Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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An analysis of language features present in Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland which make it effective for children

"You see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately that Alice

had begun to think that very few things were really impossible", and

that is the appeal of "Wonderland"; the confines of reality, which

children are unaware of and adults resent, do not exist. The story is

therefore, for both ages, a form of escapism, however, whereas the

adults' "Wonderland" is limited to the page for a child it is

enchantingly plausible and they are able to enjoy the magical

anticipation of the landscapes and characters that exist beyond the

bounds of the text.

For the aforementioned reason fantasy has been a successful genre of

children's fiction from the beginning of the nineteenth century up to

the present day however, in my opinion, Carroll is truly a master

because within the archetype of the modern fairy tale he speculates

upon the problem of fantasy writing and implies his own somewhat

cynical and macabre views on politics, childhood and the imagination.

This renders "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" ambiguous and it can

therefore be enjoyed on more than one level and I believe that

"enjoyed" is the correct word because the book does not require the

reader to pick up on the dark undertones for them to appreciate it.

This is essential because children take language on a very literal

level and are therefore unable to understand pragmatics.

However, despite my comments on the subtext Carroll's main motivation

in writing the book was the entertainment of children and not to make

a philosophical point. The fact that "Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland" is predominantly a children's book is explicit...

... middle of paper ...

...roll wrote "Alice's

Adventures in Wonderland" for the purpose of helping children through

the transitional stage of their lives; I think he wrote it to make

children happy. If this was Carroll's objective, he has been

successful due to his clever use of numerous linguistic features.

Firstly he realises that children need to be able to understand the

story and simplifies his structure, lexis, syntax and imagery

accordingly, secondly that an adult is likely to read the book to the

child and therefore they also need to be interested and thirdly, and

possibly most importantly, that children read with all of their senses

and in order to keep interest them and hold their attention a story

must appeal to their sense of hearing through the use of phonetic

effects, sight through illustrations and scent, smell and touch

through the descriptions present in the text.

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