When Alice Meets The Susan Cat

In his analysis of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Richard Kelly describes Wonderland as a nonsensical place where Alice is “treated rudely, bullied, asked questions with no

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

In particular, Alice’s fluctuating size and “opening out like” (Carroll 11) a telescope parallel with a child’s seemingly spontaneous growth spurts, which occur frequently and most noticeably during pre-adolescent and adolescent years. In fact, Alice Liddell, the inspiration for the original tale, was ten when Lewis Carroll (the pen name of Charles Dodgson) first told the tale (Vallone 245). In addition, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland began as tale about the adventures of seven year-old Alice Liddell (Vallone 245). In reality, most children like Alice Liddell grow, but in Wonderland, Alice changed drastically and symbolically. Physically Alice’s growth correlates in many instances with her behavior. For instance, prior to drinking the mysterious liquid, Alice ponders on the substance’s toxicity, however, she fails to consider possible outcomes while forgetting the golden key. Consequently, Alice grew smaller as her behavior was incongruous to a practical and experienced adult. In contrast prior to consuming the cookie, Alice muses “‘if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door so either way I’ll get into the garden’” (Carroll 9). Hence, Alice exemplifies problem

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.

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.

“Sister Catherine! You have failed!” A voice boomed aloud as the a chair hung in midair with a frightened nun that sat on top. Without a warning, whatever was holding the chair in place was gone, and it crashed onto the floor. I quickly covered my eyes to hide from the horrific sight. The woman was surely dead and I did not want to see what was remained of her. Alice, a friend I made on my trip in France, started to scream and cry. I pulled out my phone to call the police while trying to drag Alice away from the scene. I told the woman on the other side what had happened and in no time, the sirens of the police were heard.

The Cheshire cat helped Alice with his remarks. That helped Alice because it teaches her the rules of Wonderland.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland creates a warped reality, causing each character’s identity to become confused. An exception to this confusion of identity is the Cheshire Cat, who shows an uncanny awareness of his own madness, giving him considerable control over his presence and allowing him to occasionally leave only a grin behind. Alice, contrarily, is strewn all over as she loses herself in Wonderland. In Wonderland, all are “mad,” but to Alice this is preposterous, even as she fails to explain who she is – both to herself and to others. Carroll’s juxtaposition of the Cheshire Cat and Alice in their first meeting scene exaggerates Alice’s insecure identity and its development throughout her adventures in Wonderland.

The text Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll deals with the main idea of logic versus nonsense. The author shows similarities between the characters of Wonderland and Alice. She represents logic and reasoning while the other characters represent her other personality traits, such as the dodo bird having a desire to always be right and show off its knowledge, the hatter having a childish and nonsensical personality and the Cheshire cat acts in a way similar to her logical side. Also Alice does have some similar malevolent tendencies as the queen, but she is very different from Alice as she is mean and ruthless yet Alice is kind.

Lewis Carroll was a professor of logic, writing among his well known works of fiction, treatises on the subject of logic and even a textbook, Symbolic Logic. “It is the function of logic to classify and formulate fallacious forms of argument as well as valid ones.” (Burks 367) So is it some of the functions of Carroll’s tales of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Presenting different puzzles, riddles, or what appears to be on the surface nonsense, Carroll in these books present many questions of logic and indirectly their solutions, challenging the ability of the reader to believe what has been presented. All his nonsensical puzzles can be either proved or disproved using some

 In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Carroll shows the ridiculous nature of adults through his extraordinary characters. The amiable Cheshire Cat is the only character to help Alice in her struggle through Wonderland and admit that he is mad. "Oh you can't help that, we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad (Carroll )." All other characters are pointlessly didactic and feel the need to constantly snap at her, preach to her, confuse her, or ignore her. The Duchess, for instance, is inconsistent, unpleasant, pointless, and is of no help to Alice in her predicament. " flamingoes and mustard both bite. And the moral of that is Birds of a feather flock together (Carroll )." Many children see adults, especially those that are of authority, as having the same nature as the Duchess. The arbitrary , bloody Queen of Hearts is an

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland shows us how a child's innocence can create an imaginative world that would be considered abnormal and insane through the eyes of an adult. Alice dreams of creatures and animals that have the ability to talk, and she constantly shifts in shape and size, perverting the proportions of Wonderland around her. She also has conversations with other characters that the are full of nonsense and odd remarks. Perhaps Alice's irrational personality is best displayed during the scene "A Mad Tea-Party" when Alice encounters a Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse sitting down for teatime. She walks up to the crew nonchalantly and sits down to join them. Immediately, the Hatter begins to make remarks about Alice's appearance and her manners. He is rude and snappy, having a criticism for everything that Alice

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.

Carroll has referred to Alice's knowledge on several different occasion in order to take the story beyond the typical fairytale"(Carroll 1-4).