Literary Development In Alice In Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865, is an unwavering child’s tale about a young girl named Alice Liddell who chased a talking white rabbit into a world of adventure. In this unusual yet riveting world Alice encounters a vindictive queen who has an odd fetish for chopping off and keeping the heads of those who disappoint her, a heavy-eyed dormouse who finds the worst places to snooze, a sharp chinned Duchess who has fixation for morals, a turtle who can’t stop bawling, and a white rabbit who is the courier in the Queen of Heart’s court. Alice, a properly raised victorian young lady, discovers that the rules of the polite society for which she was raised does not apply to Wonderland. The author,

Goodbye feet!” (Carroll 12 awkward). By having Alice shrink and grow, Carroll is highlighting the awkwardness of the growth spurts that occur during adolescence, and the confusion which they cause in young people, as Alice blurts out that she may have to mail correspondence to her feet. (Carroll 12 awkward). Alice much like any adolescent strives to be the leader, however she is still a child and relies on the creatures of Wonderland to help guide her. This is shown on page 20 of chapter 2, “O mouse, do you know the way out of this pool?” As she asks for help she continuously offends the mouse upsetting him and causing him to swim away, “Oh dear, I’m afraid I’ve offended it again.” (Carroll 19) thoughtless. Alice was raised to have that stiff upper lip so when she got upset she immediately pushed away those emotions and carried on, however british society is told not to even have those feelings so when Carroll put this, subtle yet very evident, detail in his novel he was satirizing that certain rule/custom. Soon Alice began to beg and plead for the mouse to come back the mouse did come to help Alice out of the pool, but at the end of the chapter we read that Alice led the group even though she asked the mouse to help, making the situation very awkward. (Carroll 20) awkward. This also shows that Alice has a slightly rude personality and she really didn’t care that the mouse came to help her and she ignored his

Alice reveals herself to be impatient, easily confused, and extremely curious, much like a student in a classroom setting. Alice, after finishing a game of croquet with the queen, goes to hear a Mock Turtle’s history. As she grows closer to the ledge the Mock Turtle rests on she sees that he is sobbing. Further along, Alice is ready to hear the turtle’s history when she grows impatient because he won’t stop sobbing, “ I don’t see how he could ever finish if he doesn’t begin.” (Carroll 79) impatient. I say that Carroll satirizes this because, as I have mentioned before, the people living in victorian society are taught to not let emotion affect them, but as you clearly see Alice is affected by emotion or she wouldn’t have become so impatient. As the Mock Turtle begins the telling of his history Alice finds herself confused, “Why did you call him Tortoise if he wasn’t one, I’ve never heard of Uglification.” (Carroll 81) confused. With Alice being confused she also was extremely curious, causing her to ask questions and getting this reaction from the gryphon and the mock turtle, “Hold your tongue, you really are very dull, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question!” This chapter was satirizing the environment of a classroom. Students are curious and