Alice's Experience in Wonderland - A Metaphoric Representation

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ENGL 161W – Spring 2012 Professor Goodman Monique Yi Hong Alice’s experience in Wonderland as metaphor In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, there are many metaphors that can be found throughout the whole story of Alice’s experiences. One of the metaphors is made by using a fun and absurd tactics to mock the British social system. There are three main components in this aspect that I am going to mainly discuss, which are politics, education and religion. Another great metaphor that has been applied in this story is the dream; last but not least, the whole dramatic psychical changes that Alice experienced is another obvious metaphor that could not be excluded in this essay. The first component in the British social system that narrator Lewis Carroll metaphorizes is the politics. The absurd court trial in the story shows the external court complex, confusing rules and inefficient process. The unreasonable execution sentence “ Off with her head” “Off with their heads”(Carroll 54) which was often ordered by the Queen of Hearts is a great example of representing a high percentage of people committing crimes and they lack knowledge between the rights or the wrongs. It places as a metaphor for the ineffectual legal effect performance. The queen has ordered the execution but in fact no one would truly suffer the death penalty. The law did not constitute a real threat, but the three gardeners of the book were still afraid of becoming be “beheaded”, this may be like a shackle for the blind obedience. This reflects how corrupted and disorganized the British politic system was during this period. Moreover, in Chapter Three (a caucus-race and a long tale) the Dodo bird suggests all who had gotten wet from the tear pool of Alice to have a caucus race, in order to dry their bodies. Once the undisciplined
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