Critical Response to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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Critical Response to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll When attempting to comprehend the fantasy-filled world that Lewis Carroll creates in the setting of Wonderland, it is critical to maintain focus on the protagonist of the novel, Alice. Alice begins her long adventures by getting distracted while relaxing alongside her napping sister. She gets easily sidetracked as she sees a white rabbit proclaiming that he is “late to an important date”, and hastily scurries off down a hole in the ground. Being the young, curious girl that she is, Alice follows the rabbit and falls down the hole behind it. As she dives into Wonderland, the fantasy truly begins to set in as she attempts to cope with the bending of realities that are set before her. This is a common theme throughout the novel, where Carroll attempts to use the nonsensical nature of Wonderland to promote the idea of the unpredictable nature of children’s thought processes. With the intense surreality of Wonderland come many material items like the key, bottle labeled “DRINK ME”, and cake labeled “EAT ME”. Alice interacts with such items routinely in her journey, and trusts her own good judgment to progress her adventure. The idea that children go forward with decisions that may not be entirely thought through reflects everyday occurrences in the lives of children everywhere. As Alice changes sizes by eating and drinking, she attempts to discover her purpose in Wonderland and to establish an identity for herself in the environment around her. This is seen by her desire to change sizes in order to enter the sacred garden, a place in which she can never seem to access no matter how hard she tries. This frustration connects to the maturation process that all children go through in order to establish their own sense of identity. After growing and shrinking her way into trouble with the local

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