Alex Brink explains in a scholarly article, that Tim Burton’s movie adaptation of the novel, Alice in Wonderland, demonstrates Victorian social norms, which become rejected at various points in the film, and thus digressing from Victorian culture (Brink 1). For example, in the scene where Alice returns to the real world from Wonderland, Alice breaks Victorian tradition when she tells Hamish, the son of her father’s friend, “I’m sorry Hamish. I can’t marry you. You’re not the right man for me. And there’s that trouble with your digestion” (Burton, Alice in Wonderland). After Alice says this, she goes on to tell everyone that she will live her life the way she wants to live it, directly displacing her from cultural expectations of that era (Burton, …show more content…
Usually this type of active role was reserved for male protagonists. Yet, Alice possesses some masculine qualities like male heroes of that time period, such as heroism and courage. For instance, in a conversation with the Queen of Hearts, Alice defies the Queen’s authority multiple times and is not afraid of the consequences or threats she faces because Alice knows she is safe (Carroll 93). Alice also saves the gardeners’ lives from execution (Carroll 94-95). Alice yet again acts with courage and insubordination toward the King and Queen of Hearts during the trial by standing up against the two, who could easily punish or kill her (Carroll 140). In the same scene, Alice demonstrates another act of rebellion against social norms by acting out of turn. To start off the scene, Alice loses her temper by the squeaking pencils of the jurors, and calls them “Stupid things!” indignantly (Carroll 127). She also took away one of the jurors pencils, angrily (Carroll 127). Earlier in the book, Alice initiates arguments with the Caterpillar and with the Tea Party …show more content…
Yet, Alice is portrayed as a strong-willed and logical character in Wonderland. According to Hughes, “women were considered physically weaker, yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere” (Hughes 1). Alice disproves this by being strong and convincing herself not to cry at the beginning of the novel (Carroll 19). Her constant crying exemplifies her frailty as a child and woman, but making herself stop is not something usually seen in Victorian society. To showcase women’s frailty and inferiority to men, Victorian fashions included “long skirts and blouses that emphasized a small waist, ample bosom, and inaccessibility” (Fisher 3). It is known that women also wore corsets during this time as well, which Alice refuses to wear in addition to stockings in the film version of Alice in Wonderland (Burton, Alice in
Alice has many arguments because many of the creatures in Wonderland think of her as silly. She has to stand up for herself which helps her to mature and progress through Wonderland. When she stands up for herself against someone who is really important like the Queen of Hearts, she awakens back into the real world. This represents that she has overcome her challenge.
The world of Alice in Wonderland if chocked full of puns that are inserted in a somewhat confusing way, and in other areas is placed in a subversive way that foreshadow events to come. Author Lewis Carroll’s use of these puns provides a cushioning of relevance to the story as a whole. Lewis uses puns and wordplay throughout the story because it foreshadows events to come in the story, shows a mockery of ignorance of Victorian England, and overall wanted to bring a strong sense of his creativity through his diverse use of wording.
When thinking about male characters, one would have to also include the male animal characters. During the time Carroll wrote this book, some would say that he bace the character on real people. The animals that portray different men that Lewis Carroll knew in the Victorian era. One could not talk about the men without including every male character . So first let’s start talking about the one character that leads Alice down the rabbit hole in the first place.
The gender roles change from the original to the remake. The original Alice role is defined as a young girl who is able to explore her curiosity, but she is constrained by her feminine characteristics. Alice being a young girl is portrayed as helpless in many situations throughout her journey. The characters of Wonderland offer her assistance, but she remains most times crying by herself. Alice’s character clearly shows the innocence and virtue American society attached to girls roles in the
At first glance, when reading or watching Alice in Wonderland, the tone is light and playful with the author’s intent to entertain, however there is no doubt that the story also succeeds as a vivid demonstration of human psychopathology. In the movie, the tone can also come off as light and playful, but if you pay close attention the movie adds a darker tone to the story. The movie, both the original and the Tim Burton version, vividly demonstrate multiple mental disorders. The main character of Alice is an excellent example of this, as the movie brings out her disorder of paranoid schizophrenia and a little bit of nightmare disorder.
