Wordplay In Alice In Wonderland

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The world of Alice in Wonderland if chocked full of puns that are inserted in a somewhat confusing way, and in other areas is placed in a subversive way that foreshadow events to come. Author Lewis Carroll’s use of these puns provides a cushioning of relevance to the story as a whole. Lewis uses puns and wordplay throughout the story because it foreshadows events to come in the story, shows a mockery of ignorance of Victorian England, and overall wanted to bring a strong sense of his creativity through his diverse use of wording.
The use of puns in Alice in Wonderland uses foreshadowing in an simple but effective way to grab the reader’s attention. For example, when Alice enters the Duchess house in the middle of the book, Alice beings a conversation …show more content…

In an article relating to Carroll’s love for wordplay, the author notes, “Carroll also liked to invent words. Jabberwocky, for example, is a nonsense poem that first appeared in Through the Looking Glass. That it's a nonsense poem means that it contains a lot of made up words such as mimsy and galumphing.” (Fogarty 2). Carroll’s use of gibberish in places such as the Jabberwocky poem, bring a true sense of absurdity to the reader, and at the same time entices the reader to continue on with the book. Another example of these creative words occur during the Humpty Dumpty section of the book. The author of the article explains, “In the book, Humpty Dumpty explains what some of the words mean, for example, he says, "Brillig means four o'clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner” (Fogarty 2). Uses of language similar to this is Carroll’s way of bringing the reader’s attention to certain words, where a bridge is formed between the language that the reader is familiar with and the language that Carroll is trying to connect the reader with.
Lewis Carroll’s use of creative words, puns, and wordplay is an extremely transparent theme that is vividly present throughout Alice In Wonderland. Carrol’s use of this type of language is significant to the book, as it gives the reader breadcrumbs about what scene is to come through use of foreshadowing, hands out a comical feeling of what Victorian England sounded like, and grab the reader’s attention by providing somewhat ridiculous but creative language as a way to bridge gaps between the reader’s language and the language that Carroll is trying to convey onto his

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