ALICES ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Lewis Carroll

Context

Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in
mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, who lived from 1832 to 1898. Carrolls physical deformities,
partial deafness, and irrepressible stammer made him an unlikely candidate for producing one of the
most popular and enduring childrens fantasies in the English language. Carrolls unusual
appearance caused him to behave awkwardly around other adults, and his students at Oxford saw
him as a stuffy and boring teacher. He held strict religious beliefs, serving as a deacon in the
Anglican Church for many years and briefly considering becoming a minister. Underneath Carrolls
awkward exterior, however, lay a brilliant and imaginative artist. A gifted amateur photographer, he
took numerous portraits of children throughout his adulthood. Carrolls keen grasp of mathematics
and logic inspired the linguistic humor and witty wordplay in his stories. Additionally, his unique
understanding of childrens minds allowed him to compose imaginative fiction that appealed to
young people.
Carroll felt shy and reserved around adults but became animated and lively around children. His
crippling stammer melted away in the company of children as he told them his elaborately
nonsensical stories. Carroll discovered his gift for storytelling in his own youth when he served as
the unofficial family entertainer for his five younger sisters and three younger brothers. He staged
performances and wrote the bulk of the fiction in the family magazine. As an adult, Carroll continued
to prefer the companionship of children to adults and tended to favor little girls. Over the course of
his lifetime he made numerous child friends whom he wrote to frequently and often mentioned in his
diaries.
In 1856, Carroll became close with the Liddell children and met the girl who would become the
inspiration for Alice, the protagonist of his two most famous books. It was in that year that classics
scholar Henry George Liddell accepted an appointment as Dean of Christ Church, one of the
colleges that comprise Oxford University, and brought his three daughters to live with him at Oxford.
Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell quickly became Carrolls favorite companions and photographic
subjects. During their frequent afternoon boat trips on the river, Carroll told the Liddells fanciful tales.

Alice quickly became Carrolls favorite of the three girls, and he made her the subject of the stories
that would later became Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Almost
ten years after first meeting the Liddells, Carroll compiled the stories and submitted the completed
manuscript for publication.
Alices Adventures in Wonderland received mostly negative reviews when first published in 1865.
Critics and readers alike found the book to be sheer nonsense, and one critic sneered that the book
was too extravagantly absurd to produce more diversion than disappointment and irritation. Only
John Tenniels detailed illustrations garnered praise, and his images continue to appear in most
reprints of the Alice books. Despite the books negative reception, Carroll proposed a sequel to his
publisher in 1866 and set to work writing Through the Looking-Glass. By the time the second book
reached publication in 1871, Alices Adventures in Wonderland had found an appreciative
readership. Over time, Carrolls combination of sophisticated logic, social satire, and pure fantasy
would make the book a classic for children and adults alike. Critics eventually recognized the literary
merits of both texts, and celebrated authors and philosophers ranging from James Joyce to Ludwig
Wittgenstein praised Carrolls stories.
In 1881, Carroll resigned from his position as mathematics lecturer at Oxford to pursue writing full
time. He composed numerous poems, several new works for children, and books of logic puzzles
and games, but none of his later writings attained the success of the Alice books. Carroll continued
to have close friendships with children. Several of his child friends served as inspiration for the
Sylvie and Bruno books. Like the Alice stories, Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno
Concluded (1898) relied heavily on childrens silly sayings and absurd fantasies. Carroll died in 1898
at the age of sixty-six, soon after the publication of the Sylvie and Bruno books. He passed away in
his familys home in Guildford, England.
Carrolls sudden break with the Liddell family in the early 1860s has led to a great deal of
speculation over the nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell. Some books indicate that the split
resulted from a disagreement between Carroll and Dean Liddell over Christ Church matters. Other
evidence indicates that more insidious elements existed in Carrolls relationships with young children
and with Alice Liddell in particular. This possibility seems to be supported by the fact that Mrs. Liddell
burned all of Carrolls early letters to Alice and that Carroll himself tore pages out of his diary related
to the break. However, no concrete evidence exists that Carroll behaved inappropriately in his
numerous friendships with children. Records written by Carrolls associates and Alice Liddell herself
do not indicate any untoward behavior on his part.

