“Little Alice”: Adventures in Self-Identity By examining Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, it is evident that this bildungsroman novel aims to educate child and adult readers alike on finding one’s identity. A common motif found in the bildungsroman genre is the maturation of a single protagonist, who undergoes moral development through experiential learning. As Alice happens upon the inciting incident of entering Wonderland, her naivety and childlike sensibility is tested. Wonderland acts as a realm of transformation, where the logic of her childhood reality is of no use. It is once Alice’s logic fails her, that she embarks on a journey of introspection. The Mad Tea Party functions as a climatic point in Alice’s formation of her identity. In the ensuing chapters, Alice grows from an immature seven-year-old to a young girl who possesses a sense of autonomy and self-identity. She understands the value of communication, self-control, and the necessity to adapt as she maneuvers her way through episodic challenges. Initially, Alice is depicted at her most immature and naïve stage of development. It is early on in the novel, where she is first described as “Little Alice”. This emphasizes her child-centered perspective within the larger adult world. As Alice’s journey begins, she is inexperienced and ill equipped. This is evident in her encounter with the “Drink Me” bottle at the bottom of the rabbit hole. Alice uses the logic she would use outside Wonderland to
Carroll uses the food and drinks as a way of representing Alice’s curious appetite for growing up in her societal role. As she wanders around Wonderland, her curiosity often leads to her eating or drinking an object in order to satisfy her curiosity. When she drinks the “Drink Me” substance she says, “Curiouser and curiouser! Cried Alice she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English” (Carroll 6). Many times throughout the novel, Alice adventures revolve around food and drinks such as sweet baked snacks, potions and tea to appease her curiosity. Alice begins to lose control of her eating and drinking habits of Wonderland which demonstrates her maturity as she looks towards adulthood in the reality world. The more food and drinks Alice applies to herself, Carroll establishes the metaphor of growing up results in unpredictable events and changes that are irreversible. Alice stumbles across the Cheshire Cat who portrays the opposite of growing up as he believes taking short cuts are better than asking for advice. The Chesire cat exclaims to Alice, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” (Carroll 49). The metaphor from the Cheshire Cat resulted from Alice asking about visiting the Mad Hatter. In this case, The Cheshire Cat is a representation of taking the easy route and not visiting the mad hatter,
She is torn between her “mad” ideas and what society is telling her. “The story of Alice is played in the in-between space between this negative prophecy uttered by apparently sane English characters, “Be yourself and you will be mad,” and a magical Underland oracle affirmatively interpreted by utterly mad characters, “You are our champion, Be Yourself!” In the world of England,
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story of a young girl’s journey down the rabbit hole into a fantasy world where there seems to be no logic. Throughout Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice experiences a variety of bizarre physical changes, causing her to realize she is not only trying to figure out Wonderland but also trying to determine her own identity. After Alice arrives in Wonderland the narrator states, “For this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people” (Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 12). This quotation is the first instance that shows Alice is unsure of her identity. The changes in size that take place when she eats or drinks are the physical signs of her loss of identity.
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.
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.
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.
Carl Sandburg, born in Galesburg, Illinois, on January 6, 1878, was an American poet, writer, and editor who won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. However he was best known for his poetry. His most famous poem, called happiness explained an experience he had in college. Carl attended Lombard college located in chicago, illinois, from
I saw Still Alice this week. I wanted to see the Glen Campbell movie (which I will watch later) but opted for this one first. What a stirring movie! Watching the progression of her decline, and realizing that she KNEW that she was affected, was very sad. It was heartening to see the support that her family gave her, even while dealing with their own issues. The fact that she was proactive on the front end, in obtaining the diagnostic testing helped her family be better able to understand what was happening and to support her. I love the fact that she and her daughter were able to have a better relationship, and that her daughter was truly able to see her mom, even when her mom had trouble seeing her earlier.
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)."
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.
Based on the children’s literary work written by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland is a fictional film that was directed by Tim Burton. The film is set in Wonderland inside of Alice’s dream, so viewers are able to recognize the lack of order and the fantasies of children. One of the major themes seen in the movie is childhood, specifically the development into adulthood, which is depicted in other characters besides Alice. Alice, however, is used as the primary symbol for what children in the Victorian Age should not ideally act like, since they were expected to dress properly and attain a certain level of education. Furthermore, Sigmund Freud’s dream theory and tripartite give further insight into the characters and what they represented during the Victorian Age. The id, ego, and the superego are applied to the unconscious and conscious mind states, and how the unconscious state is still somewhat available during a conscious state. In Alice in Wonderland, psychoanalysis is used to portray the Red Queen as the id, the Absolem
In the novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the main character, Alice, undergoes quite a change. During the time the novel was published, parts of the world were in the victorian era. The Queen at the time was Queen Victoria, in which the era was named after. During this era, knowledge, class and reason were greatly valued, and stressed. This time period ended in the year of Queen Victoria’s death. Throughout the novel, there are many ways that show how Alice begins to understand the world in adult terms, matures, and grows.
'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
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland gives a unique twist on Lewis Carroll’s classic novel. In the film an almost adult Alice is having trouble fitting into normal society. After being proposed to she falls down the rabbit hole and ends up in Wonderland. The majority of the film is Alice running through wonderland trying to figure out if she is the right Alice to slay the Jabberwocky. Along the way she learns a lot about herself though her friend’s advice and actions.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s work The Canterbury Tales: The General Prologue gives not only a realistic portrayal of life during the fourteenth century but it also presents a critique of the Church. Chaucer creates characters, or portraits, that show the different personalities associated with the Church and religion. While some characters are truly pious, Chaucer uses many of these portraits to comment on the corruption and greed of the Catholic Church. A character who is an exemplum for this is The Pardoner. He is a Church Official who preaches the word of God yet does not follow the advice of his own sermons. During a period where Officials abused their power, Chaucer uses characters like The Pardoner to show his disgust at the hypocrisy of the Church.