Childhood And Imagination In The Adventures Of Alice In Wonderland By Lewis Carroll

Improved Essays
Age has always been an issue of mind over matter. Just as age is not limited by how one looks or feels, imagination does not either. It is often the case that age limits imagination, but that is not the true. No one can blame themselves for wanting that sense of creativity to live within for as long as possible, which is exactly how Alice felt throughout her journey. In The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll uses references to his own past, Alice’s change in size, and imagery to show that people can keep elements of childhood, like imagination, forever.
It is well known and quite obvious that childhood only lasts for a short amount of time before becoming an adult. It is not easy to let go of farcical games in the front yard of
…show more content…
Those few words that make no sense to those who they are spoken to but makes total sense to them. In addition to Carroll’s life and Alice’s alternations, imagery is used to depict the effect of age on childhood and imagination. As mentioned before, Alice struggled with the idea of growing. It was so much of a struggle that “all she could see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay gar below her” (39). This shows that Alice is going through a period of adolescence, but she continues to use her imagination to keep her connected to her childhood and showing that childhood can last forever. Furthermore, Alice’s sister also imagines Alice as she grows older but is still dreams like a child by saying, “how she would keep, through her riper years the simple and loving heart of childhood” (94). This suggests that the point of stories help maintain childhood imagination to all that learn them. Also, it shows that the most important lesson is to somewhat lean on childhood in order to get through adulthood. Carroll expresses these last few lines in the story make it clear that the preservation of imagination throughout life is important to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Queen of Hearts and The Caterpillar was a member of this fantasy world. Both of them was influencing Alice the protagonist and other characters on bad things, but Lewis Carroll have differed their position levels and situations in the novel. Both the Queen of Hearts and the Caterpillar are in use of different situations in the novel, but both directs others to awful things. The first time the Queen…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, the narrator tries to rid herself of imagination by becoming friends with the popular kids. Throughout the story, the reader can detect how the narrator does not become fully mature and how it impacts and affects those around her. Childhood is meant to be pleasant and creative, but becomes detrimental as people grow and change…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All children must face the loss of innocence at one point in their lives. Alice Walker’s character Myop from her short story “The Flowers” is no exception. Myop, like most children, passes the threshold from innocence to knowledge when she chooses to embark on her own path and comes across the skeleton of a black sharecropper who had been beaten and hung because of the color of his skin. Through this discovery, she realizes the harsh truth of society. Walker portrays Myop’s loss of innocence through historical context, the juxtaposition of light and dark diction, and symbolism in order to depict a coming of age story by gaining knowledge.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind” (Patrick Rothfuss). Most characterize childhood as valuable, precious and peaceful, and in some cases, our childhood may determine whom we will grow to be. However, in the novel “Lullabies for Little Criminals”, Baby’s childhood can be seen as a loss of innocence, as it was corrupted into something unpleasant.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People find themselves in crazy ways, but sometimes the adventure to find yourself isn't always planned. In the story “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Caroll Alice falls down a hole into Wonderland, a magical place with crazy characters. While Alice is in Wonderland she finds herself, she finds characteristics out about herself she didn't know were in her. She makes new friends and discovers a whole new side of…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nobody is youthful forever. People always change as they get older. Sometimes they get sick, lose their senses or can’t perform certain tasks as well as they used to be able to. One should enjoy life while one can because it won’t last forever. The folktale, “The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” is about is about a very old grandfather who gets mistreated by his son and daughter in-law.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie Alice in Wonderland, released in 2010, brought freshness to the storyline and came out with even deeper meaning, visually keeping the classic story of Alice in Wonderland by the director Tim Burton. This film is a wondrous piece of escapism. Tim Burton re-imagines the esteemed and treasured story in the genuine good judgment of recreation. This is by giving Alice an added and established background, in addition to a romantic subplot involving Alice and the Mad Hatter.…

    • 876 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
  • Improved Essays

    “Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” Alice asks herself this shortly after entering Wonderland, although this line would not be at all out of place in any adolescent’s head (Carroll 15). Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a novel that deals heavily with many aspects of identity, including finding and growing an identity as a child. Alice goes through many trials in the novel, and readers watch her change and adapt to get through all of these.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 5 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

    As a result, Carroll was disheartened by her transition into adulthood because he adored the childlike image of Alice in her childhood. In a broader sense, Carroll encourages people to enjoy the times of youth because it is short, and they can do anything they want without…

    • 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
  • Superior Essays

    My Childhood Journey Essay

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages

    MY CHILDHOOD JOURNEY Childhood plays very important part in the development of an individual and how they grow as people. It is supposed to be the time of enjoyment, playfulness and innocence, but most of all it is time of exploration to discover how and where our foot steps on the trail of growth will lead us. Everyone has different memories and I feel it is valuable to share some of mine that has marked important on the map of my childhood journey. Childhood is the foundation of person’s life which has been a strong impact on who that person is today.…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While everyone during this time was trying to conform and be seen as proper and sophisticated, Carroll was creating stories where real logic does not always apply and impossible things were made to be possible. Through the looking-glass, everything appeared to be backwards and this may be what he was trying to show, that the Victorian expectations…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays