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Literary analysis alice's adventures in wonderland
Thesis statement on symbolism in ALice in Wonderland
Literary analysis alice's adventures in wonderland
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A Child's Struggle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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)."
The underlying message of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a rejection of adult authority. The character of Alice is not at all like what you would find in a typical children's book. "The character of Alice herself is a bit puzzling, even to the modern child, because it does not fit a stereotype. How much more unusual she must have seemed to Victorian children, used to girl angels fated for death (in Dickens, Stowe, and others), or to impossibly virtuous little ladies, or to naughty girls who eventually reform in response to heavy adult pressure... But Alice is neither naughty nor overly nice. Her curiosity leads her into her initial adventure and most of the latter ones in the book... (Leach 119)."
As Alice makes her way through Wonderland , she is faced with many pompous personalities that have their own ways of thinking and do not understand why Alice does not agree with their views. Alice takes into consideration what each character says. After becoming quite confused and disgruntled she learns that everyone in Wonderland is in fact m...
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Empson, William "Alice in Wonderland" Some Versions of Pastoral (1974). 812-14 Rpt. in Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticisms. Ed. Laurie Harris. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 2: 112- 14.
Harris, Laurie, ed. Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 76 vols.
Hubbell, George Shelton "The Sanity of Wonderland" The Sewanee Review (1927) 387-98. Rpt. in Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticisms. Ed. Laurie Harris. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 2: 109.
Leach, Elsie "Alice in Wonderland" The Victorian Newsletter (1964) Rpt. in Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticisms. Ed. Laurie Harris. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 2: 119.
Masslich, George B. "A Book Within a Book" The English Journal (1921) 119-29. Rpt. in Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticisms. Ed. Laurie Harris. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 2: 107.
Britain had an advantage over Germany in gaining the U.S. as an ally. Although the U.S. had as many as eleven million immigrants with blood ties to the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, they shared close culture, language, and economic ties with the British. The British were also in control of most of the transatlantic cables. Therefore, they had the ability to censor war stories, which hurt the British cause in the eyes of the U.S. They instead sent only the tales of German bestiality. Also, most Americans were anti-German from the beginning because it seemed as if their government was the embodiment of autocracy. Another disadvantage to the Germans was the British interception of a secretly coded message intended for Mexico. This message, when decoded by the British, asked Mexico to join the war on the Central side if the U.S. declared war on Germany. These actions all compiled into a list of reasons why the U.S. should enter the war in Ally support.
One of the most notorious names in history is Benedict Arnold, an American Revolutionary War leader, who is known for being the “traitor to his country.” Yet, without his courageous and heroic deeds in the fight against the British, the Americans may have not gained freedom. In Saratoga, New York, a monument is dedicated to Arnold’s contribution to the victory of the Battle of Saratoga; however, there is no name on the monument. Biographer James Kirby Martin once said, “The tragedy of Benedict Arnold is that his incredible acts … have been washed away and basically forgotten.” Although Benedict Arnold was once a respected and admirable leader of the Americans, he was branded as a selfish and unethical traitor after the Revolutionary War and his efforts towards the success of the Americans were often overlooked or forgotten.
After defecting to the British side Arnold received remuneration which included pay land in Canada, pensions for himself and a commission as British Provincial brigadier general. Even though the British provided for Arnold they never truly trusted him and only allowed him to serve in minor engagements with the Americans. One of these engagements was in 1781 where he led the British attack against Virginia destroying the Virginian Navy
He lead an attack at Fort Ticonderoga when he discovered there were cannons there. Simultaneously he went to George Washington with a plan to capture Quebec. The Plan had failed and had enough time to retreat. At the same time, he built a navy at Lake Champlain, But were found and bombarded by the British for a long time. They barely had enough time to escape. Finally, General Burgoyne launched attack after attack at Arnold and Gates. Gates kept falling back while Arnold wanted to launch an attack. Gates took away Arnold's troops, but when the time came Benedict jumped onto his horse and went into battle. Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, and the Americans had won. Soon, The Congress had not paid Benedict which made him betray the Colonists and join the British. When the British first heard a major general was joining them they were shocked, While Benedict Arnold was with the British he still supported the Colonists. Like he pretended to build defence but actually weakened it by sending soldiers to get wood.
