Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Arthur Rackham, 1907 John Tenniel, 1865 Helen Oxenbury, 1999

Mabel Lucie Attwell , 1910

Brigitte Bryan, 1970 Henry Morin., 1939 Helen Oxenbury, 1999

Margaret Tarrant, 1916 Jessie Willcox Smith, 1923

Anthony Browne, 1988

Willy the Dreamer

by Anthony Browne

(1997)

The AuthorLewis Carroll (1832-1898)Real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University, England (1855- 1881)

a writer and photographer, known for his portraits, especially those of children.

inventing new ways of solving mathematical puzzles and making friends with little girls

not married

good-natured but shy

Historical Context In the summer of 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and another Oxford clergyman went on a trip up the river, in a rowboat, with the three young daughters of the dean of their college – Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell. Dodgson told the children a story as they went along. But that afternoon, Alice Liddell requested that he write it down for her.

In 1865, the revised version of Dodgson's story was published, under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Alice Liddell

Values (I)

Alice in Wonderland resists didacticism and celebrates the entertainment of nonsense. It created a very different literary style in children’s literature.

This book has attracted more serious adult attention than nearly any other children's book in the world.

This book has been studied by those who are interested in psychological symbolism, logic and philosophy, linguistics, mathematical games, and Victorian English history.

This book is full of events like tea parties, croquet games, awkward encounters with royalty, and court trials that helps us understand the Victorian English culture.

Values (II)

This book is full of nineteenth-century words (e.g., “comfit”, “treacle”) and many characters are based on common sayings or ideas of Carroll's day (e.g., “mad as a March hare”, “mad as a hatter”, “grins like a Cheshire cat”).

Alice's conversation with herself tells us about certain aspects of Victorian childhood education:

• the study of Latin, • her (mediocre) knowledge of geography, and • the improving moral poems which she had to memorize (and

which Carroll enjoyed subverting in his own irreverent versions).

Alice's InfluenceAlice in Wonderland is one of the most often-quoted books in English, up there with the Bible and Hamlet.

In literature, Alice is a central inspiration for dozens of literary works and films, such as Disney’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in 1951, a gigantic white rabbit hopping through a 1966 episode of Star Trek, and the "rabbit hole" virtual-reality jargon of the smash 1999 sci-fi movie The Matrix.

Alice also had a popular revival in the1960s and 1970s, when many young people experimented with altered mental states, and Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "White Rabbit" linked Alice's dreamlike imagery to the drug culture.

“White Rabbit” (Jefferson Airplane – 1967) One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small

And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall

Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go

And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead

And the white knight is talking backwards

And the red queen's off with her head

Remember what the dormouse said

Feed your head, feed your head

Main Characters (I)Alice: A little girl, about 7 years old, and the protagonist of the story. She is curious, smart, trusting, and ready to accept the impossible. She can be quite bold; in addition, she tends to take herself seriously and sometimes has a rather quick temper. Her adventures begin with her jump down the rabbit hole, and the tale is an extended metaphor for the challenges she will face as she grows into an adult.

White Rabbit: A rabbit wearing a waistcoat and a pocket watch runs quickly past Alice at the beginning of the story. Alice follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit-hole into Wonderland. He is a messenger and a herald at the Court of the King and Queen of Hearts. He is rather timid and nervous.

Main Characters (II)

Mouse: He falls into the pool of Alice’s tears. He tries to “dry” the others by telling them the “driest” story he knows.

Caterpillar: A large, enigmatic, hookah-smoking caterpillar. He treats Alice with contempt and makes her angry, but he gives Alice advice about how to get by in Wonderland and helps her to grow to the size she wants to be by telling her about the magic of the mushroom he sits on.

Main Characters (III)Duchess: When Alice first meets the Duchess, she is a disagreeable woman nursing a baby and arguing with her cook. The Duchess seems different when Alice meets her a second time in the Queen’s garden. The Duchess believes that everything has a moral, and she speaks in moralizing cliché.

Cheshire Cat: Possessing remarkably sharp claws and alarming sharp teeth, the Cheshire cat is courteous and helpful, despite his frightening appearance. His face is fixed in an eerie grin. He can make any and all parts of his body disappear and reappear.

Main Characters (IV)

March Hare: A hare who lives in a house shaped like a hare's head. The Mad Tea Party is held at the March Hare's house. At the time Alice meets him, he has been mad for two months. At the trial, he contradicts the evidence presented by the Mad Hatter.

Mad Hatter: A hatter who continually has tea with the March Hare and the Dormouse because for him it is always six o'clock (tea-time). Alice is temporarily their guest. Later, the nervous hatter is forced to be a witness at the trial of the Knave of Hearts.

Main Characters (V)Queen of Hearts: The nasty, savage, domineering queen whose realm includes the garden. She is literally a playing card. She constantly issues orders to behead people, although everyone seems to get pardoned in the end.

King of Hearts: The Queen of Hearts’ incompetent husband. She completely dominates him, but he quietly pardons everyone who has been sentenced to death. He doesn't seem to know much about court proceedings at the Knave's trial.

Knave of Hearts: He is accused of stealing the tarts of the Queen of Hearts. Despite reasonable efforts to prove himself innocent, the King and the court are determined to pronounce him guilty.

Main Characters (VI)Gryphon: a mythical animal that is half eagle and half lion. He takes Alice to meetthe Mock Turtle and then ushers her off to the trial. He attended undersea school with the Mock Turtle and is nostalgic about his days at school. He loves puns.

The Mock Turtle: The Mock Turtle is always sad and depressed, and he's often sighing or sobbing. He used to be a real turtle, but now he's a mock turtle (a turtle with a calf's head and hooves). He and the Gryphon tell stories loaded with puns. His name is another play on words (mock turtle soup is a soup that actually uses veal as its meat ingredient).

Minor Characters (I)Alice’s sister: She appears at the beginning and at the end of the story. Alice falls asleep with her head in her sister's lap and has the dream about Wonderland.

Dinah: Alice’s cat. Dinah never actually appears in the story.

Dodo: Another creature falls into the pool. He suggests everyone to do a Caucus-race to get dry. He is said to be modeled after Dodgson (Carroll) himself.

Mary Ann: The White Rabbit’s maid. She never appears.

Bill the Lizard: A hapless, somewhat stupid lizard. He is also a juror at the trial.

Pigeon: She mistakes Alice for a serpent because of long neck. She tries to protect her eggs.

Minor Characters (II)Fish-Footman: He serves at the house of the Duchess.

Frog-Footman: He brings an invitation from the Queen to the Duchess’ house.

Pig-Baby: The Duchess’ ugly, squealing baby boy and later turns into a pig.

Cook: The Duchess’ belligerent, violent cook. She uses a lot of pepper when cooking.

Dormouse: A guest at the Mad Tea Party. The Dormouse is always either asleep or falling asleep.

Three Gardeners: Three playing cards in the service of the Queen of Hearts. They are spades - Two, Five, and Seven, who are painting roses red because they planted white ones by mistake.

Main Themes

Growth into Adulthood / Adaptability

Size change

Identity

Language and meaning

Logic and knowledge of children

Games and rules

Violence and death

IssuesA book for children or adults?

Too many frightening and confusing incidences?

A plotless story?

What philosophy is behind the story?

No moral?

Humor?

20th century children react differently from Victorian children?