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Critical analysis of alice's adventures in wonderland
Literary Analysis of Alice in Wonderland
Literary Analysis of Alice in Wonderland
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Alice in Wonderland When one thinks of children’s storybooks, one robotically assumes a simple fairy tale with no particular purpose. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, is very successful in means of portraying a deeper message with usage of symbolism and satire. Just about all the characters found in the story function as a symbol, leaving the rest for the reader’s imagination. Even though Alice in Wonderland does not fulfill the “classic fairy tale,” it does not leave one, particularly children, questioning the story. Because Alice in Wonderland is a dream-like tale, it enables Lewis Carroll to criticize and make fun of the Victorian Age. Like many other known authors, they use satire to point out faults of society and the people in a humorous manner. The core idea behind Alice in Wonderland is the chaos that comes with puberty and growing up. More importantly, the use of the rabbit hole, growing and shrinking, having to identify herself to characters, and Alice herself help to construct the main theme of the story. Symbols found in Alice in Wonderland do not necessarily represent just one particular thing. They often all work together to form the general meaning of the story. In addition, one symbol may have more than one meaning behind it. For instance, the rabbit hole might symbolize loneliness, abandonment, or even awareness. Alice’s initial reaction descending the rabbit hole was of intense lonesomeness. Alice, moreover, her curiosity was to blame for her entering into such a bizarre world. Another meaning behind the rabbit hole is of finally waking up. While Alice was falling in the rabbit hole, objects started to emerge before her eyes. These objects were somewhat distorted from how they initially look... ... middle of paper ... ...ty away from an individual. Overall, the characters in Wonderland represent adults in the “real world” and Alice’s view on them. Alice’s quest in Wonderland is not well though-out, in fact her encounters are disordered. Having her encounters be unpredictable places Lewis Carroll fairy-tale under Gothic horror. Without a doubt, Alice’s experiences can be illustrated as a nightmare. More importantly, the usage of satire and symbolism by Lewis Carroll gives Alice in Wonderland a meaningful note. All the different characters used in Wonderland essentially come together to form a secret lesson, this secret lesson being teaching children the turmoil of having to grow up. Lewis Carroll utilizes the rabbit hole, growing and shrinking, identifying oneself to characters, and Alice herself as symbols. Like in the “real world,” the only known laws in Wonderland are of chaos.
Lewis Carroll demonstrates paradoxes within Alice and Wonderland as Alice is tossed within an entirely different world. Yet one of the greatest paradoxes is the transformation of Alice over the course of the novel as well as the transformation of the duchess. Alice begins as an ignorant child; she has difficulties in morphing to the logic and needs of Wonder...
Many people know the culture-shaped story of Alice falling down the rabbit hole, into a dream-like adventure that has impacted the world. But not many people know about the real mystery, how it was created and how the world reacted to it. That is the actual magic, how the book that was shaped by 1800s English culture, affected the rest of the world’s culture from that point on. Dodgson’s work of art paints a picture of the childish outlook that was looked down upon during the Victorian period.
Thus, Alice in Wonderland is a good illustration of a Hero’s Journey. This story allows us to see how Alice overcomes the three main phases, and most of the stages identified by Campbell in her journey-transformation from an undisciplined child to a wise young adult. Throughout the story, Alice overcomes the nonsense of the young and the old before she truly understands what adulthood is all about. All through her adventures in Wonderland, she encounters numerous new situations and meets different archetypes that are necessary for her to be considered a Hero.
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 ”.
The title character, Alice, is a young girl around pre-teen age. In the real world, the adult characters always look down on her because of her complete nonsense. She is considered the average everyday immature child, but when she is placed in the world of "Wonderland," the roles seem to switch. The adult characters within Wonderland are full of the nonsense and Alice is now the mature person. Thus creating the theme of growing up'. "...Alice, along with every other little girl is on an inevitable progress toward adulthood herself"(Heydt 62).
Throughout the story, Lewis Carroll uses the metaphor of the rabbit hole to represent growing up and reality of life. The story starts off with Alice sitting near a tree, when she saw out of nowhere a white rabbit who was in a hurry, and Alice was curious to where he was headed to. She followed it and the next thing she knows is that she is falling in rabbit hole and is headed to the adventures of the unknown. The adventures she goes through is what is what all girls will go through one time or another.
The gender roles change from the original to the remake. The original Alice role is defined as a young girl who is able to explore her curiosity, but she is constrained by her feminine characteristics. Alice being a young girl is portrayed as helpless in many situations throughout her journey. The characters of Wonderland offer her assistance, but she remains most times crying by herself. Alice’s character clearly shows the innocence and virtue American society attached to girls roles in the
...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 ...
Detail Views of Movies Page provides a list of all the main themes and also the minor themes too. The four major themes of the film are dreams, transmutation, imaginary creatures, and innocents. The first part the theme is seen throughout the entire film, and later confirmed at the end. What Alice had just gone through was nothing more than a dream. Transmutation is also seen in the film, with Alice changing in size. After that she encounters the Dodo bird and the Caterpillar, which are the imaginary creatures. Alice almost got executed but is saved by the Queen of Hearts because the executioner had the day off, proving she was innocent (Detail Views). The minor themes seen throughout Alice in Wonderland are Cats, Executions, falls from heights, Imaginary lands, Knights and knighthood, Mushrooms, Parties, Rabbits and hares, Royalty, and Twins. Alice’s cat is mentioned more than twice in the film, with her cat “being” the red queen in the film. In the film they also attempt to execute Alice, but luckily for her she is saved by the queen of hearts and the executioner not being there. A the very beginning of the film Alice steps through the looking glass and falls in this new and interesting land. After that she is seen following a white rabbit where she falls again down a tunnel. The theme of imaginary lands is seen throughout the film, because the wonderland is all imaginary, proven by the fact Alice was just
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)."
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 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.
Alice In Wonderland” consists of 5 women, 84 bales of hay and “all the madness the book deserves”. It portrays a story about the behaviour of one generation as seen through the eyes of another, showing the everyday monstrousness of the world. It conveys and upside-down world with a child’s sense of wonder, where ordinary things are made bizarre. The production is inspired the themes “Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and
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.