Alice In Wonderland: The Critique Of Alice In Wonderland

Decent Essays
Alice in Wonderland, is a fantastic book for all ages. The author of this book, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson AKA Lewis Carroll was gifted at putting riddles and puns into his books, especially in this book. Because of these riddles and puns, it has brought many critics to press for answers as to what the exact meaning of this book could be. The book begins with Alice, hanging out with her sister on a hot summer day, when suddenly she sees a rabbit. However, this rabbit is no where near the typical rabbit, it holds human qualities, such as the ability to talk and carry a pocket watch. The rabbit then jumps into a hole, and Alice follows suit. The book goes on for many chapters, about Alice in this world called Wonderland, where she sees odd animals …show more content…
Furthermore, he was also not a typical author in reference that he was also a mathematician. He was the oldest of three children in his family, and from a early age he loved making mathematical puzzles and puzzles for his family. In fact, he also contributed to making a magazine solely for his family, named the MischMasch. Dodgson, was also gifted as a child in the academic field, and as Schmoop.com summarizes," When he was 14, Charles shipped off to the Rugby School, an elite boys ' boarding academy in Warwickshire. He was an excellent student, especially in mathematics, with professors nothing his exceptional abilities. He applied and was accepted to his father 's alma mater, Christ Church College at the University of Oxford."(Shmoop Editoral …show more content…
Some people claim that it is purely fictional, and was meant for children, while others claim that this book was about drugs. The idea of this book being about drugs has been discussed for centuries , and when looking at some of the things that go on in the book, it seems to back that claim up. For example, Alice goes through very odd riddles, she eats odd foods, sees talking animals, and even talks to a caterpillar smoking a hookah on-top of a mushroom, these are just some of the potential reasons to support the drug claim. However, bbc.com is quick to jump in that “Carroll wasn 't thought to have been a recreational user of opium or laudanum, and the references may say more about the people making them than the author”(BBC

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Creating a secondary world that includes recovery, consolation and escapism is a very important component of modern fantasy. Many critics do not believe that Carroll succeeds in creating recovery and therefore consolation in his work Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Although this is a children’s book, Carroll is able to succeed in creating a literary work that can also pertain to adults. Through the maturation of Alice in her dream, and her return from the dream, we are given a sense of “return and renewal of health” that Tolkien says contributes to the aspect of recovery. Although, Carroll’s ending is short and may leave the reader hanging, it does include a sense of recovery and consolation.…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wonderland Books Books tell different stories and those stories become apart of our own life story. We as human beings read books more than once in our lifetime, whether we like it or not. Some books we like better than others and some books we remember more than others. If the world became a place where TVs completely replaced books and books were burned, similar to the dystopian setting in Fahrenheit 451, our own life stories and personalities would change. If there was a mass book burning and I was able to save just one book, I would save Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because of the child-like wonder displayed with the plot, setting and imagery used.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Alice in Wonderland, Alice becomes overwhelmed with notion of being a range of different sizes within one day, so she begins to cry. Her crying creates a pool of tears where she meets an array of animals, including a mouse. In this pool of tears, Alice and the array of animals participate in Caucus Race, but later Alice unintentionally upsets her new companions by talking about her cat. Second, she continues with her journey and reaches the white rabbit’s house and he mistakenly thinks she’s the maid. The white rabbit says, “Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here?…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jabberwocky Analysis

