While written in different time periods, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth seem to have an underlying commonality; using the power of literary nonsense, they react against and critique societal ideals and values, whilst subtly urging children to stray away from convention and conformity. At the beginning of each story, the child protagonists are shown to be oppressed by their societies in different ways. Alice’s Victorian society seems to be preventing her from coming into a true sense of self; While Milo’s 20th century society leaves him stuck as an uninterested, unthinking, and disconnected child. It is not until both Alice and Milo enter these nonsensical dream worlds that they embark …show more content…
Ironically, the education system fails to emphasize the importance of knowledge, leaving Milo to conclude “the process of seeking knowledge as the greatest waste of time of all” (9). This seems to be Juster’s greatest critique of society, and is the driving force of the story as Milo’s quest is to unite the ‘Kingdom of Wisdom’. In order to do so he must discover the inconsistencies within Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, make it through the “Land of Ignorance”, and bring Rhyme and Reason back to the Kingdom. The fact that a child is able to do this shows that Juster is challenging the notion that age comes with Wisdom. In this world, words are used to turn things around and silence. This is further demonstrated in Milo’s interactions with adults in this story. When Milo encounters Officer Shrift in Dictionopolis, Milo sees that he is making up the rules as he is going along (similar to what Alice experiences in Wonderland at the trial). And like the Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures, he decides everyone is guilty right away. He turns everything Milo says upside down and in every way Milo attempts to outsmart him, Office Shrift changes the rules (quite humorously), thus using his words as a way exert his power enabling him to berate and silence those who go against him. For when Milo tries to outsmart the police officer by stating that “only a judge can sentence you” (62) Officer Shrift turns that around stating “Good point, … I am also the judge” (62) or when Milo says that “Only a jailer can put you in prison,” (63) to which Officer Shrift retorts “I am also the Jailer” (63). Perhaps this is Juster’s way of critiquing the Justice system. It is because of this lack of reasonableness that shows the need for Rhyme and Reason to come back to the Kingdom – to restore balance once again. King Azaz also works to show the ways in which the Adults try to exert power over children at the Royal Banquet.
Alice’s failure to understand the “native” culture, and her insistence on imposing her own norms and values ultimately culminates in a life-threatening situation.” (Binova “Underground Alice:” the politics of wonderland). Alice is the colonised in the situation with the Queen of Hearts. When she is introduced to the Queen her evil nature is revealed as she orders “Off with her head!” (Carroll 96). However, she is contrasted to Alice’s good nature while she shouts “Nonsense!” ( Carrol 96). The theme of chaos and confusion is brought forward as they play croquet all at once with noises all around and even in the court where everyone is expected to be civil. Although the Queen, as a character reinforces adulthood, subversion emerges again by Alice standing up for herself at this time. Nearing the end of her dream, she stands up against the Queen at court but it dream ends without a resolution. Maria Lassen-Seger says in ( “Subversion of Authority”: In “Alice’s Adventures of Wonderland”), “the relationship between the child and the adult is an impossible power relation in which the child is marginalised and considered powerless, thus, the adults suggest in their books what a child ought to be, what values and images it should accept.” The Queen at this point in the dream would have been the
This film study will analyze the important thematic misconception of escapism in the fantasy-based characterization of Alice and Ofelia in Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). The adventures of Alice in Alice in Wonderland (2010) define the escape from the drudgery of boredom, yet she encounters many very dangerous interactions with characters, such as the Red Queen. Alice’s escapist mentality defines the fantasy-based interactions meant to relieve her of the burden of the “real world”, yet the dangers she are more like the dangers of the adult world. Similarly, Ofelia, in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), escapes the fascist world of Franco’s Spain in order to reinstate Princess Moanna as the Queen of the Underworld, but she must face demons and mischievous faeries that may threaten her life. This form of escapism is not unlike Alice’s determination to find a more magical world, yet, like Ofelia; the
In the end there are many situations where Alice feels that she is different from everyone else around her. Alice realized that she was always different but more so when she was with these three characters who are the Mad Hatter, the caterpillar and the pigeon, and lastly being the Queen of Hearts. When she met the Mad Hatter is more so when she started to realize that she was different from everyone else in Wonderland. Throughout the book Alice just kept finding out how different she really was. Then she met the caterpillar and the pigeon who both made her question who and what she is. Then lastly she met the Queen of Hearts and really found out how different she was from everyone that was surrounding her in Wonderland. To conclude these were just a few examples where Alice felt like she was different from everyone else.
Thus, Alice in Wonderland is a good illustration of a Hero’s Journey. This story allows us to see how Alice overcomes the three main phases, and most of the stages identified by Campbell in her journey-transformation from an undisciplined child to a wise young adult. Throughout the story, Alice overcomes the nonsense of the young and the old before she truly understands what adulthood is all about. All through her adventures in Wonderland, she encounters numerous new situations and meets different archetypes that are necessary for her to be considered a Hero.
Alice’s interactions with the characters of Wonderland reflect her struggles with adults in real life. Naturally curious as she is, Alice asks questions to learn from the adults. Since they understand the subject at hand well, they do not need to express their thoughts in order for them to understand themselves. However, Alice does not see this internal
The title character, Alice, is a young girl around pre-teen age. In the real world, the adult characters always look down on her because of her complete nonsense. She is considered the average everyday immature child, but when she is placed in the world of "Wonderland," the roles seem to switch. The adult characters within Wonderland are full of the nonsense and Alice is now the mature person. Thus creating the theme of growing up'. "...Alice, along with every other little girl is on an inevitable progress toward adulthood herself"(Heydt 62).
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
The characters of Wonderland have backstory and real names; as well as the nicknames such as Mad Hatter. The shift can illuminate the emphasis on Good and Evil in our society today. The Queen in both is a representation of masculine evil and the story clearly defines the struggle to ‘win the good fight’. The union of the characters serves to clarify the two sides of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. This can be translated into huge divide in power dynamics in the United states. The 1% controls most of America while the gaps in the middle class continue to grow.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland follows the story of young Alice trapped in the world of Wonderland after falling down through a rabbit-hole. The rabbit-hole which is filled with bookshelves, maps, and other objects foreshadows the set of rules, the ones Alice is normally accustomed to, will be defied in Wonderland. This conflict between her world and Wonderland becomes evident shortly after her arrival as evinced by chaos in “Pool of Tears” and Alice brings up the main theme of the book “was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is who am I?” (Carroll 18). After Alice fails to resolve her identity crisis using her friends, Alice says “Who am I, then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here til I’m somebody else” (Carroll 19). Hence in the beginning, Alice is showing her dependency on others to define her identity. Nevertheless when her name is called as a witness in chapter 12, Alice replies “HERE!” without any signs of hesitation (Carroll 103). Close examination of the plot in Alice in Wonderland reveals that experiential learning involving sizes leads Alice to think logically and rationally. Alice then attempts to explore Wonderland analytically and becomes more independent as the outcome. With these qualities, Alice resolves her identity crisis by recognizing Wonderland is nothing but a dream created by her mind.
People grown up and are taught real life events to what to believe and false imagination. The realistic events that occur in the world is known by people as sense, once people are presented with gibberish language or events we believe and think nonsense. In the book Alice In Wonderland, a young lady name Alice is raised in a realistic world that she knows as sense. As she travels into another world she experiences events that do not connect with her knowledge that is based off of sense, she’s being to make connections and attempts to connects with this new world and try’s to adapt while she is present. Alice begins to questions the orders and the events that occur while she is in this world of nonsense. She beings to use her ontological reasoning
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 ”.
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
Many of us have read Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and sympathized with the main character, Alice. The audience wonders why all of the characters in Wonderland are so strange and no one seems to notice but Alice herself. The tale brings a chilling feeling to it’s audience because we wonder what we would do if we were surrounded by nothing but odd circumstances and mad characters. However, if we truly think about the story, is the population of Wonderland mad? Or is it Alice that is different and strange? After all, Alice is in their world not vice versa. With these next few paragraphs we will take an in depth look at Wonderland, it’s population and Alice to determine who is really mad here.
Alice still abides by the typical Victorian ideals she was taught and becomes a surrogate adult in Wonderland. At home, however, she is still considered just a child and behaves as such. This confusion in the role Alice will play within the social hierarchy i...
...inal realization that she is growing up and that is normal, therefore, she accepts it. In brief, Alice in Wonderland is a book about growing up, and Alice definitely has grown up since the beginning of her journey and she has entered the adolescence phase when she rebels against everyone. Although she is not able to control herself when she gets angry, in other words she is behaving like a normal adolescent, she has gained a new “power” from this confusing experience: being a person with a voice to say something that matters.