Alice in Wonderland: Analysis of the Work and the Characters
The literary work Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written by the English Lewis Carroll, is a 12-chapter children's story that tells the story of a girl named Alice and her journey in an imaginary and fantastic world with animals and objects anthropomorphic.
Your first post with the original title Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland It was in 1865, England. It included 34 illustrations by British cartoonist John Tenniel.
It is under discussion if it is considered in the genre of literature of the nonsense or nonsense, or faerie or fairy fantasy literature. Subsequently, the surrealism movement considered it as surrealist literature.
Alice in Wonderland It has been considered an important work because it has had a social, psychological and mathematics since the Victorian era (1837-1901) by the way in which the subjects are treated in each chapter.
Also, although apparently the book is intended for children, it allows a double interpretation by adult readers.
Alicia is about to fall asleep due to the boredom she feels from her while she is with her sister sitting by the river. Suddenly, the girl sees a rabbit, which goes to a deep burrow, and she decides to chase it.
Next, Alicia falls down a vast hole. When she makes landfall, the young woman is scared and it is her own tears that lead her to Wonderland. A place where everything acquires an absurd aesthetic.
There, she Alicia meets different characters, many of them are animals she can talk to. Likewise, the girl faces different situations that make her reflect, in a world where everyone seems to experience madness.
However, as the book progresses, Alicia seems to become familiar with this place and shows her character and personality in the different absurd situations.
Finally, she Alicia wakes up with her sister and discovers that everything has been a dream.
Alice in Wonderland Analysis
One of the peculiarities that differentiates the book from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland of other stories is that, although it is intended for a child audience, it has a double reading in the adult audience.
During the Victorian era the stories directed to the infantile public, used to instruct the children in the obedience by means of morals. Unlike these, this Carroll story contains a wicked undertone.
If for children, the world that is presented in the story is a place where everything is possible and there are no borders. Probably, from the adult point of view, it is a world where chaos and nonsense prevail over reason.
With the passage of time, and from an adult perspective, they have tried to find different possible themes that give an explanation to this work. These are some of the ones you can guess:
Journey to maturity
Is Alicia's dream the journey to adult life? This is one of the readings that can be extracted from the novel.
At the moment in which the young woman falls down the burrow, she faces different obstacles within that new world. On some occasions, her opinion is not taken seriously by other "adult" characters. This could show misunderstanding on the part of adults during the complex maturing process.
Likewise, for the author, Carroll, growing up inevitably leads to corruption and hypocrisy.
Search for identity
It is closely related to the previous topic. Every stage of change, such as the transition between childhood and adulthood, is accompanied by innumerable reflections. Especially those related to oneself. Without a doubt, the search for identity is present in some parts of the book. Alicia wonders if she is still the same, and different facts lead her to rethink who she is.
Caricature of victorian society
On the one hand, criticism and mockery towards Victorian society are present in the madness of the characters while they have tea, a very English custom.
At the time Carroll wrote the book, Queen Victoria was ruling. So, the author wanted to make a parody of her figure through the Queen of Hearts, who wields more power than the King of Hearts.
He also criticizes the rigidity of the hierarchy of social classes at the time, reflected in the hostile behavior that Alice has with the queen's subordinates and with the smaller animals.
Is therefore this absurd world that is described in the book a reflection of a society based on appearances?
Main characters and their meaning
As the young Alice advances inside this mysterious place, she meets different characters along the way. Each of them has a particular character, which can also be interpreted.
In some way, the characters also allow the reader to find an explanation to understand the whole of the work. So what is the meaning of the characters in Alice in Wonderland?
Alice: Criticism of Victorian Society
She is the protagonist of this story, everything seems to be the product of a dream she has while her older sister reads. She is a girl belonging to the English middle class. Alicia is an intelligent young woman and everything around her arouses great curiosity in her and, far from anything going unnoticed in her eyes, she shows a critical capacity.
The attitudes that the girl has with different characters represent a mockery towards the society and the iron customs of the Victorian era. Alicia is the representation of a middle-class girl educated with the social norms of the time.
The White Rabbit: hieraticism and good sense
This character is in charge of leading Alice to Wonderland. He appears at the beginning of the book, he is dressed in a vest and carries a pocket watch as a complement, which he constantly watches.
The white rabbit is sensible and responsible, qualities that make it rush everywhere. It could be said that the Rabbit is the antithesis of Alice. He is, at the same time, the character most adapted to the social life of the Victorian era.
The Cheshire Cat: surrealism
He is a big, furry animal that is always smiling. He stands out for his ability to appear and disappear while he manages to show parts of his body in isolation, such as his smiling mouth. This makes him the most surreal character because of his appearance.
The Caterpillar: idleness and misunderstanding
The Caterpillar appears in the book when Alice has already entered Wonderland. It is blue and large. The Caterpillar does not have a good behavior towards Alice and makes her angry. Alicia has a great debate about her height with this character, who encourages her to eat a mushroom that will supposedly change her size.
From a social point of view, the Caterpillar could personify idleness and lack of understanding on the part of adults towards the changes that children experience in development.
The Hatter and the March Hare: Madness
This character appears "trapped in time" because, for him, it is always tea time because he has been condemned to "kill time." He appears alongside the March Hare and the Dormouse. He is a character who presents different puzzles and word games.
Both the Hatter and the March Hare appear in one of the scenes that best centralizes the nonsense of the play.
The Dormouse: insomnia
He is also a guest at the March Hare and the Hatter tea party. He is renowned for his shyness and his ease of falling asleep. He has a phobia of cats.
This character has been associated with the insomnia problems that the author constantly suffered.
The Queen of Hearts: parody of contemporary sovereignty
The Queen of Hearts is always angry. She is authoritarian and whenever she feels upset with someone she orders her head to be cut off. He presents great enmity with the young Alice.
Influence of the book on culture
Alice in Wonderland it is possibly one of the most widely read books. More than a century after its publication, it can boast of being an imperishable work. Throughout history she has served as a base or inspiration in different areas. Art, cinema, or literature have seen in this Carroll novel a reason to create other works.
At the time that Carroll wrote the book Queen Victoria was ruling, it is believed that the author wanted to do a parody of his figure through the Queen of Hearts, who wields more power than the King of Hearts.
At the cinema
In art
In the literature
Some literary sagas that have been strongly influenced by Alice in Wonderland They are:
- Otherlandby Tad Williams
- The War of the Mirrorsby Frank Beddor
Biography and work of author Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dogson. He was born on January 27, 1832 in Cheshire, England. He was a writer, mathematician, logician, deacon of the Anglican Church, and photographer. The son of a Protestant pastor, he was the oldest of his eleven siblings. They were all born stutterers and left-handers.
At age 18 he entered Christ Church in Oxford on a scholarship to study mathematics and the arts. He obtained a bachelor's degree and graduated as a tutor. He devoted himself to teaching mathematics and in 1861 he was ordained a deacon of the Anglican Church.
Carroll was diagnosed with AIWS, micropsy. This neuropsychological disorder was later called Alice in Wonderland syndrome. because, as occurs in this place, this syndrome affects spatial perception, distorting perspective and distance.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland It has been translated into more than 174 languages and has had adaptations in all imaginable fields such as cinema, theater, painting, video games, etc.
The first version of the story was called Alice’s Adventures under Ground, in Spanish Alice's Underground Adventures and it was invented on a boat trip to impress the three young daughters of Henry Liddell, dean of Christ Church, where Carroll resided.
In 1871, Carroll published a second book Through the looking glass and what Alice found there or Through the Looking Glass in English, continuing Alice's adventures in a more complex and dense context.