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Through imagery, Carroll creates a beautiful fantasy world. A decade before his first work “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (or originally known as “Alice’s Adventures Underground”), Carroll wrote the first stanza of what would become “Jabberwocky”. This first section first appeared under his work titled “A Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry” that Carroll both wrote and illustrated himself for his family. Carroll was no stranger to the genre of nonsense poems as he was…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Producing the photograph from the ‘Wonderland series would’ve taken a very long process because of the backdrop. In order to make a backdrop, she would’ve had to research and find images she would like to use for her backdrop. It seems like she’d combined many ideas together to create her wonderful backdrop that incorporates a deck of card and different kinds of animals. To make the backdrop, Polixeni would’ve needed to draw out all the details she created with on a massive piece of blank paper suitable for her young daughter. She would have had to draw every single detail by hand, such as all the animals such as the rabbit, frog, birds.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the novel’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” by Mark Twain the authors suggest that human nature dictates their characters tendency to force other to bend to their version of reality. The main characters applied their knowledge, values, and logic to the world around them through the their experiences they found in the new worlds they faced. In the novel, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” the main character, Alice, applies her victorian values and logic into her actions and choices she made in Wonderland. Before Alice discovers the context of Wonderlandian society, she participates in a “caucus race” with the animals which concludes with no clear winner.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Carroll after rewrites the story, asked a friend for help, and went to seek out a publisher. In the year of 1865, Alice in Wonderland was published. After the success of Alice in Wonderland , Carroll published another book named Through The Looking Glass which is a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is a novel about a young girl named Alice who fell down a well. This well that Alice fell down into was a portal to a wonderland.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Upon the release of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland it received vastly negative reviews, especially from The Illustrated Times, who stated it was “too extravagantly absurd to produce more diversion than disappointment and irritation.” As the times progressed, so did the appreciation of the genre; as well as imaginary content and the use of nonsense. Like most children's books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland aims to provide a lesson to the children who are reading it. Within this novel, the main lesson that the author is attempting to convey is that growing up is not just about your size. Throughout the novel, Alice is constantly growing or shrinking in size due to eating or drinking something without thought of the consequences; and she often attributes this growth in size to being “grown up”.…

    • 1838 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frank Gonsalves Gonsalves 1 Magnani, Grace English IV CP 5 December 2017 ROOM Motif Essay ROOM is a novel that follows two protagonists by the name of Jack and “Ma” and their daily routine while being in captivity at the hands of Old Nick. Jack is a five year old boy who is the son of Ma and the only company she’s got in Room so Ma tries has much has possible to give Jack a productive life in Room by strengthening his motor skills in hopes that when the day comes that they do get rescued, Jack will at least be able be able to transition into the world because she wants to give her son the life she could never have. In this essay, I shall describe the differences between confinement and freedom and what that means for the protagonists…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!’ (19) it becomes logical nonsense just like the puzzle of who Alice is. Logic and puzzles are a prominent theme within the text and this is mainly because Carroll had a fascination with logic puzzles and games. In the end Alice finds it easier to accept the logic of nonsense within wonderland or she could go mad with…

    • 1026 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The clear division of roles between males and females in the late 19th century Victorian era, display distinct characteristics that define how a man and woman are to behave. These attributes, or gender roles, determine the standard of society, and is what is considered to be acceptable behaviour. Author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, more commonly known as Lewis Carroll, challenges the patriarchal gender roles in the Victorian Era by exchanging the typical attributes associated with males and females in his literary work of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Swapping gender roles is important, especially in the Victorian Era, as it serves as a means to pinpoint how extreme male-dominated or extreme female-dominated features are absurd, or almost…

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    * Whilst Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is agreed by all to be a prime example of literary nonsense, there exist a one hundred and fifty year-old debate as to whether there is a deeper meaning to it, rather than just being written for a child’s entertainment. There is a deeper meaning to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland than what meets the eye. Although, there is a bountiful amount of symbolism to explore, we shall sharpen our focus on the following triad: Alice’s growth, her immaturity, and her understanding. To begin with, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is rich in symbols for growth. As one of the most prominent moments in the book, readers can recall that Alice’s height increases and decreases multiple times throughout the story when she consumes the cake and mystery liquid.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice falls asleep while she was reading a book next to her sister. In her sleep, she entered the wonderland world by falling down the rabbit hole (Geddes). The rabbit also guides her throughout her adventures in the fantasy world. Eventually, Alice woke up and realized everything is just a dream. In the book, Carroll depicts a unique world that is perfect for children who love to dream about the fantasy world.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Alice in Wonderland (2010) is an American fantasy movie, which was directed by Tim Burton, and was written by Linda Woolvertoon. It is a loose retelling of Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). This essay will describe, compare and contrast two of the many characters in Alice in Wonderland. Alice Kingsleigh is a blonde-haired and brown-eyed girl whose original size is small, however her size changes depending on what type of Underland’s foods she eats. She is easy on the eyes due to her soft face.…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lewis Carroll expressed his opinion on many subjects in his novel. A common area he had frequently liked to touch on and poke fun of was Victorian Society. During this time it was expected for young women to be very knowledgeable in arts in literature. People were viewed differently depending on their social class. In general, the more money someone had, the more power they had possessed as well.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays