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- Traditionally, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through
the Looking-Glass are both considered stories intended for
children. If you were asked to support the contention that these are
actually stories for adults, how would you defend this?
- Alice Liddell, the model for Carroll’s fairy tale heroine, was a
young child when these stories were first told. Although a child in
the story, Alice often exhibits mature characteristics; and the
adult characters often exhibit childish behavior. Do you consider
these books to be an adult’s view of childhood, or a child’s view of
adulthood?
- Alice rarely speaks nonsense and rarely enjoys it when it is
spoken to her. In fact, her speech and manners are as proper as
those of any Jane Austen heroine. How is Alice’s perception of the
world changed when confronted with the world and characters of
nonsense?
- The Cheshire Cat suggests that everything Alice experiences in
Wonderland is a dream or the result of madness. Prefiguring Freud’s
theories, Carroll, in a diary entry, defined "insanity as an
inability to distinguish which is the waking and which the sleeping
life." Besides the obvious absurdities in imagery what other aspects
of these books mimic a dream state?
- "Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of
themselves." This play on the proverb, "Take care of the pence and
the pounds will take care of themselves," is a good example of
Carroll’s word play. Often these word plays end up with a
nonsensical locution; but at other times, as is the case here, they
create a completely different, often subversive, meaning. Discuss
other examples of Carroll’s word play.
- Throughout her adventures, Alice grapples with her identity.
While this is a common feature of most children’s books, Alice’s
questioning often inadvertently invokes the ideas of western
philosophers from Plato to Bishop Berkeley. What philosophical
issues about identity does Alice raise?
- Throughout both Alice and Looking-Glass, Alice
usually exhibits a passivity to the incomprehensible events around
her. However, at critical times, she learns to assume control of her
circumstances. When does this occur and what actions does she take?
- What is the significance of the mushroom that Alice eats during
her adventures?
- Let’s assume that in Lewis Carroll‘s original telling of
these stories, he viewed himself as a teacher/mentor to Alice
Liddell. How do the ways in which the fictional Alice adapts to her
shifting and unusual circumstances translate into meaningful lessons
for a child of Alice Liddell’s age?
- If the Caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were
to give advice to Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Through the
Looking-Glass on how to solve their differences without having
"a bit of a fight," what might the Caterpillar advise?
- Since their publication, many readers have found material in
Carroll’s book unsuitable for children. Which parts of the Alice
books, if any, do you think are unfit, or even harmful, to children
today
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