So

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Sowhats up with Wonderland?
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Lewis Carrolls

• Alice In Wonderland

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she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed
before, and behind it was a little door about
fifteen inches high she tried the little golden
key in the lock, and to her great delight, it
fitted! - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Lewis Carroll (1832 1898)
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Lewis Carroll is the pen name of
Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a minister
and math professor at Oxford University.
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A story for Children.or NOT?

• According to popular accounts, one afternoon in
  1862, Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) accompanied the
  Liddell family on a boat ride. When Alice Liddell
  asked him for a story, he began one - not just a
  childrens story, but a tale told on multiple
  levels.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

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SATIRE

• Approaches serious issues, political problems or
  social customs
• Draws attention to the situation, using humor,
  irony exaggeration
• Often uses imaginative characters
• Verbally caricatures prominent public figures
• Appears nonsensical, but has serious undertones

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Caricature - a visual form of Satire

• This is a caricature of Lewis Carroll
  exaggerating his most prominent features.
• Satire is a verbal form that accomplishes
  essentially the same effect.
• Lewis Carroll was a master of satire.

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Humpty-Dumpty

• Nursery Rhymes are another form of satire.
  Humpty Dumpty, for instance, was written about
  a cannon used during the English Civil War, in
  the 1600s. When the cannon fell off the wall,
  neither infantry nor cavalry could repair it.
• In Through the Looking Glass, Carrolls sequel
  to Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty banters
  about language and labelsrepresenting propriety
  and class segregation in Victorian society.
• Some say this character represents the Oxford
  Don, a high-ranking University official.

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Through an innocuous fantasy tale, Carroll
satirizes

• Insanity
• British Empire
• Oxford professors
• Noted societal figures
• Class division repression
• Philosophy popularly-held beliefs
• Victorian customs and etiquette
• Aggression and colonization
• Public education system
• The justice system
• Social snobs
• Drugs

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Imperialism

• During Queen Victorias reign, Britain
  controlled 25 of the world. (areas in pink)
• This created unique issues and superior
  attitudes among the British.
• Many critics believe that the aggressive
  characters in Alice in Wonderland satirize the
  aggression of Imperialism and the inequities of
  the class structure in Victorian Society.

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The Gryphon
The Red Queen
The Duchess And her baby
The Mock Turtle
The Mad Hatter
Alice
The Dormouse
The White Rabbit
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Im late -Im late!
Possibly another Caricature of Liddell?
Caricature of Liddell

• Dodgsons supervisor at Oxford was Dean Henry
  Liddell, the head of the college of Mathematics.
  Liddell had a habit of being late for classes and
  meetingsand hurried everywhere. The white rabbit
  is probably modeled after him.
• Liddell also had three young daughters, whom
  Dodgson often entertained with stories Lorina,
  Edith, and of courseAlice!

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God Save the Queen

• Victoria was a popular queen, but also
  formidable, eccentric and a bit stuffy. While her
  shrewdness was politically effective, she was
  easy to caricatureand some say she was the model
  for the Red Queen.
• Others say the Red Queen is based on the
  Liddells governess.

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The Caucus Race

• The character of the Dodo, an extinct bird, is
  considered to be Dodgsons self-deprecating
  satire of himself, making fun of his own habit of
  stuttering. Notice that the bird has hands under
  his wings.
• The caucus race was a reference to political
  party organization (or lack of it) during a
  primary election. The story includes a caucus
  race where there is a lot of running around in
  circles and there is no clear winner.
• Sound familiar?

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Social Conventions

• Afternoon Tea was a social MUST for upper class
  British citizens it was synonymous with polite
  society and proper civilized behavior.
• Ironically, the snobbery that became associated
  with tea was anything but polite or civilized.
  One could say and do perfectly beastly things at
  teaas long as ones manners were intact.
• Carroll draws attention to the hypocrisy of tea
  parties by filling his table with beastly
  characters who are quite madincluding the
  March Hare and the Mad Hatter.

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A Mad Tea Party

• While fanciful characters and their antics were
  entertaining to children, they were more
  entertaining to the adults who recognized them.
  The Mad Hatter, for instance, was based on a
  local inventor named Theophilus Carter, who was
  known for his formal attire and unsuccessful
  inventions.
• Some say the name is a spin on mad as an
  adder, referring to the snake
• It is also believed to be a commentary on hat
  makers use of silver nitrite for stretching the
  felt used in mens top hats. The substance
  contained mercury, and was known to cause blood
  poisoning and delusional behavior.

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The Dormouse

• Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a Pre-Raphaelite painter
  and a good friend of Dodgsons, had a pet wombat
  who often slept on his table. Dormouse means
  dormant or sleeping mouse.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Dormouse does not
  say feed your headas indicated in the
  Jefferson Starship song, Go Ask Alice.
• When the dormouse falls asleep at tea, the Mad
  Hatter the March Hare stuff him into the
  teapot. Some say this is a commentary on the
  repression of the lower classes.

