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brief Alice article

I thought that Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was in many ways different from previous novels we read this semester from the Victorian time. Although it was just the first two chapters the tone incorporated was much more comical and psychological. With this being said, it changes the ideas incorporated in the text. It moved from education and class in Jane Eyre, and economy and social privilege in Dickin's Christmas Carol that it almost could have been mistaken to be from a different time. But when looked at in a serious way it also could be interpreted that times were so hard that fantasy and the continuing occurrence of unrealistic things were easier to take in than reality, despite how bizarre they might be. The idea that the Rabbit is panicking while looking at his pocket watch, and says, "O dear! O dear!" implies in an unrealistic way that there are problems and so little time. Alice's change of size....with very little control if she will get bigger or smaller can imply her importance or unimportance in society. And the idea that the door was only fit for someone the size of a mouse gives the idea that people might have grown too big in the world for their own good, and because of that they can not reach some of the most precious things in the world anymore. The idea of Alice falling through the well for an indeterminable amount of time implies the illumination of time, and the focus elsewhere. These are my thoughts on Alice in Wonderland, sorry I couldn't be in class this week, I have been sick with fevers. (Jaclyn Petrow)

Carroll Class Summary