Criticisms of Victorian Society in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland provides a foil to the strict standard that was set upon the mentally and physically impaired in Victorian times. Carroll is constantly setting critique upon critique upon the Victorian mindset of mental illness. He also demonstrated the restrictions the Victorian disabled faced everyday within the political and social spheres in place through the physicality of Alice’s body and impact of the environment around her. In the story, madness is seen as positive and liberation for the person to do what they pleased to do. In Wonderland, the mind’s horizon can significantly broaden without the constraint of the social norms that threatened to force them in an institution should deviant what should be expected of them.

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.

Societies all around the world, powerful or weak, rich or in poverty, cannot escape criticism from the people, may be a revolt against their conventions, or just a simple humorous representation of them. This applies to the Victorian society, being satirized by a book called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Charles Ludwidge Dodgson. It is about a girl who, due to her curiosity, fell down a rabbit-hole. It was there that started her magical journey through Wonderland.

Aside from the very obvious madness and chaos of the scene, there is also a very stark example of the dream logic displayed in other parts of the story. There is also a sense of the feelings of loneliness. Alice is the only one that seems upset about the unfairness of the situation, especially when she grows back to her full size and everyone turns on her. This shows the separation she has from the other characters in terms of their state of mind. This is also where another aspect of the dream logic comes into play. Alice becomes the center of attention during the trial. When Alice grows back to her normal size, she draws all the attention to herself, the Knave all but forgotten

To move on, I would like to discuss about the Victorian period and the characteristics of the Victorian Literature to analyze Carolls’ intentions for writing the “Alice in Wonderland” during the Victorian era. One of the major characteristics of the Victorian Period is urbanization and industrialization due to the Industrial Revolution that initiated around 1760. Because of this atmosphere of industrialization, urbanization and also colonization, the gap between wealth and poverty widened a lot. Therefore, in Great Britain during the Victorian period the class structure became rigid and women and children from the weaker laboring class suffered a big deal from the severe labor while the upper class acted arrogantly and enjoyed a luxurious life. On the other hand, in the Victorian period, because of the upsurge of the religious movement called evangelism and permeation of people’s thinking about revising the society, there was an atmosphere to demand for strict morals

“Off with their heads!“ (Carroll 122) could be the motto of Suzanne Collins’ bestseller The Hunger Games. Published in 2008, the novel tells the dystopian story of Katniss, a young girl who has to participate in a fight-to-death-tournament with 23 other teenagers. Connoisseurs might have recognized the quotation of the classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, first published in 1865. Mostly known as a children’s book, the novel depicts the story of Alice a girl that finds herself in a wonderland, where she meets many curious people and gets confronted with arbitrary brutality. Although they don’t seem to have much in common at first glance and have

One historical approach to Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland invites the reader to observe the trends, culture as well as the philosophy of the Victorian Era for a personalized interpretation of Alice’s encounters in Wonderland. Usage of the Historical approach may seem demoralizing in sheer scope; it is quite imperative to understand that the novel was written during a specific time period that, in itself, contained unique habits and concerns. Within the following pages, the connections with the Victorian era in terms of the middle class’ upbringing of children, notions of order, reasoning, logic and politesse will be further understood.

Beckman comments that, “The context of Carroll’s books is thus a revolution in what literature should be both in terms of contemporary Victorian morals” Although the comment of literature is nicely wrapped in an entertaining children’s story about a young girl’s adventure, the content of criticism is delivered.

Philosophy – a subject that had driven people insane for as long as humans know their history. All the time people try to find a meaning, and later controvert it. For example, critics view a novel by Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as a quest for maturity story, Carroll’s view on Victorian Society and even existential meaning on life. All of those interpretations come from philosophical “drive” of the critics. The truth is that anyone can point a finger at the book and come up with their own “deep” meaning of the story, but if one looks at facts, well known, and obvious things – it is clear that the story is simply a children tale intended for entertainment and nothing

Enraged from the recent conversation with her aunt and uncle, Alice storms out the door. Headed to her usual spot beneath the old Willow near the edge of the forest, she runs full speed down the hill, hopefully relieving some of her anger. As she stops at the edge of the forest, book in hand, now sitting, she can’t help but notice her veins flooding with adrenaline. She’s so mad she can’t sit still.

The wealthier children of Victorian England were expected to behave as if they were adults. They were taught manners and proper etiquette from an early age by their nanny, because their parents are often absent from their lives. Adults constantly prodded them to be polite, and they were to be seen rather than heard (Price, Paxton). Carroll creates a literal mirror world in “Through the Looking-Glass” by writing the adults, such as the Red and White Queens, as being childish, contrasting and ridiculing reality where children were expected to be adults. Alice herself is apart of the upper class, something the reader knows because of her nanny (Carrol 10 Looking-Glass) and the way she has been taught to restrict her feelings from showing is evident, as she says to herself “Come,

Accepted norms now seem foreign to Alice, and in many ways she becomes an outcast" (Polisner par. 3).  Carroll is mocking the Victorians because with every new thing that Alice learns, they seem to cancel out her past lessons.

“Down, down, down” the endless rabbit hole, a little girl begins her adventure through a queer variety fantasies. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking- Glass depicts the  protagonist, Alice, who encounters unique creatures such as the white rabbit, caterpillar, Cheshire cat, duchess, and many more. Alice pursued the white rabbit which consequently led her to several adventures like meeting a caterpillar smoking a hookah, joining in a tea party, playing a game of croquet with the queen of hearts, and listening to storytelling by the Gryphon and Mock Turtle. In the second novel, Alice asks to be allowed to play in the giant living game of chess, and the Red Queen assigns her the role of White Pawn; she needs to end up on the eighth square where she will be queen. Moreover, the novels encompases themes such as exploration, conflicts of identity, and youth.

     Everyone as a child listened to their parents read them fairy tells and tall tales. Whether or not the child understood the story he knew he enjoyed it. Alice in Wonderland is one of the most famous children’s stories. Even though half of the writing did not make sense the reader would still be interested and entertained. To fully understand the writings of Lewis Carroll, a person must look at his past, get opinions from other authors and come to a conclusion on their own whether Carroll was a nonsense writer or gifted children’s writer.

As we read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Island of Dr. Moreau, we enter into two unique worlds of imagination. Both Lewis Carroll and H.G. Wells describe lands of intrigue and mystery. We follow Alice and Prendick into two different worlds where animals speak, evolution is tested, and reality is bent until it nearly breaks. It is the masterminds of Lewis Carroll and H.G. Wells that take these worlds of fantasy and make them realistic. How do these two great authors make the unbelievable believable? Both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Island of Dr. Moreau float in between a dream world and reality, which makes the real seem unbelievable and the unbelievable seem real.