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Verbal Visual Wit

• Much of the humor in Alice is derived from
  foolish social conventions and customs. The Mock
  Turtle and the Gryphon mock the false
  appearances and false manners in Victorian
  Society.
• Mock Turtle Soup was considered a culinary
  delicacy, made with calfs parts. The Mock
  Turtle has a calfs head and feet. He refers to
  his former teacher as a tortoise, because, as he
  says he taught us.
• Some say the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle
  represent Dodgsons two younger brothers.

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The Game Motif

• Games require a set of rules, but Wonderland
  seems to have none. This is especially
  frustrating for Alice.
• Carroll uses chess, cards, and croquet to show
  levels of nonsense in society.
• Games are often used in literature as a metaphor
  for trying to learn how the world works.
• The queen insists on a game of croquet using
  flamingoes as mallets and hedgehogs
• This is probably a comment on the exploitation of
  the lower classes for the amusement of the
  aristocracy

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The Walrus and the Carpenter

• The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of
  many thingsof sails and ships and sealing wax,
  of cabbages and kingsand why the sea is boiling
  hot, and whether pigs have wings.
• Some critics believe the debate between these two
  represents Eastern vs. Western philosophies.
• Some suggest that the walrus is Buddha and that
  the carpenter is Jesus.and that the common
  people are the oysters, to be converted to one or
  the other at the convenience of a superior
  class.

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Opium and altered states

• There are several references in Alice to
  mind-altering substances, including
• the drink me label on a bottle which makes
  Alice shrink
• a piece of cake that makes Alice grow huge
• a mushroom that also changes her size
• a caterpillar who smokes a hookah
• and a baby that turns into a pig.
• Each of these instances may be indicate the
  influence of opium, which was legal and commonly
  used in many households. Its health effects had
  not been publicized.
• Dodgson used laudanum (an opium-based medication)
  

Drink Me
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A Little Bill

• Benjamin Disraeli was Queen Victorias prime
  minister in the 1860s, the founder of the modern
  conservative party and a supporter of the Reform
  Bill.
• In the book, the White Rabbit sends in a bill
  during a trial, carried by a lizard character.
  Bill the Lizard is believed to represent
  Disraeli and his reform bill.
• Disraeli was a prominent social and literary
  figure, and Dodgson (Carroll) admired his wit.
• The trial of the Knave of Hearts also satirizes
  the British court system.

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Curioser and Curioser

• The Cheshire cats grin is always visible, even
  when the cat itself disappears. The cat probably
  represents the falseness of appearances and the
  insincerity sometimes required in society.
• Carroll may have incorporated this character
  based on a cat face carved on a church, or
• The Cheshire cheese company, who used a cheese
  makers mold resembling a smiling cat.
• Alices conversations with the cat establish
  that Wonderland is a place where madness is
  rampant.

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Social Theory

• Many aristocrats believed that the British, as a
  superior and dominant society, had the right and
  the responsibility to treat the inferior
  inhabitants of their conquered territories as if
  they were children incapable of taking care of
  themselves, by Western standards.
• When Alice, a child, takes the Duchess baby, it
  turns into a pig...not a child at all.
• This may suggest Carrolls belief that the
  conquered cultures were quite capable of taking
  care of themselves, with or without the
  interference of the Empire.

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Illustrators

• The first edition of Alice was published in
  1865, with black white illustrations by
  political cartoonist John Tenniel. (left)
• Later editions included illustrations by Arthur
  Rackham, a popular illustrator of childrens
  fantasy books of the late Victorian era (right)

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British poet and literary critic W.H. Auden
believed that the book set out to show the
struggle of children to understand an adult world
where rules and established order often made no
sense. He also implies that Alice is the only
character in the book who has any self-control or
follows her own path. At the end of the book,
the White Knight bids farewell to Alice. This may
symbolize Dodgsons acknowledgement that Alice
has grown up, as a result of her experiences.
British poet and literary critic W.H. Auden later
suggested that Carrolls book shows the struggle
of adolescents to adjust to an adult world where
rules and established order often seemed
senseless. He also implies that Alice is the only
character in the book who has any self-control or
follows her own conscience. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? At the end of the book, the White Knight bids
farewell to Alice. This may symbolize Dodgsons
acknowledgement that Alice has grown up, as a
result of her experiences.
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Great Information Sources for Alice in Wonderland
The Victorian Web http//www.victorianweb.org/a
uthors/carroll/index.html Carroll
Forums http//thecarrollforum.proboards46.com The
Lewis Carroll Homepage http//www.lewiscarroll.or
g/carroll.html Lennys Alice in Wonderland
Site http//www.alice-in-wonderland.net Looking
for Lewis Carroll http//www.lewiscarroll.cc