (Lewis Carrol) is a classic masterpiece and example of great literature. Many people know of this book as merely a child’s tale or a Disney movie. As both were adopted from the book, many of the ideas were not. I have my own feelings and opinions of this book. Remarkable use of words and an originally creative theme and plot structure are both used in this book. The author of this novel used many hidden meanings, symbolism, and ambiguous terms to greatly describe the actual nature of the story. Many people have different views as to the type of book it is and the novel’s actual meaning. Although this book inspires many people to laugh, it also inspires them think.

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.

Do you ever notice in stories, the female characters tend to be weak and sometimes have a mentor to guide them? Alice Adventures in Wonderland turned the tables on this type of character and made a strong, lively character Alice. Carroll disregarded the traditional plot lines and development of characters of his time by creating an empowered Alice, who overcomes the challenges in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Not only does Alice face different challenges through the story she also faces her pre-teen years of emotional and developmental stages. We can argue that Carroll disobeyed the normal childhood innocence by taking away Alice’s innocence because she had to go through Wonderland, facing different challenges that made her a strong