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Key features of style in literature
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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was heavily influenced by his father in a life of both curiosity and logic. Having literary works in both the mathematical or logical spectrum, as well as astonishingly creative pieces of literature, the Victorian writer decided to put the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll" as the author of his more outrageous works (Hudson 262). According to Hudson,
"Gradually he began to give literary shape (though not always in writing) to some of those whimsical intimation and impressions that had haunted him since childhood, fantasies that belonged (as we now know) to the Wonderland country and to the other side of the Looking Glass. For the Alice books were in some degree an autobiographical miscellany, woven together with uncanny skill" (264).
Lewis Carroll, being author of both Through the Looking-Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, leaves traces of reoccurring themes throughout the inquisitive novels such as maturity, absurdity, and reality appear.
In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice open-mindedly wonders through the mysterious land, not questioning the unknown land, but herself instead. After falling down a rabbit hole, the initiation into her dream land, Alice comes across strange characters that have some logic hidden underneath their nonsensicalness such as "Caucaus Racing" in order to dry off (Magill, "Alice in Wonderland" 62). Upon her arrival, she meets a caterpillar sitting on a mushrooms with the ability to make a person shrink or grow, a grinning, talking Cheshire Cat, with the ability to disappear on his own will, a Mad Hatter, whose riddles have no answers, and a Queen whom decapitates anyone at any given chance. Through her adventures, Alice has an epip...
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Hudson, Derek. "Lewis Carroll." British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Vol. V. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 261-72. Print.
Magill, Frank N., ed. "Alice in Wonderland." Masterplots. Vol. One. New York: Salem Press,
Inc., 1964: 62-62. Print.
Magill, Frank N.,ed. "Through the Looking-Glass." Masterplots. Vol. Fourteen. New York
Salem Press, Inc.,1964. 3776-78. Print.
Milne, Ira Mark, ed. "Through the Looking-Glass." Novels for Students. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale,
2008. 275-86. Print.
Stanley, Deborah A., ed. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Novels for Students. Vol. 7.
Detroit: Gale, 1999. 17-33. Print.
Walker, Stan. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Criticism." Novels for Students. Ed. Deborah
A. Stanley. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 33-35. Print.
Gattegno, Jean. Lewis Carroll: Fragments of a Looking-Glass “Alice” and “A Carroll Chronology” 4-27. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 1973 New York, NY.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
He had insomnia and even Alice in Wonderland syndrome,which made it hard on him to sleep at night, but in which influenced Carroll even more to produce his famous writings and making his famous inventions. In Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, both contrast his life, since Alice is “sleeping” and dreaming in both. Alice in Wonderland syndrome, is a disease where one can begin to think there body is becoming smaller, and we see that in Through the Looking Glass Carroll writes, “the Queen was no longer at her side-- she had suddenly dwindled down to the size of a little doll…” (Carroll Ch. 9). He’s using advantage of his difficulties, which is smart, and putting them towards his writings, making him a strong inspiring writer.
Lewis Carroll, world renowned author, known most for his tale of literary nonsense published almost a century and a half ago, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Several conditions of Carroll’s life molded and shaped his writing. Evidence from Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ,one can conclude that Carroll has engraved moments from his life, people around him ,as well as his beliefs and love of logic into his story, considering these are the things that Alice Liddell would recognize.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland . 3rd. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Most people know the name Lewis Carroll, and even more know about the taleof a little girl who fell down a rabbit hole straight into the adventure of a lifetime. But not many people know the name Charles Dodgson, the man behind the pseudonym and the one who constructed this wonderland from a summer time boat ride in 1862. Originally written for three friends, the Liddell sisters, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has inspired philosophers, artists, writers, theologians, and not to mention the general public. The culture in which this piece of art was written has shaped Alice’s dream-like journey from the first false step into an almost never ending fall to the last storm of cards. Dodgson’s enchanting work illustrates mankind’s childlike spirit that 1880s English society tried so hard to ignore.
Lewis Carroll's Wonderland is a queer little universe where a not so ordinary girl is faced with the contradicting nature of the fantastic creatures who live there. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a child's struggle to survive in the condescending world of adults. The conflict between child and adult gives direction to Alice's adventures and controls all the outstanding features of the work- Alice's character, her relationship with other characters, and the dialogue. " Alice in Wonderland is on one hand so nonsensical that children sometimes feel ashamed to have been interested in anything so silly (Masslich 107)."
“’But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'” quoted by a very creative and imaginative author, Lewis Carroll, author of the hit Alice novels. This short novel was written by an extremely upright, ultra conservative man in which his unique character and many experiences had a great influence in the creation of Through the Looking Glass. Of all of Carroll’s works, Alice’s Through the Looking Glass, has a unique way of expressing adventures and stating the events in which occur throughout the whole novel making the novel standout in the category of whimsical, nonsense literature. The novel includes 12 chapters in which every new chapter brings you into different exotic settings introducing you to many peculiar characters involving the only and only Alice, the Tweedledum twins, Red Queen, White King, Humpty Dumpty Walrus and Carpenter. Meeting these characters brought her to finally achieving what her destination had been since the start; she finally became her normal size, making it into the garden. The events and settings involved with Through the Looking Glass make it a very fictional, imaginative novel. Carroll's imagination takes readers with Alice into where she finds the Looking-Glass House. Using the game of chess as the setting of his novel, he fills the novel with situations and puzzles from the ordinary to the extraordinary; including silly characters and adventures in which may be nonsensical, using the game of chess as the setting.
Lewis, Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.
In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism.
Vallone, Lynne. Notes. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. By Lewis Carroll. New York: The Modern Library Classics, 2002.245-252. Print.
Lewis Carroll's use of puns and riddles in Alice in Wonderland help set the theme and tone. He uses word play in the book to show a world of warped reality and massive confusion. He uses such play on words to reveal the underlying theme of growing up', but with such an unusual setting and ridiculous characters, there is need for some deep analyzing to show this theme. The book contains many examples of assonance and alliteration to add humor. Carroll also adds strange diction and extraordinary syntax to support the theme.
The characters in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are more than whimsical ideas brought to life by Lewis Carroll. These characters, ranging from silly to rude, portray the adults in Alice Liddell’s life. The parental figures in Alice’s reality portrayed in Alice in Wonderland are viewed as unintellectual figures through their behaviors and their interactions with one another.
Richard Morton, (December, 1960). "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Elementary English. 37 (8), pp.509-513