Carrolls feelings of intense nostalgia for the simple pleasures of childhood caused him to feel deep
discomfort in the presence of adults. In the company of children, Carroll felt understood and could
temporarily forget the loss of innocence that he associated with his own adulthood. Ironically, Carroll
mourned this loss again and again as he watched each of his child friends grow away from him as
they became older. As he wrote in a letter to the mother of one of his young muses, It is very sweet
to me, to be loved by her as children love: though the experience of many years have now taught me
that there are few things in the world so evanescent [fleeting] as a childs love. Nine-tenths of the
children, whose love once seemed as warm as hers, are now merely on the terms of everyday
acquaintance. The sentiment of fleeting happiness pervades Carrolls seemingly lighthearted
fantasies and infuses the Alice books with melancholy and loss.
Alice - The seven-year-old protagonist of the story. Alice believes that the world is orderly and
stable, and she has an insatiable curiosity about her surroundings. Wonderland challenges and
frustrates her perceptions of the world.
Read an in-depth analysis of Alice.
The White Rabbit - The frantic, harried Wonderland creature that originally leads Alice to
Wonderland. The White Rabbit is figure of some importance, but he is manic, timid, and occasionally
aggressive.
The Queen of Hearts - The ruler of Wonderland. The Queen is severe and domineering, continually
screaming for her subjects to be beheaded.
Read an in-depth analysis of The Queen of Hearts.
The King of Hearts - The coruler of Wonderland. The King is ineffectual and generally unlikeable,
but lacks the Queens ruthlessness and undoes her orders of execution.
The Cheshire Cat - A perpetually grinning cat who appears and disappears at will. The Cheshire
Cat displays a detached, clearheaded logic and explains Wonderlands madness to Alice.
Read an in-depth analysis of The Cheshire Cat.
The Duchess - The Queens uncommonly ugly cousin. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice at
first, but later treats her so affectionately that her advances feel threatening.
The Caterpillar - A Wonderland creature. The Caterpillar sits on a mushroom, smokes a hookah,
and treats Alice with contempt. He directs Alice to the magic mushroom that allows her to shrink and
grow.

The Mad Hatter - A small, impolite hatter who lives in perpetual tea-time. The Mad Hatter enjoys
frustrating Alice.
The March Hare - The Mad Hatters tea-time companion. The March Hare takes great pleasure in
frustrating Alice.
The Dormouse - The Mad Hatter and March Hares companion. The Dormouse sits at the tea table
and drifts in and out of sleep.
The Gryphon - A servant to the Queen who befriends Alice. The Gryphon escorts Alice to see the
Mock Turtle.
The Mock Turtle - A turtle with the head of a calf. The Mock Turtle is friendly to Alice but is
exceedingly sentimental and self-absorbed.
Alices sister - The only character whom Alice interacts with outside of Wonderland. Alices sister
daydreams about Alices adventures as the story closes.
The Knave of Hearts - An attendant to the King and Queen. The Knave has been accused of
stealing the Queens tarts.
The Mouse - The first Wonderland creature that Alice encounters. The Mouse is initially frightened
of Alice and her talk about her pet cat, and eventually tells the story of Fury and the Mouse that
foreshadows the Knave of Hearts trial.
The Dodo - A Wonderland creature. The Dodo tends to use big words, and others accuse him of not
knowing their meanings. He proposes that the animals participate in a Caucus race.
The Duck, the Lory, and the Eaglet - Wonderland creatures who participate in the Caucus race.
The Cook - The Duchesss cook, who causes everyone to sneeze with the amount of pepper she
uses in her cooking. The Cook is ill-tempered, throwing objects at the Duchess and refusing to give
evidence at the trial.
The Pigeon - A Wonderland creature who believes Alice is a serpent. The pigeon is sulky and angry
and thinks Alice is after her eggs.
Two, Five, and Seven - The playing-card gardeners. Two, Five, and Seven are fearful and
fumbling, especially in the presence of the Queen.

Bill - A lizard who first appears as a servant of the White Rabbit and later as a juror at the trial. Bill is
stupid and ineffectual.
The Frog-Footman - The Duchesss footman. The Frog-footman is stupid and accustomed to the
fact that nothing makes sense in Wonderland.

ALICES ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Lewis Carroll

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Tragic and Inevitable Loss of Childhood Innocence

Throughout the course of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Alice goes through a variety of absurd
physical changes. The discomfort she feels at never being the right size acts as a symbol for the
changes that occur during puberty. Alice finds these changes to be traumatic, and feels discomfort,
frustration, and sadness when she goes through them. She struggles to maintain a comfortable
physical size. In Chapter 1, she becomes upset when she keeps finding herself too big or too small
to enter the garden. In Chapter 5, she loses control over specific body parts when her neck grows to
an absurd length. These constant fluctuations represent the way a child may feel as her body grows
and changes during puberty.

Life as a Meaningless Puzzle

In Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Alice encounters a series of puzzles that seem to have no clear
solutions, which imitates the ways that life frustrates expectations. Alice expects that the situations
she encounters will make a certain kind of sense, but they repeatedly frustrate her ability to figure
out Wonderland. Alice tries to understand the Caucus race, solve the Mad Hatters riddle, and

understand the Queens ridiculous croquet game, but to no avail. In every instance, the riddles and
challenges presented to Alice have no purpose or answer. Even though Lewis Carroll was a logician,
in Alices Adventures in Wonderland he makes a farce out of jokes, riddles, and games of logic. Alice
learns that she cannot expect to find logic or meaning in the situations that she encounters, even
when they appear to be problems, riddles, or games that would normally have solutions that Alice
would be able to figure out. Carroll makes a broader point about the ways that life frustrates
expectations and resists interpretation, even when problems seem familiar or solvable.

