Alice In Wonderland is a novel by Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of Alice, a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.
The book has been immensely popular since its publication in 1865, and has been translated into many languages. Alice’s adventures continue to delight children and adults alike, and the book has been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, and television.
To the vast majority of people all over the world, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is nothing more than a child’s dreamland filled with riddles, fairy tales, and games without boundaries. However, to an experienced eye, Alice’s realm might be much more than a children’s bedtime tale.
There are several undeniable similarities and connections that emerge throughout his tale that are hard to believe were a coincidence. The Alice story is both a mix of contrasting patterns and a metaphor for development. This otherwise straightforward fairy tale becomes a key to Carroll’s inner feelings when interpreted with the proper train of thought and some creativity.
Alice’s world is one of duality and contradiction. The very first sentence in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland contradicts itself, ” Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?’
“This introductory sentence already sets the tone for Alice’s journey; she will be constantly bombarded with things that do not make sense. Even the title of the story is a contradiction; Alice’s adventures cannot be classified as either an adventure or a dream.
Throughout Alice’s journey, she is constantly growing and changing. She starts out as a very timid and naive girl, but by the end of the story she has become a strong and confident young woman. This growth is seen in Alice’s physical appearance as well. At the beginning of the story, Alice is described as having “long golden hair” (Carroll 5) but by the end her hair has turned “quite white with fright” (Carroll 97). This change in Alice’s appearance is symbolic of her inner transformation.
There are also many patterns throughout Alice’s journey. One of the most prominent patterns is the number three. Alice falls down the rabbit hole, meets the White Rabbit, and then falls again into a much larger hole. This pattern of Alice falling down a hole is repeated three times in the story. The number three is also seen in the chess game that Alice plays with the Red Queen. There are three moves in the game and Alice is only able to win by making all three moves at once.
The most famous pattern in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is the repeated use of the word “curious.” The word “curious” is used 14 times throughout the story, and it is always used in reference to Alice. This continual use of the word creates a sense of foreboding and anticipation; Alice is constantly being put in situations that are out of her control. She is constantly being pulled into a world that she does not understand.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a story filled with contradiction and pattern. Alice is a symbol of growth and change, and the repeated use of the word “curious” creates a sense of anticipation. To the trained eye, Alice’s world translates into much more than a child’s bedtime story. It is a key to Carroll’s inner thoughts.
Since the early 1900’s, psychoanalysts have studied Alice in Wonderland. Psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method based on the idea that humans can change their mental states via talk therapy. In other words, it is used to explore inner (subjective) meaning.
To help individuals suffering from issues without any organic cause, psychoanalysis was initially used as a clinical practice. However, it has also shown to be quite beneficial in revealing subliminal intentions in dreams, art, and literature. The following should not be considered set ideas; rather, they are intended to provide a key for comprehending some of Lewis’ most famous interpretations.
Alice is a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantastical world. This world is populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The plot Alice’s journey to find her way home. Along the way, she has many adventures and learns many things about herself and the world around her.
Some analysts believe that Alice represents the id, the part of the unconscious mind that contains our primal urges. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which means that it seeks immediate gratification of its desires. This can be seen in Alice’s impulsive behavior throughout the story. For example, Alice immediately grabs the key when she sees it, without considering what it might unlock or what might happen to her if she uses it. She also eats the cake without considering the consequences, which leads to her becoming very large and getting stuck in the rabbit hole.
The id is also selfish and egocentric, as Alice is throughout the story. She only thinks about what she wants and how she can get it. She doesn’t care about anyone or anything else. This is most evident when Alice is talking to the Caterpillar. The Caterpillar asks Alice who she is, and Alice responds with a long list of things she is not, rather than simply telling him her name.
Some analysts believe that the White Rabbit represents the ego, the part of the unconscious mind that mediates between the id and reality. The ego tries to satisfy the id’s desires while also taking into account the reality of the situation. This is seen in the White Rabbit’s repeated attempts to get Alice to hurry up and follow him. He knows that Alice needs to hurry, but he also doesn’t want her to hurt herself or get lost.
The ego is also rational and logical, as opposed to the id’s impulsiveness. This is evident in Alice’s conversations with the creatures she meets in Wonderland. Alice is often able to outwit them by using her logic and reason, even when they are trying to trick or deceive her.
The final major part of the psyche is the superego, which represents our moral and ethical code. The superego is what tells us right from wrong, and it develops as we grow and learn. It is often in conflict with the id, because the id’s primal urges are often at odds with societal norms. This conflict is seen throughout Alice’s adventures, as she tries to figure out whether she should do what she wants or what she thinks is right.
One example of this conflict is when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. The Cat tells Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice herself. Alice doesn’t want to believe this, but she knows that it could be true. She then has to decide whether to believe the Cat or not.
Another example occurs when Alice meets the Queen of Hearts. The Queen orders Alice to execute a kitten for smiling, and Alice knows that this is wrong.
The leaven, the engine of this twofold passage, is to be found in the sequence of events inscribed in Alice’s body, which may be interpreted as a journey from the surface to the abyss and an achievement, a difficult conquest from the abyss to the surface.
This Alice, who is simultaneously a little girl and the imaginary creature of a dream, has in her veins the blood of several races. The daughter of an English father and an Irish mother, she is also related to the French Carrolls, who came to England from Bordeaux in the seventeenth century.
In short, Alice is a blend of Celtic imagination with Anglo-Saxon common sense; she has at her disposal two traditions which are often incompatible but which here join forces to create a third thing, Alice herself. Certainly it would be going too far to read this last detail as a simple allegory of English history: the injection of Celtic fantasy into the stolid Anglo-Saxon temperament. But it is not entirely without significance that Alice is, so to speak, a product of crossbreeding.
Alice’s journey is not only the story of her growth to maturity but also the symbolic tale of England’s modernization, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland can be read as an account of the Industrial Revolution and its effect on Victorian society. Through Alice, we see how the Victorian world was being transformed by new technologies and ways of thinking, and how Alice herself must adapt to these changes.
For instance, when Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange place where the laws of physics no longer seem to apply. This can be seen as a metaphor for the way that the industrial revolution was upending traditional ways of life and creating a new, modern world where anything seemed possible.
Similarly, Alice’s encounters with the various creatures she meets in Wonderland can be seen as symbolizing the different social classes that were emerging during the Victorian era. The upper-class characters, like the Queen of Hearts and the March Hare, are portrayed as being eccentric and out of touch, while the lower-class characters, like the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter, are shown as being more down to earth and level-headed.