John Charles Lutwidge Dodgson 's ' The Looking Glass '

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.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is an imaginative fictional fairytale about a seven year old british Alice, who follows a talking rabbit down a hole into the magical world of Wonderland. Alice curiously finds her way around Wonderland with her original purpose to find her way back home. She talks to a rabbit and drinks random potions that make her size larger and smaller than the average human. She eventually meets a mad man who has an unusual fixation on tea parties and a cheshire cat who leads her in every direction possible, through Wonderland She comes across a queen who loves to collect a list of human hearts with whom she has quite literally broken. “Off with their head!” she screams when one makes her dissatisfied. Alice races through

Lewis Carroll was among the many authors who left behind many memorable pieces of artwork. He was known for his pseudonym and for the way he connected with children. One of Carroll’s most famous published work was Alice Adventures in Wonderland. Along, with this recognizable novel by Carroll there was also, Through the Looking-Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, and A Tangled Tale. These stories overlooked some of the fantastic poetry he created, such as the one he wrote in 1871, which was titled Jabberwocky.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll follows the young girl Alice down the rabbit hole to Wonderland where she meets the different creatures of Wonderland. One of

Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is fundamentally about the growth of the character of Alice. In the Victorian period 1837- 1901, there was a changes in children education and reflexively development of children literature. Therefore when writing Lewis Carroll attempts to put forth a form of education within the text. The story follows Alice who is a seven year old well-mannered victorian girl that stumbles through a rabbit hole into the magical world of Wonderland. Alice takes on the role of the audience viewing Wonderland and its strange inhabitants. It is through language in both conversations with herself and with the characters of wonderland that we see Alice’s journey through wonderland is representative of a child’s education into adulthood.

Is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as absurd and nonsensical as it seems to be—without any traces of morals hiding underneath the bizarre shaped tea cups and crooked smiles? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written by an English author in 1865 under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, contains obscurities that leave people uncertain due to the nonsense. The novel holds many obscurities, such as a disappearing Cheshire Cat, a personified rabbit, and a caterpillar who smokes from a hookah. These characters hold a common feature of madness, yet the nonsense of this novel relates to the nonsense of Lowell High School, a public school that piles bricks of pressure on their students leading them to madness. Although, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland contains a series of puzzles that seem unsolvable, it symbolizes a strong foundation that helps Lowell High School ninth graders gain knowledge about surviving the competitive school.

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.

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.

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 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

Through worlds of madness, Charles Dodgeson, working under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, represented his beliefs imprinted upon him from childhood and adulthood into his writings reflecting his views. Carroll used his views concerning English society in the 19th century to influence his writings such as his poems and Alice in Wonderland by reflecting his worldview into the lives of his characters. Through his Christian upbringing and beliefs, Lewis Carroll developed unconventional realities based on the Word of the Lord along with his studies of logic and mathematics. Carroll’s writings and tales differed from that of other Victorian writers, for he displayed both his humor and love for academics,

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.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are both widely thought to be books filled of nonsense by adults because adults search for meaning in the wrong places. People are taught from a young age to analyze books in a “traditional” way, which is identifying the five stages of plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) and to look at the story one part at a time, slowly analyzing the whole book. This method becomes ingrained in their minds and they do it subconsciously. This frame of thought causes most adults to be unable to see the true meaning of Lewis Carroll’s two books, but at the same time helps adults obtain more than originally intended: “Although we can never hope to explain fully what these books mean or how they have secured their high place in the world’s literature, our efforts in this regard can yield many important insights about them and about their meanings for us,” (Rackin, 18). Adults are also taught there is always main plot that slowly builds towards the end, revealing a central theme. But in these books there is no main plot and Carroll uses the central theme to go back and give meaning to the rest of the events in the books. The themes of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are conveyed through the structure of the book, rather than the theme. The theme must also be read with the perspective with that of a child rather than an adult to fully understand these books.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson not only set a precedent for the genre of children's literature not yet common in the victorian era but he also impacted modern absurdist literature by his creative writing. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, all published under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, gained a large following by men, women, and children because of their whimsical tales of adventure. Carrolls fascination with little girls combined with having influence in the church allowed him to become friends with the reverend's daughter Alice whom gave him the idea to create the story Alice’s Adventures Underground.