ALICE IN WONDERLAND (ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN
WONDERLAND)
Lewis Caroll (Charles Ludwidge) is a mathematician and philosopher from Oxford. He enjoyed solving puzzles , riddles and chess. He was such a rational genious even though his novels “Alice In Wonderland” and “Through The Looking Glass” are highly imaginary.
Many critics belive that he was a sane healty man and had no intention on little girls. But on the other hand it is said that Ludwidge was actually into little girls as called
Pedophile and the most famous work “ Alice In
Wonderland” was written under drug effects and his subconcious fantasies.
He was the first of eleven children and his early years were happy ones spent mostly in the company of his own family. As a child Charles would entertain his brothers and sisters with invented
games and puzzles, put on marionette shows and stories. He was to continue to be an entertainer of children for the rest of his life.
As a teen Lewis Caroll was into anagrams. Even his literal name is a word play :
lutwidge > ludovicus > lewis charles > carolus > carroll ...
But after his youth years he started to have epilepsy crisis and mygrenia aches. Many believed that he was losing his sanity maybe that’s why he didn’t mention his name in his books. But one thing is for sure that he was a clever man and he was a great writer of his time and ours.
As mentioned in the opening credits of the “Alice In Wonderland”
movie in 1865 :
Nearly a century ago, a professor at Oxford , Charles Dodgson – better known as Lewis Caroll – wrote a simple, fascinating story , called Alice In Wonderland.
But , perhaps the story was not so simple, because you will see that Lewis Caroll modelled his creatures of Wonderland on the foibles of real people.
The Cheshire Cat , it is told , is really a Dean of Oxford ; The Queen of Hearts , the Queen herself ; The Mad Hatter , A tailor ; The White
Rabbit , The Vice Chancellor and so on…
The book was dedicated to “Alice Liddle” daughter of the Dean of Chris Church College. He and Alice were so close and he enjoyed taking her photos. This photo on the left is writer’s own photo shoot.
In 1856, a new Dean, Henry Liddell, arrived at Christ Church, bringing with him his young family, all of
whom would figure largely in Dodgson's life and, over the following years, greatly influence his writing
career. Dodgson became close friends with Liddell's wife, Lorina, and their children, particularly the three sisters: Lorina, Edith and Alice Liddell.
Even though many critics suggest that Caroll was actually a true pedophile along with his epilepsy what we have to do is to
concantrate on his works. The book “Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland” is actually a great example of satire as told in the opening credits of the British movie version of it.
It is also a great story for adults – but is it for the kids? Many people argued about the appropriateness of the book for kids. Some
believed that the book was simply a fantastic tale but some believed that the book was written under effects of narcotic drugs and a sick mind so it is not suitable for little kids. What’s for sure is Caroll was under drug affect while he was writing the book. And all those
fantasy elements were because of the author’s mental status
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a tale which plays with logic giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary
nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously
influential, especially in the fantasy genre.
The manuscript was illustrated by Dodgson himself who added 37
illustrations—printed in a facsimile edition in 1887
Chapters
• Down the Rabbit Hole
• The Pool of Tears
• The Caucus Race and a Long Tale
• The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill
• Advice From a Caterpillar
• Pig and Pepper
• A Mad-Tea Party
• The Queen’s Croquet Ground
• The Mock Turtle’s Story
• Lobster Quadrille
• Who Stole The Tarts
• Alice’s Evidance
Symbolism
• Since Caroll was a mathematician in Oxford the book was full with mathematical referances. Such as downfall of Alice
= limit.
• Many critcs consider the book as a great example of
imaginative power of human mind. The anthropomorphic characters of the book for example symbolizes Caroll’s imagination.
• It is also suggested that the book is about Victorian era. The riddles and puzzles symbolizes time’s education system.
Educational Referances:
Victorian Era education was not very bright. Teachers were strict and all the
Education was based on memorizing instead of learning. The education was never enough and it was still under influance of religious beliefs.
In the book Alice is constantly meeting rather bossy adults who tell her to repeat Her lessons, recite poems and respond to difficult often absurd questions.
Author Charles himself said that children constitued “three fourths” of his life.
In the book we can see that even though Alice struggles with many difficulties she always finds a way to solve problems , and move on.
At the she even becomes the Queen Alice.
Even thought she drinks the bottle of beverage writing drink me on it but she is never a stupid girl.