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...
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
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.
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.
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 ...
As these assorted items fly by, it represents the idea of childhood also flying past as a child is forced to devote themselves to proper manners and focus on always being perfect, supported by Alice’s attempt at curtseying during this section. This obviously does not help her situation, instead resulting her in experiencing a malaise feeling, however, it is how she was ‘trained’ to act back in the real society and this action (alongside other pointless actions) have been enforced in her brain to the point where they are almost instinctual. This results in Victorian society members at the time being encouraged to ruminate over the nature of their own strange etiquettes. Carroll appears to be mocking this system of logic through the clear uselessness of this system (in regard to how only one-person benefits – the Hatter) yet how absolute each character is in their belief that it is the correct method to follow. While the vast majority of characters in this story follow along with these seemingly redundant rules, Alice opposes them and, as her journey progresses, fights harder against them, becoming increasingly more obnoxious to counter the rudeness of characters who call her out for not fully understanding their customs. This relates to how children cannot be contained and
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.
Alice is forced to find out who she is in a place where everyone is a distinct individual, which for Alice, is worse than in a place like the real world where there is a heavy pressure to fit in. From the moment Alice first arrives in Wonderland, she is constantly experiencing dramatic physical changes that shock her, from shrinking down to a foot tall, to shooting up far above the trees. After such extensive differences in her appearances have taken place, Alice is frazzled when a Pigeon asks what her true identity is after mistaking her for a serpent. At first she struggles with this but then realizes that at her core, she is still a little girl, regardless of her appearance. She had completely lost herself when her appearance changed. The overblown physical contrasts symbolize the changes that everyone experiences during their lives, especially during adolescence. Though you are still essentially a child, so many things change in your life that your whole world is rocked. There is a greater responsibility placed on you because of your age, and you are expected to act more maturely. But sometimes, the changes are so significant that you feel like
A quote from Samantha Pegg’s work ‘Madness is a Woman’: Constance Kent and Victorian Constructions of Female Insanity sums this up. “Morally purer, but vulnerable and weaker than men, women were then placed into a position where a fall from grace could easily be related to their inherent femininity” (Pegg 212). This quote serves as an insight into why Carroll chose to make Alice a weaker, and seemingly lesser character. Moreover, Alice seems to fit that “morally pure” peg, at least by Victorian standards, as well. This is shown when she is talking to the mouse about his tail. “It is a long tail, certainly, by why do you call it sad?” (Carroll 23). Here Alice portrays that childhood innocence that plagues her throughout the story. Instead of realizing that the mouse is talking about the tale he just told, and not his physical tail, Alice childishly doesn’t get it. This is perfect as it keeps up with her Victorian ideals; she’s an unknowing child, making her morally delightful by Victorian standards. This then leads back into Carroll’s portrayal of Alice as insane. She is again missing a piece of the puzzle that is right in front of
Alice in Wonderland belongs to the nonsense genre, and even if most of what happens to Alice is quite illogical, the main character is not. “The Alice books are, above all, about growing up” (Kincaid, page 93); indeed, Alice starts her journey as a scared little girl, however, at the end of what we discover to be just a dream, she has entered the adolescence phase with a new way to approach the mentally exhausting and queer Wonderland. It is important to consider the whole story when analyzing the growth of the character, because the meaning of an event or a sentence is more likely to mean what it truly looks like rather than an explanation regarding subconscious and Freudian interpretations. Morton states “that the books should possess any unity of purpose seems on the surface unlikely” (Morton, page 509), but it’s better to consider the disconnected narrative and the main character separately, since the girl doesn’t belong to Wonderland, which is, as Morton says, with no intrinsic unity. Whereas, there are a few key turning points where it is possible to see how Alice is changing, something that is visible throughout her journey. Carroll wants to tell the story of a girl who has to become braver in order to contend with challenges like the pool made by her own tears, or assertive characters, like the Queen.