FF Tuesday October 4

Today, October 4, 2011 we discussed the story “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” which was written by Lewis Carroll. We began our class by looking at the life of Carroll and his relationship with the Liddell girls, especially Alice Liddell which inspired him to write “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” After this we were broken into groups to compare and contrast poems used by Carroll within his story. In Group One, they contrasted the differences between a poem about a crocodile and a poem about a bee. They summed the two poems up by saying that the crocodile was selfish, whereas the bee was selfless. Next, Group Two contrasted the two different versions of “Old Father William”, they said that the older poem was more respectful of the elderly, whereas the newer version used by Carroll was poking fun at the them. The Third Group looked at the poems “Speak Roughly” and “Speak Gently”; in describing these poems they told of how “Speak Roughly” represented the Duchesses excuse to beat her child in Carroll’s story. In contrast they said that “Speak Gently” was idyllic because it was “beautiful” in that it talked about loving others. The last group to go was Group Five; they discussed the two different versions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. In looking at the original they said it talked about a guiding light, whereas the Carroll version presented no guidance at all because this song was about a bat which only comes out after dark so you cannot see it. In summation we said that Carroll took these original poems, which emphasized Victorian morality and turned their morals upside down to emphasize the discord in Wonderland. Next we discussed “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” as a whole using the questions and summary provided by our discussion leaders Libby and Katie. One of the main ideas brought up in this discussion was that Alice struggles to find her identity and this struggle only seems to be made worse when she travels about Wonderland. We also said, Alice was an orphan in Wonderland because she had no guidance except from “mad people.” Next we debated about whether Wonderland was a utopian or dystopian society? All of us agreed that Wonderland could not be either because time never changes within it.So there is no “time” for it to become either a utopia or dystopia. We also discussed the fact that the rules in Wonderland are only what characters perceive to be rules. Finally, we discussed the role of madness in Carroll’s story. Within the story we said that madness represents the things we used to do as children.Examples of this were the tea parties we girls played as children. We also realized that Alice wass the mature one not the adults in the story. In fact Alice is a true adult figure but the other characters who feign adulthood are really just children in disguise. For class we were told to read “Peter Pan”. --- Class Discussion Questions Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland By: Tom Hudson & Caroline Cotto ●Sometimes it seems like Carroll is controlling Alice and other times it appears that he lets her act on her own accord. Does Lewis Carroll mean to portray Alice as a Passive main character or an active one? Both: As Alice changes size constantly struggles to understand who she is. ●Most Fairy Tales are used to either teach children a lesson or to entertain a particular audience. Which category does this story fall into? Both: As children may only recognize the entertaining aspect, it may be used my Carroll to comment on real life elements. Mainly children: Utilized as a coming of age story. ●This tale begins with a very monotone color and as the story progresses Carroll adds the influence of color. What could these colors suggest for specific characters? (Caterpillar & Queen) pg 82 ● Alice is known to be a predominantly curious character. Does Lewis Carroll mean to put a negative or positive spin on young girls having a curious nature? How does this relate to the other stories that we have read? ●Throughout the story Alice comes in contact with different kinds of food. How does the influence of food reflect Carroll’s opinion of women and their eating habits? Kinds of food; Sweets, temptations. Women don’t think before they eat, is used to solve their instant needs. Ex: food is never manageable enough to use for whatever reason Alice may need. Negative consequences for over indulgence\

●The characters in this story are predominantly male, with the exception of three adult feminine characters. What does Alice’s relationship with these women say about the topic of Girlhood Vs. Womanhood? ●This is the first story that we have read where illustrations have been included with the text. How does this accompaniment affect the story? ● Carroll’s obsession with Alice and other aspects of his life becomes more and more evident as the story progresses. What are some of the key examples that reveal these hidden fixations?