Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary analysis on Alice in wonderland
Literary analysis of alice in wonderland
Literary analysis on Alice in wonderland
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Literary analysis on Alice in wonderland
“Alice in Wonderland” Characters and How They Represent Different Mental Disorders There are many things that change from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to the Alice in Wonderland movies. Some things that change from the novel to the movies are the themes and the symbolism throughout the different interpretations of this wonderful story. In Tim Burton’s 2010 movie adaptation of the Alice in Wonderland story a majority of the characters greatly resemble many different mental disorders (Pollare). Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is full of wonderful characters, who are represented in a different light than the characters in many other novels. These characters bring to life, and seem to beautify, multiple different …show more content…
However, I don’t believe this is the case, I believe that Alice and all of her Wonderland friends are manifestations of multiple different mental disorders. When I watched Tim Burton’s fantastical 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie, I did notice that Alice displayed a very obvious sign of schizophrenia, her disconnect from reality and seeming to create and join the fantastical place of Wonderland. Many of the characters within Wonderland, however, do seem to show symptoms of other mental disorders. During my research I found Katrina Pollare’s layout of some of the character’s possible mental disorders in Tim Burton’s film. She agrees that Alice shows signs of schizophrenia, however she also believes that Alice shows symptoms of nightmare disorder, or dream anxiety disorder (DAD), and psychosis. Alice stresses over her recurring dream of going down the rabbit hole, and going into a world that she believed was only in her imagination (Pollare). Dream anxiety disorder causes recurring nightmares or night terrors, the person may believe that the dream jeopardizes their lives or personal safety (Pollare). Alice also seems to see animals that can speak, smile, evaporate and even smoke among many other odd things. All of these things happen in Alice’s dreams, until one day she couldn’t seem to wake …show more content…
The Red Queen attacked his village during a party and set fire to the houses, took control and became a vicious leader. His angry flashbacks and haunting recurring visions are connected to PTSD behavior (Pollare). PTSD basically gives a neurologic reminder than could trigger recurring nightmares, random bursts of anger, and can sometimes cause heart palpitations. Along with PTSD, the Mad Hatter also displays bipolar tendencies. He often has hysterical episodes, happy and blathering, jumping from topic to topic, and talking quickly, which are symptoms of bipolar disorder(Pollare). Bipolar disorder can also be defined as manic depressive disorder. Mixed episodes can occur in people that are diagnosed, which could result in mood swings or problems with impulse control; which could explain his bursts of anger and
In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the reader has the experience to understand what it was like to live in an insane asylum during the 1960’s. Kesey shows the reader the world within the asylum of Portland Oregon and all the relationships and social standings that happen within it. The three major characters’ groups, Nurse Ratched, the Black Boys, and McMurphy show how their level of power effects how they are treated in the asylum. Nurse Ratched is the head of the ward and controls everything that goes on in it, as she has the highest authority in the ward and sabotages the patients with her daily rules and rituals. These rituals include her servants, the Black Boys, doing anything she tells them to do with the patients.
National Catholic Register. Reprinted at Decent Films. “Alice in Wonderland (2010)”. Steven D. Greydanus. http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/aliceinwonderland2010
To start Alice always felt that she was different, but realized it when she met the Mad Hatter. For instance, when he told her that there was no room at the table she sat anyway, she felt that she was very unwanted. Alice also feels that she is very different when the Mad Hatter refers to time as a person and not as a thing. When Alice was with the Mad Hatter she questioned his actions, but mostly when he stuffed a door mouse into a teapot. When the Mad Hatter had stuffed the mouse into the teapot is when Alice really started to questioning how people were acting in Wonderland. Therefore when Alice is with the Mad Hatter she feels like she is different from everyone else, along with when she is with the caterpillar and the pigeon.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story that has been loved and read by different age groups. Lewis Carroll wrote the book in such a way that the reader, young or old, could be trapped into Alice’s world of adventure. The illustrations by John Tenniel help portray the story beautifully. Tenniel put pictures to Carroll’s thoughts exactly. When a student reads Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the first time, it is always great if he or she could be introduced to his illustrations. However, it is a good idea for teachers to bring in different portals of Alice to help show how other people may view this little girl’s world. In addition, it will show that even though Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been written many years ago, people are still relating to Alice’s character. Overall, it is amazing to see how many different illustrators have portrayed Alice in a totally new and modern way, such Greg Hildebrandt. I decided to use Greg Hildebrandt’s illustrations to assist me in teaching about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because he portrays Alice as a much older looking girl. I believe this will help students understand how Alice’s character seemed older than seven years of age. He also depicts some of the characters as more humanlike than cartoon. I believe this will help students picture themselves into Alice’s world. In addition, Hildebrandt helps portray the bizarre story line that many people have come to love.