They gave the command to General Schuyler, once again Arnold felt slighted. But General Washington knew Arnold to be a genius soldier. He selected Arnold to lead troops through a wilderness route for the second part of the Quebec campaign. This mission was delayed from the start by terrain and weather, but Arnold got most of his troops through. Unfortunately, in their delay the city had been reinforced. He could not wait had had to attack on December 31, 1775 , since many of his men’s enlistments expired on New Year’s day. Although, Arnold suffered a severe leg wound in battle , he never gave up his post. The Americans fought on and were forced to retreat. It was a crushing
...Chrie, D., (ed.), Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1986. Vo. 13, pp. 53-111.
Although he was a skillful leader throughout the revolution, General Benedict Arnold is best known as the man who betrayed his country. After reading more about him, one has to wonder if the betrayal was solely one-sided.
Although it was General Horatio Gates who was in charge it was Arnold’s action that helped lead them to victory. During the Battle of Saratoga, specifically at Freeman’s Farm, the American’s were retreating but Arnold would not accept that. He got on his white horse and led a brilliant charge against the British. It was during this charge that Arnold’s leg was crushed beneath his horse.
Benedict Arnold was different: a military hero for both sides in the same war. He began his career as an American Patriot in May 1775, when he and Ethan Allen led the brigade that captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Arnold's heroics continued in September, when he led an expedition of 1,150 riflemen against Quebec, the capital of British Canada. The American commander drove his men hard through the Maine wilderness, overcoming leaky boats, spoiled provisions, treacherous rivers, and near starvation to arrive at Quebec in November, his force reduced to 650 men.
In the battle, Arnold defied General Gate’s command by proceeding to lead a group of soldiers to attack the British line which resulted in the surrender of the British. The victory is this battle is highly significant because it convinced the French to openly support the colonists (250). The battle might have not been a success if it had not been for Arnold. Arnold crippled his leg when he was defending the colonies in the Battle of Saratoga. He was injured when his horse got shot in the midst of the battle, pinning his leg on the ground causing a serious wound. This is a memorable event which shows Arnold’s devotion to the colonist. Despite his contribution, he failed to receive the recognition he deserve because General Gates was getting most of the credit for their victory while he was suffering from his fatal injury
Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
One of the main purposes for writing Alice in Wonderland was not only to show the difficulties of communication between children and adults. In this story, almost every adult Alice talked to did not understand her. At times she messed up what they were saying completely as well, which many times stick true to real life circumstances. This book shows that kids and adults are on completely separate pages on an everlasting story. Carroll points out that sometimes children, like Alice, have a hard time dealing with the transition from childhood to adulthood, 'growing up.' Alice in Wonderland is just a complicated way of showing this fact. Lewis Carroll's ways with words is confusing, entertaining, serious, and highly unique all at the same time. And it's safe to say that it would be difficult to replicate such and imaginative technique ever again (Long 72).
The Industrial Revolution was an important time period in American history. It greatly affected the economy, industry, and standard of living for people in the United States. It still has everlasting effects to this day. Most of the products we use today are made quickly by the process of mass production. Today, people work on assembly lines using power-driven machines. People of ancient and medieval times had no such products. They had to spend many hours of hand labor to create very simple objects. The energy came from their muscles. Eventually some advancement occurred when people began using animals to help with the work they used to do alone. The Industrial Revolution was the movement in which machinery changed the methods of manufacturing goods and ultimately changed everyday life for workers (Remini).
Alice in Wonderland belongs to the nonsense genre, and even if most of what happens to Alice is quite illogical, the main character is not. “The Alice books are, above all, about growing up” (Kincaid, page 93); indeed, Alice starts her journey as a scared little girl, however, at the end of what we discover to be just a dream, she has entered the adolescence phase with a new way to approach the mentally exhausting and queer Wonderland. It is important to consider the whole story when analyzing the growth of the character, because the meaning of an event or a sentence is more likely to mean what it truly looks like rather than an explanation regarding subconscious and Freudian interpretations. Morton states “that the books should possess any unity of purpose seems on the surface unlikely” (Morton, page 509), but it’s better to consider the disconnected narrative and the main character separately, since the girl doesn’t belong to Wonderland, which is, as Morton says, with no intrinsic unity. Whereas, there are a few key turning points where it is possible to see how Alice is changing, something that is visible throughout her journey. Carroll wants to tell the story of a girl who has to become braver in order to contend with challenges like the pool made by her own tears, or assertive characters, like the Queen.