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Commentary on alice in wonderland
Literary Analysis of Alice in Wonderland
Literary Analysis of Alice in Wonderland
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Social and Political Satire in Alice in Wonderland In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism. Long before the introduction of Alice’s Adventures …show more content…
When she falls in the hole she is confronted with no exit except a tiny door to escape from. She, therefore, shrinks into pocket size only to find that the door was closed, constructing her to grow into an enormous size, larger than what Alice began. The idea was to drink to shrink, allowing her to proceed past the miniature door, however she had to eat a small cake to sprout again to gain access to a key placed on a table as it unlocks the door leading to the garden. At any rate, providing that she stop crying, she would realize what a substantial puddle of tears she’s created while being a colossal giant resulting in being stuck in the same place she’s been, therefore, can not escape into the magnificent garden. Alice, no matter how diligent she tried or wanted, was not capable of admission into the garden correlating that it was very slim. The representation of the garden can be looked upon as childhood during the time period, with this intention, lacking the ability to gain entry to the state of being a child. Thus, the reality of the Victorian era was the removal of entrance into childhood as they comforted an age of the Industrial Revolution. The passageway was infancy to young adulthood with no in between the stages, however that was the typical norm during those …show more content…
Breaking the barriers, allowing women to vote was not established until eighteen years after Queen Victoria’s death, however it authorized for younger men to participate in general elections while the standard age for women was thirty and over. We think of the modern age and noticed how appreciably we have progressed in political standpoints and the challenges it took for equality. The race would have been a barrier for Alice to even enter her vote, inevitably because her young age, but also contrasting to the ability of her gender inequality. Somehow though, Wonderland has given her opinion importance in the matter and was treated equally as others, even though it was not her land to put in any input. This was great importance and was conducted by understanding a person’s vote can compile a difference, although compromising in leadership to the Mouse and the Dodo as the best
The Victorian Age was the time period named after England’s Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837 to 1901. Her attitude was a severely dull and strict one, which rapidly spread over the rest of Britain. The British were afraid to talk about anything close to being unsuitable, and they treasured childhood as a time where there were no worries or responsibilities. Although the youthful period was valued, children were better left to be seen, and not heard. They were encouraged to grow up as fast as possible and taught to mind their manners with extremely strict discipline.Besides the obvious, the way and language Alice was written in, Victorian culture appears in almost every turn of the page. Alice is shaped because of the use of her manners in the book toward elder strangers. Despite the fact, as she gets deeper into wonderland, she seems to become frustrated and forgets to be polite. The ever so popular tea party appears when Alice, the M...
in Wonderland is the theme of a journey into a magic "Other World" or land that outside of the boundaries of mortal time and space. This theme is presented to the reader at the very beginning of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when an unusual white rabbit leads Alice, the heroine, to Wonderland (the Other World). She enters this strange world through a hole in the ground; this concept of a sacred mound or hole as an e...
Alice still abides by the typical Victorian ideals she was taught and becomes a surrogate adult in Wonderland. At home, however, she is still considered just a child and behaves as such. This confusion in the role Alice will play within the social hierarchy i...
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 ”.
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.'
The characters of Wonderland have backstory and real names; as well as the nicknames such as Mad Hatter. The shift can illuminate the emphasis on Good and Evil in our society today. The Queen in both is a representation of masculine evil and the story clearly defines the struggle to ‘win the good fight’. The union of the characters serves to clarify the two sides of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. This can be translated into huge divide in power dynamics in the United states. The 1% controls most of America while the gaps in the middle class continue to grow.
Coming of age does not happen without change, Change does not happen without conflict. The Alice in Wonderland books by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; and Calvino, Invisible Cities are books that focus on the transformation of the individual and metamorphoses of the collective. This essay will specifically focus on identity and symbolism. Both novels allow us to enter a world of fantasy through distortion and alternate worlds. Thus allowing the reader to determine the underline rational to what is being hidden within the text
...ich are somewhat symbolic of religion as a whole and finding her own beliefs. For instance, the garden that Alice has trouble accessing represents Eden, the flawless world Adam and Eve lived in before they sinned. She has trouble reaching this garden being Alice isn’t yet ready to go to such a perfect place as she herself isn’t pure of heart and still struggles with understanding what she believes in. Throughout Alice’s journey, however, she begins to learn more regarding herself with each curious encounter in wonderland.
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 ...
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
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.
The Great Fall of Authority As Alice journeys through Wonderland and Looking-glass Land, she encounters a variety of characters whose nonsensical assertions call into question her tacit ontological assumptions. The strange logic these characters introduce to Alice forces her to acknowledge and reevaluate learned perceptions that she had previously accepted as objective truths. Because many of Carroll’s absurdities bear an exaggerated but recognizable resemblance to observable phenomena in society, the paradoxically meaningful nonsense causes Alice (and the reader) to experience epiphanies about the nature of the phenomena Carroll satirizes. In this way, Carroll cleverly, and ironically, uses nonsense to raise consciousness.
The characters in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are more than whimsical ideas brought to life by Lewis Carroll. These characters, ranging from silly to rude, portray the adults in Alice Liddell’s life. The parental figures in Alice’s reality, portrayed in Alice in Wonderland, are viewed as unintellectual figures through their behaviors and their interactions with one another. Alice’s interactions with the characters of Wonderland reflect her struggles with adults in real life. Naturally curious as she is, Alice asks questions to learn from the adults.
The novel begins with Alice falling down the rabbit hole to follow the White Rabbit. Once she reached the bottom of the hole, Alice noticed a small door that the White Rabbit went through. However, Alice was too big to fit.
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.