Narcissism In Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland

Alice is trying to conform to Victorian societal norms and expectations. Although she is only seven, she blames herself when she doesn’t have an explanation for a problem when in reality she shouldn’t expect herself (nor should anyone else) expect her to know about of what is going on in Wonderland. Alice has developed neurosis and she is consistently punishes herself for behaving in an undesirable manner and continue to accept the societal norms as her own expectations of herself. Alice has to teach herself things because her parents are distant. They have failed to create a bond with Alice. As a result she became dependent on herself and self-teaching. This also has increased her curiosity as well as her narcissism. Alice developed a narcissistic …show more content…
Instead of admitting she has no idea what’s going on with her body in this situation, she avoids being responsible and puts it on somebody else. Alice’s ongoing fear of being without identity and being unsure of herself. If she is not the same size then she is not herself and if she is not herself then she loses the self she built up to be independent. Alice is attempting to figure out her place in the world and solve an existential question and her narcissism makes her believe to answer this question she needs the inadequacy of others to do so. However, Alice does not have people less adequate than she in Wonderland because they are all piece of Alice. She starts to doubt herself further, saying “I’m a little girl said Alice rather doubtfully…” more so to convince herself of her own identity than others (62). Alice does not want to admit she is only a child when she has spent so long building herself up in her own head to be stronger and more intelligent than other normal little girls. As she grows taller both physically and mentally, Alice begins to realize that she should not care about others to pick herself up and feel superior and says to the Queen, “Who cares for you?”(140). Alice is silently asked this question everyday of her existence. In her society she is a child and female therefore her only job is to follow their rules. However, Alice finally breaks free from her fears and her anxieties of worrying about how people see her and how she is in comparison to other people. Alice frees herself from her narcissistic nature and not worry about others to validate her own existence. Alan J. Eisnitz said “sleep is viewed as a regression to narcissism with the dream employed as a means of dealing with those stimuli, inner and outer (the “exceptions” to narcissism), which threaten to disturb