Alyss 'Change In The Looking Glass Wars'

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Title How do rites of passage change people? Rites of passages are changes or transitions in someone’s life. They change people's personality and enters people into the next stage of their life. In The Looking Glass Wars, Alyss is not only changed as a person, but her imagination changes as she grows older. Beddor uses rites of passages to reveal Alyss’s character changing. In the beginning of the novel, Alyss is characterized as irresponsible, immature, and silly. On Alyss’s seventh birthday, she is now eligible to become queen. Bibwit tells her, “The position comes with tremendous responsibilities.”, but she doesn’t seem to care. (Beddor 25) Instead, she plays pranks on everyone and does not take her responsibility as queen seriously. …show more content…

When she enters London, she changes into her own person who makes her own decisions. Alyss says, “Yes, it was a solution: Give up her so-called ridiculous, fantastical delusions and enter wholeheartedly into the world around her. Become just like everyone else.” (Beddor 89) Alyss was first being thought of as a crazy person with a story that no one believed. Then, she finally gave in to the people around her and agrees with them. She thinks that being like “everyone else” is the solution to her problem. When Alyss sees Dodge for the first time in 13 years, she thinks, “It couldn’t have been him. The man with the scars. It couldn’t have. He didn’t exist.” (Beddor 116) Since Alyss had become free from her fantasy world, she was overwhelmed when she first saw Dodge. Even though she had forgotten her past life, the memory of Dodge was still there. Her mixed emotions and memories of Dodge caused internal conflict within Alyss: “And as she torpedoed up toward the surface, having worked impossibly hard to convince herself that the place about to be seen by her disbelieving eyes didn’t exist, she said the man’s name- Dodge Anders- and water filled her lungs.” (Beddor 120) Alyss tried convincing herself Wonderland did not exist, as she went through the Pool of Tears, but she knew it was real. The only reason she let go of Wonderland is because she wanted to fit in with her other world.

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