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 ”.
Why are animal characters so popular in children’s literature? Why do they tend to be either fierce or friendly? How do animal characters impact children’s literature? In Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, the animal characters are very weird. They were supposed to guide Alice through the traditional fairytale world she has created, but instead they were negative influences on this child. I believe the audience expected that animal characters are supposed to because they are the ones who should be a role model for kids to look up or when they read it. Do the animal characters in Lew Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland disobey the animal characters in traditional fairytales? The animals in Alice argue with her, confuse her, and tell her upsetting stories instead of guiding her through the fairytale world she has created. “Whenever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.” by Thomas C. Haliburton. It is related to my thesis because the animal characters in Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland felt that they had authority to disobey the animal characters in other traditional fairytales. This is similar to Del Toro’s Pan Labyrinth because there are main animal characters like fairytales, faun, and paleman. They have the weird physical features. It was really gross to see them. This applied to Lewis Carroll’s book because he used the animals in a weird way. For example, The Cheshire-Cat’s body disappeared but the face was still there. Other example is a mouse walking by Alice. In real life, mouse rarely does that.
Alice is now faced with the responsibility of adulthood. Wonderland just is the initiation between childhood and upcoming maturity. Throughout the book, Alice constantly changes size to adjust to the warped spaces in Wonderland. She often gets frustrated when she is not the right size she wants. Alice seems to be going through puberty for "it was much pleasanter at home, when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller," she is not pleased with the size of her body (Carroll 49). This frustration often occurs through the process of 'growing up.'
Alice in wonderland has compelled many artists and writings to adapt, Lewis Carroll 's book into movies. The original animated movie of Alice in Wonderland came out in 1951; which was produced by Disney. There have been many remakes, but for the purpose of this essay the 2010, live action remake by Tim Burton can reveal the most change. Keeping these two versions in mind, it is possible to get a snapshot of some ways American culture has shifted over the 59 year period. There are five main changes of importance from the original and the remake of Alice in Wonderland. Those changes are: the age of Alice, the dynamic of characters in Wonderland, the Gender roles, the violence, and the agency of Alice throughout the movie. These key changes can be linked to many subliminal messages being conveyed about American
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
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)."
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland follows the story of young Alice trapped in the world of Wonderland after falling down through a rabbit-hole. The rabbit-hole which is filled with bookshelves, maps, and other objects foreshadows the set of rules, the ones Alice is normally accustomed to, will be defied in Wonderland. This conflict between her world and Wonderland becomes evident shortly after her arrival as evinced by chaos in “Pool of Tears” and Alice brings up the main theme of the book “was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is who am I?” (Carroll 18). After Alice fails to resolve her identity crisis using her friends, Alice says “Who am I, then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here til I’m somebody else” (Carroll 19). Hence in the beginning, Alice is showing her dependency on others to define her identity. Nevertheless when her name is called as a witness in chapter 12, Alice replies “HERE!” without any signs of hesitation (Carroll 103). Close examination of the plot in Alice in Wonderland reveals that experiential learning involving sizes leads Alice to think logically and rationally. Alice then attempts to explore Wonderland analytically and becomes more independent as the outcome. With these qualities, Alice resolves her identity crisis by recognizing Wonderland is nothing but a dream created by her mind.
Most of the characters in Alice’s dreams are considered adults in that they assume a role of authority over her. Characters such as the Mad Hatter assume said role through their superiority in age. We know of them to be older physically but not are not mature enough to have authority. However, for the characters whose age we cannot assume, we recognize their sense of authority as their being adults. This meaning that their age is not necessarily defined and so we assume them to be adults through the way they carry themselves. Nevertheless, these characters are all considered adults, so Carroll depicts them as closed minded and unintellectual, the reasoning behind their condescending tone to
The novel Alice 's Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll was originally published for the first time in 1898, and illustrated by John Tenniel, however there are multiple versions of this fantastically bizarre story that leads a young girl through a series of adventures and encounters with some unique fantasy creatures and beings; with many artists completing their interpretation of this literary masterpiece available. Two of those versions will be looked at in this paper; Salvador Dali illuminated in 1969, and Bessie Pease in 1931. The images that will be compared and contrasted are an accompaniment for chapter five: Advice from a Caterpillar. The images are created in two very different time periods, yet they both have the same
When in Wonderland, Alice met some strange characters. She was quick to judge them all. The Cat then Alice about the people in Wonderland, “’Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here, I’m mad. You’re mad’” (Carroll 74). The Cat is symbolic of a realist. He tells Alice that everybody is crazy, which is true. However, part becoming an adult is realizing that everyone has flaws. This relates to the theme of growing up because Alice is learning what it takes to become an adult. The Cat shows Alice this message of life by using the characters of
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.