As we all were reading the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and finally got to the end, we were left with Alice’s awakening from her dream.
I did not want this to be the way the book ended but Carroll must have had a reason behind it. The thought of a young girl such as Alice having such a complex and detailed dream is quite mind-boggling. I honestly don’t believe any child can have a dream like this unless they lived their life this way. So I wonder what Alice’s life was like when she wasn’t dreaming? Maybe she had friends or relatives that were being represented by these strange characters? Something tells me Carroll could have made the story larger then it already is.
All the characters of Wonderland must have played some sort of role in Alice’s life. Like the White Rabbit could represent her ability to follow and her curiosity. Wouldn’t it be funny if the Queen represented her mother and how chaotic her household was? The Cheshire cat could represent Alice’s conscious in everyday life. Also the Mad Hatter could be a very logical and intellectual teacher of Alice’s that enjoys asking rhetorical questions. Finally, the Mock Turtle could represent a friend of Alice’s that is very nice to her but only worried about her well-being. These could all be examples of her real life before she went off into this outrageous dream.
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I disagree with you on the part saying she can’t have such a detailed dream. I think dreams are all about someone’s wishes. Maybe she wishes she was in a world with all these strange types of things. I know sometimes my dreams are completely random and things I’ve never thought of before. I think it would be fun to do a study on dreams and figure what they really mean. But I do agree with you saying maybe the characters representing different people in her life. Another thing I do find weird and that makes me question if it’s a dream or not is how she remembers every detail about it and how her sister knows it too.
By: Melissa H on December 3, 2009
at 7:57 pm
I agree, Alice has way too high of a thought process for a little girl. This dream really is too complex for a seven year old. A little girl would not be pondering things such as “Who am I?” Alice seems to be an intelligent scholar at times, and a silly little girl who doesn’t even know her own multiplication tables at others times.
I also agree that it is quite possible that the characters of Wonderland all resemble somebody real. The governness that is the mouse, the Cheshire Cat and Dinah, her sisters in the story, and many more easily could be from the real world. Carroll is a subtle author, but with enough snooping, I’m sure someone could find reasonable real life counterparts to every character. The Queen could easily be a very strict mother who never actually carried out on her punishments, for all we know.
By: Connor S. on December 3, 2009
at 7:33 pm
I really like that way of thinking. I never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense. That really would make more sense if it was that way. All through the book there were annotations linking the characters to actual people in Alice Liddell’s life. Such as the three sisters in the Dormouse’s story were the three Liddell sisters. Elsie (L.C. – Lorina Charlotte), Tillie (Edith’s family nickname Matilda), and Lacie (Alice with jumbled letters). I am really glad that you said that because it puts a completely new perspective on the story for me.
By: Devon H. on December 3, 2009
at 6:10 pm
Cool thoughts. I’m sure in Writing this for Alice, Carroll put many connections into her life. I remember reading somewhere that he mentioned Alice’s sisters within the story. And remember that in Chapter 3, the mouse was likened to Alice’s governess. When he mentioned this I really stopped thinking about this type of things. But now that you mention it many, many characters could be real concepts.
By: Miles W III on December 3, 2009
at 4:09 pm