Death as a Constant and Underlying Menace

Alice continually finds herself in situations in which she risks death, and while these threats never
materialize, they suggest that death lurks just behind the ridiculous events of Alices Adventures in
Wonderland as a present and possible outcome. Death appears in Chapter 1, when the narrator
mentions that Alice would say nothing of falling off of her own house, since it would likely kill her.
Alice takes risks that could possibly kill her, but she never considers death as a possible outcome.
Over time, she starts to realize that her experiences in Wonderland are far more threatening than
they appear to be. As the Queen screams Off with its head! she understands that Wonderland may
not merely be a ridiculous realm where expectations are repeatedly frustrated. Death may be a real
threat, and Alice starts to understand that the risks she faces may not be ridiculous and absurd after
all.

Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the
texts major themes.

Dream
Alices Adventures in Wonderland takes place in Alices dream, so that the characters and
phenomena of the real world mix with elements of Alices unconscious state. The dream motif
explains the abundance of nonsensical and disparate events in the story. As in a dream, the
narrative follows the dreamer as she encounters various episodes in which she attempts to interpret
her experiences in relationship to herself and her world. Though Alices experiences lend themselves
to meaningful observations, they resist a singular and coherent interpretation.

Subversion
Alice quickly discovers during her travels that the only reliable aspect of Wonderland that she can
count on is that it will frustrate her expectations and challenge her understanding of the natural order
of the world. In Wonderland, Alice finds that her lessons no longer mean what she thought, as she
botches her multiplication tables and incorrectly recites poems she had memorized while in
Wonderland. Even Alices physical dimensions become warped as she grows and shrinks erratically
throughout the story. Wonderland frustrates Alices desires to fit her experiences in a logical
framework where she can make sense of the relationship between cause and effect.

Language
Carroll plays with linguistic conventions in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, making use of puns
and playing on multiple meanings of words throughout the text. Carroll invents words and
expressions and develops new meanings for words. Alices exclamation Curious and curiouser!
suggests that both her surroundings and the language she uses to describe them expand beyond
expectation and convention. Anything is possible in Wonderland, and Carrolls manipulation of
language reflects this sense of unlimited possibility.

Curious, Nonsense, and Confusing

Alice uses these words throughout her journey to describe phenomena she has trouble explaining.
Though the words are generally interchangeable, she usually assigns curious and confusingto
experiences or encounters that she tolerates. She endures is the experiences that are curious or
confusing, hoping to gain a clearer picture of how that individual or experience functions in the world.
When Alice declares something to be nonsense, as she does with the trial in Chapter 12, she rejects
or criticizes the experience or encounter.

Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Garden
Nearly every object in Alices Adventures in Wonderland functions as a symbol, but nothing clearly
represents one particular thing. The symbolic resonances of Wonderland objects are generally
contained to the individual episode in which they appear. Often the symbols work together to convey
a particular meaning. The garden may symbolize the Garden of Eden, an idyllic space of beauty and
innocence that Alice is not permitted to access. On a more abstract level, the garden may simply

represent the experience of desire, in that Alice focuses her energy and emotion on trying to attain it.
The two symbolic meanings work together to underscore Alices desire to hold onto her feelings of
childlike innocence that she must relinquish as she matures.

The Caterpillars Mushroom

Like the garden, the Caterpillars mushroom also has multiple symbolic meanings. Some readers
and critics view the Caterpillar as a sexual threat, its phallic shape a symbol of sexual virility. The
Caterpillars mushroom connects to this symbolic meaning. Alice must master the properties of the
mushroom to gain control over her fluctuating size, which represents the bodily frustrations that
accompany puberty. Others view the mushroom as a psychedelic hallucinogen that compounds
Alices surreal and distorted perception of Wonderland.
F U L L T I T L E Alices Adventures in Wonderland
A U T H O R Lewis Carroll
T Y P E O F W O R K Novella
G E N R E Fairy tale; childrens fiction; satire; allegory
L A N G U A G E English
T I M E AN D P L A C E W R I T T E N 18621863, Oxford
D ATE O F F I R S T P U B L I C ATI O N 1865
P U B L I S H E R Macmillan & Co.
N A R R ATO R The narrator is anonymous and does not use many words to describe events in the

story.
P O I N T O F V I E W The narrator speaks in third person, though occasionally in first and second

person. The narrative follows Alice around on her travels, voicing her thoughts and feelings.
T O N E Straightforward; avuncular
T E N S E Past

S E T T I N G ( T I M E ) Victorian era, circa publication date

S E T T I N G ( P L A C E ) England, Wonderland
P R O T AG O N I S T Alice
M A J O R C O N F L I C T Alice attempts to come to terms with the puzzle of Wonderland as she

undergoes great individual changes while entrenched in Wonderland.

R I S I N G AC T I O N Alice follows the White Rabbit down a well and pursues him through

Wonderland.
C L I M A X Alice gains control over her size and enters the garden, where she participates in the trial

of the Knave of Hearts.

F AL L I N G AC T I O N Alice realizes that Wonderland is a sham and knocks over the playing card

court, causing her to wake up and dispel the dream of Wonderland.

T H E M E S The tragic and inevitable loss of childhood innocence; Life as a meaningless puzzle;

Death as a constant and underlying menace

M O T I F S Dream; subversion; language; curious, nonsense, and confusing
S Y M B O L S The garden; the mushroom
F O R E S H A D O W I N G The Mouses history about Fury and the Mouse foreshadows the trial at the

end of the story.