Sensible Nonsense in Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland has been a beloved children’s classic for over a century and was originally told to entertain a close friend’s child, Alice Liddell; yet, it has now become one of the most analyzed children’s stories with its many paradoxes. While it could be acclaimed to feminism with its many intense female characters that often illustrate poor decisions or historical with its Victorian era time frame, the two that best fit are psychoanalytical and existentialism. Via these schools of literary criticism, one can make a complete picture of a young girl in an irrational adult world. Alice in Wonderland is set near a riverbank where her sister is reading a book in which Alice finds extremely tedious as she wonders â€Å"what is the use†¦show more content†¦As she falls she often notices various things on the walls as it takes her what seems like several hours before she reaches the bottom. When she does finally reach the bottom she comes to a room wit h several doors and a table with a glass proclaiming â€Å"drink me.† She chooses to do as she has been told and drinks the little potion. Soon she begins to shrink and notices through the keyhole of the smallest door a beautiful garden. However, having drank the liquid she can no longer reach the key. Soon she finds a small cookie which also has a demand for her â€Å"eat me.† Yet, again Alice does as she is told and soon grows too large to fit through the small door. In despair, Alice begins to cry in her frustration for this place she has found herself in. She soon come along many characters that do nothing but confuse her further when they ask her to recite well-known children’s lessons which Alice frequently muddles. The satirical effect is one that outlives the originals they ridicule and â€Å"emphasize the underlying senselessness of Wonderland and highlight Alice’s own sense of displacement.† (Novels for Students, p29) Eventually, Alice re aches the garden, though, it isn’t as it had seemed. Ruled by a fanatical Queen of Hearts, the characters in the garden lead a panicked life doing their best to avoid the infamous words â€Å"off with their heads!† As Alice meets the characters she quicklyShow MoreRelatedLewis Carrolls Life and Works Essay2491 Words   |  10 PagesLewis Carroll, born Charles Dodgson, was a writer, mathematician, photographer, and a man of religion. Lewis Carroll is a well known British writer throughout the world. As a child, Carroll entertained his brothers and sister as well as the children of his best friend when he was an adult. Lewis Carroll went through many challenges as he was matured, and even though he had to overcome them, his imagination only grew in strength and never waned until near his death. His work of art in the childRead More Probing Insanity in Alices Adventures in Wonderland Essay2333 Words   |  10 PagesProbing Insanity in Alices Adventures in Wonderland      Ã‚  Ã‚   Everybody dreams during his lifetime. It is a part of human nature that we experience almost everyday. Dreams can be lost memories, past events and even fantasies that we relive during our unconscious hours of the day. As we sleep at night, a new world shifts into focus that seems to erase the physical and moral reality of our own. It is an individuals free mind that is privately exposed, allowing a person to roam freely in his own