Search for Identity in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Oliver Twist

Crime writer Albert Borowitz believes that Charles Dickens uses the narrative of Oliver’s fall to “serve his reformist purposes of attacking England’s harsh, poor laws and illustrating [in] the thesis that city slums could breed crime even in the most innocent” people (Borowitz). I absolutely agree with Borowitz. In the beginning, the reader just assumes the Oliver just has terrible luck and that all of these terrible events are happening to him out of misfortune. Oliver is portrayed as a poor and innocent boy who is just being used by other people who have selfish intentions. Later on, the bystanders realize that “he was really the hardened little wretch he was described to be” by people (Dickens). Comparing the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel, Oliver has transformed from an innocent and young boy into a criminal in which he only speaks lies. Dickens has managed to attack England’s laws and changed Oliver’s character from an innocent orphan into a criminal.

The 2005 version of Charles Dickens’, Oliver Twist, is an adaption from the original text that Dickens wrote years ago. The scriptwriters for this film removed parts of the original story and inserted new ways to condense the storyline and to appeal to an audience notably. This adaption connects old and new thoughts, constructing the message and idea they want to portray. The salient features in this novel make the film its own version of the original Oliver Twist along with emphasizing the unlucky series of events Oliver goes through. This film adaption also has events in Dickens’ story that are either foregrounded or dropped out completely. This decision made by the scriptwriters reveals how they want the story to be understood. This

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.

From the moment she sees the White Rabbit taking his watch from his waistcoat pocket, Alice tries to understand the logic of Wonderland. None of the rules that she has been taught seem to apply in Wonderland. The characters in Wonderland have no sense of manners and respond to her questions with answers that make no sense. For example, the Mad Hatter asks the questions, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” (Alice 51). Alice assumes he is asking a riddle and she begins to try to answer it, thinking the Hatter would not ask a riddle without knowing the answer. When Alice is unable to figure out the riddle, the Hatter explains that there is no answer. He does not explain why he asked the riddle, he simply says, “I haven’t the slightest idea” (Alice 53). In which Alice replies, “I think you might do something better with the time, than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers” (Alice 53). The Hatter then responds with a lecture on Time, which he depicts as a person. Time being depicted as a person makes no logical sense to Alice. In the end, Alice rebels during the trial scene when the King said “Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court” (Alice 88). Alice objects to the absurd nature of the trial saying, “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” (Alice 91). This final scene is the end of her dream, and she wakes up with her head in her sister’s lap.

Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is saturated with the evil of men (and women) who seek to destroy the purest of things—the innocence of a child. The majority of the characters in this novel are driven by greed, power (over the less fortunate) and pure evil—non-more so than Mister Bumble, the cruel, pompous old beadle of the poorhouse where Oliver is raised, and Fagin, a “loathsome reptile” of a man. While each of these men will succumb to some level of depravity, as will the other characters, young Oliver Twist does not. Against all odds, Oliver is the only one who remains untainted by the evil that surrounds him all times. Despite the heartbreaking revelation of his parents’ demise, dealing with the loss of them both, the ill treatment he receives on a daily basis, existing in a world completely void of light and permeating with corruption, Oliver never adopts the pervasive nature of those around him. The infestation, which eventually consumes all those around him, is something that Oliver Twist was able to avoid due to his purity of self.

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.

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)."

Oliver Anderson was your average teenage guy who lived in a small town near the smoky mountains in Tennessee. Oliver lived with his mother, Tammy, and sister, Olivia. Oliver's dad was not in the picture. He left his family when Oliver was seven and never contacted them again. Tammy had huge expectations for her kids. She never expected anything less than perfect from Oliver and Olivia. Oliver found it very difficult to be the perfect child his mother wanted. Oliver received decent grades in school but also received his fair share of bad grades. He had a small group of friends. Friends who often were mischievous but never engaged in any activity that was illegal. Oliver was over being at home. He wanted to disappear. Start a new life, in a new town, in a new state, with new people. His new adventure was about to commence.

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.

Oliver Twist is the narrative of a youthful vagrant, Oliver, and his endeavors to remain great in a general public that declines to help. Oliver is conceived in a workhouse, to a mother not known to anybody in the town. She passes on directly in the wake of bringing forth him, and he is sent to the parochial halfway house, where he and alternate vagrants are dealt with unpleasantly and sustained practically nothing. When he turns nine, he is sent to the workhouse, where again he and the others are dealt with severely and for all intents and purposes starved. Alternate young men, unfit to stand their appetite any more, choose to attract straws to pick who should go up and request more nourishment. Oliver loses. On the designated day, subsequent to completing his initially serving of gruel, he goes up and requests more. Mr. Blunder, the beadle, and the board are offended, and choose they should dispose of Oliver, apprenticing him to the parochial funeral director, Mr. Sowerberry. It isn't extraordinary there either, and after an assault on his mom's memory, Oliver flees.

Oliver Twist is a poor orphan boy cruelly treated in the public workhouse. Pennyless and hungry, he runs away to London, only to fall into the clutches of a gang of thieves and pickpockets led by the master criminal, Fagin. Befriended by a man robbed by the gang, Oliver ultimately learns his true identity and gains a new home, a fortune and a brand new family!

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

Oliver Twist builds associations between the criminal characters themselves and additionally this present reality conditions which motivated their generalizations. The states of destitution and an absence of family being fixed to culpability are established

Recently for a project for an English class, the students were asked to do an assignment of reading Oliver Twist. This is the first time most of the students had read the novel. Some of the students prefer to engage their learning by watching the movies of novels instead of reading the material. Surprisingly, most of the students enjoyed the late Charles Dickens. They greatly adored all of the plot twists and how they, the readers, were always on their toes until the next chapter, “I don’t quite really remember when it was easy to put down the book.” –Karina Gonzalez