Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1. Introduction
There are several reasons why I have chosen the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” as the topic for my term paper. The main reason is that I have been fascinated by Alice’s adventures as a series on TV since I was about six years old. I was curious about the overworked rabbit, racked by brain about how Alice would only be able to reach the golden key on the table and I got even more nervous when I saw the Queen than the Knaves of Hearts did. What I did not understand then was that Alice has fallen asleep in the beginning and all she is experiencing is “only” a dream. However, my illusion has been destroyed when I first read the book at the age of about 12 and I must admit it was then when I lost some of my fascination for Alice.
As I read the book again as a preparation for the Proseminar a few months ago I soon started to focus on a certain aspect which I could not let go of and which brought back my fascination for Alice’s Adventures. It is also the reason I have chosen this topic for my term paper: I am very much interested in the circumstances of the time, in this case the Victorian Age, and the various influences on a person like Lewis Carroll in connection with his ability to create such a powerful, imaginative and attractive idea of a wonderland. I would like to know what kind of person can make up such a story? I have chosen the title “Inventing Wonderland”, which is the name of a book by Jackie Wullschläger, because it precisely expresses the focus of my term paper.
I think the reason why I am interested in this aspect is the following: About three years ago I stayed one year as an Au Pair for a family in Rhode Island. It took me a while to discover how to attract the attention of a 4-year-old, his name was Carter, when the situation required it to be calm. But: I placed young Carter as an additional friend of his favourite character Winnie the Pooh in the centre of a new Pooh-plot and tried to invent an exciting story with dangerous adventures as he sat on my lap listening more carefully than he had ever done before. I was successful, but of course and without understatement my stories were not in the least as fanciful and imaginative as Carroll’s, not to mention were they worth publishing.
And it was exactly this situation, Carter sitting on my lap, that I ...
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As I have already claimed above, I think it is important get at least some idea of the “Zeitgeist”, in which a book was written, in order to understand its significance. From my point of view, being interested in the background factors of an author’s life and era not only helps to get a better understanding of the meaning of a book, but it also makes me appreciate it more. I think everyone acts and speaks according to what he or she is influenced by. If this is determining for the value a book is another question, but I think it is important that it is up to everyone if he or she would like to know more about the author.
7. Bibliography
Blake, Kathleen. Play, Games, and Sport. The Literary works of Lewis Carroll. London: Cornell University Press. 1974.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1984.
http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net . 25/01/05
Schwab, Gabriele. The Mirror and the Killer-Queen. Otherness in Literary Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Wullschläger, Jackie. Inventing Wonderland. The Lives of Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, J.M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame and A.A. Milne. Rev.ed. London: Methuen, 2001.
Gattegno, Jean. Lewis Carroll: Fragments of a Looking-Glass “Alice” and “A Carroll Chronology” 4-27. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 1973 New York, NY.
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
As I mentioned earlier, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, beside being an English author was a mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer . Carrol created the character of Alice to entertain a daughter of his good friend Dean of Christ Church, little girl named Alice Liddell. The story was first published in 1865.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland . 3rd. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
I felt so nervous because everyone around me was talking but I couldn’t understand a word that came out of their mouths. When my mom dropped me off at school that morning, I almost started crying. I had a certain feeling of loneliness, as if there was no one to relate to. As a person who didn’t speak English, I was placed in E.S.O.L program at school, where I could be taught at a pace fitting for me. Making friends became a great challenge because I wasn’t able to communicate with my peers; the reason why I always felt excited about going home to my family, the only people with whom I could communicate effectively in French. As time went on, communication with my peers became less of a hassle because I could speak more of the English language. Being able to learn English in the course of four months and speak it fluently, I then begin to make real connections with my peers. I became best friends with a girl named Jazmin Ward and over the course of time I made more friends. Life began to make a little more since for me at this point. I didn’t feel so alone anymore. I even enjoyed being school more then I enjoyed being home with my
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Brooken, Will. Alice’s Adventures: Lewis Carroll in popular culture. New York: Continuum International P, 2004. Print.
Lewis, Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. New York: The modern Library, 2002. Print
It has been known a proven fact that participation in high school sports encourages better moods, self-esteem, and a higher level of academic achievement. This has been proven through various studies, one of them being a study done in New York. In 2006, the Carnegie Corporation of New York discovered that students benefited from participating in high school sports. An improvement in grades, confidence, and personal health and welfare were appreciably noted in ...
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.
High School sports have been the played and loved by high schoolers for years and isn’t planning on stopping. It’s hard to find a school that doesn’t support or encourage sports to their students. Physical activity and playing for a team prepares young adults for the scary world that they have to join. Some of the ways that sports helps prepare students for this world is by creating good work habits, social skills, and time management skills.
Richard Morton, (December, 1960). "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Elementary English. 37 (8), pp.509-513
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.