Research ProjectLewis Carroll was born as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Two of Carroll’s most famous writings were Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found in it.
The theme of Carroll’s work was written to be humorous and amuse the readers there was never really any moral to the story. The theme to this novel particularly would be curiosity can lead you to trouble. The literary elements that contribute to the plot would be the characters and the setting.
The reason why Carroll’s work is still popular today is because of his use of humor and irony to have any reader like “ well duh” it sets the author’s tone to show you that Carroll is being sarcastic which is supposed to be funny. Lewis Carroll was born in a village in Daresbury, England on January 27, 1832. Carroll was born to a wealthy family to his father Charles Lutwidge who was a clergyman and a reverend. Carroll’s dad was married to his cousin Frances Lutwidge. Reverend Charles and wife Frances had 11 children including Carroll being the oldest. Carroll went to a famous boarding school for 4 years where he was a good scholar (Sledd 394- 395; Literary Lifelines 134-135; ” Carroll, Lewis” 73-75; “ Lewis Carroll.
“)Carroll went to Oxford University and in 1855 he joined the University as a teacher. In order for Carroll to keep his position at Oxford University he had to remain unmarried. In 1881 Carroll gave up on his lectureship at Oxford University to pursue his writing career. Also in 1861 Carroll became a deacon but decided that he did not want to take it any further in priesthood because he believed he lacked the qualities to be a priest.
Carroll and Alice had a wonderful relationship as you can see he wrote a book about her. Alice asked Carroll to write a story down for her which became known as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll befriended children when they entered adolescence.
Alice was 18 when he last photographed her. Carroll became an early pioneer of this new art form (photography). Carroll photographed kids in costumes eventually making studies on them. Carroll had noticeable portraits of Ellen Terry and Alfred Tennyson. Some found evidence of child abuse that could have been brought against him.
Carroll wrote humorous and mathematical works. Carrolls mathematical works appeared under his real name Dodgson and his books under Carroll. (Sledd 394- 395; Literary Lifelines 134-135; ” Carroll, Lewis” 73-75; “ Lewis Carroll.”)Carroll became interested in photography and writing by attending the theater frequently. In 1856 Carroll created the pseudonym “ Lewis Carroll” by translating his first and last name. Alice’s books are historical in children literature.
In 1856 Edmund Yates, editor of monthly train launched the Lewis Carroll pseudonym that the author had devised. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was so popular Carroll made a sequel “ Through the looking glass and what Alice found in there.” Carroll’s story “ The Hunting of the Snark” displays ability in the genre of literary nonsense. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland fell into novelist Henry Kingsley who urged Carroll to publish it.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was released in 1856. Through the looking glass and what Alice found in there was published in 1871. Carroll died from a case of influenza which led to pneumonia which eventually lead to his death on January 14th in 1898. (Sledd 394- 395; Literary Lifelines 134-135; ” Carroll, Lewis” 73-75; “ Lewis Carroll.”)Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fictional and fantasy genre.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is told in third person limited, the story is limited to Alice but the novel changes to first person throughout the story. The main setting of this novel is Wonderland. The setting stays the same throughout the story. The protagonist of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is Alice and the antagonist being Wonderland.
The major conflict of the story is Alice vs. Wonderland. Alice is having an external conflict with Wonderland because it is confusing and very different for her where she sees and talks to animals. Alice is caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes. Alice is scared, sad, and confused. Alice is sad because she misses being her normal size and she keeps shrinking and growing. Alice is scared because she is so tiny at times that she thinks bigger things are going to eat her.
Lastly, Alice is confused because she is in this deranged place where everyone thinks she is a serpent and there is not anyone who looks like her. What makes Alice a dynamic character in the story is the way she adapts to Wonderland and makes friends when at first she was kind of shy and more so a push over. But towards the end of the story Alice starts getting more feisty and stands up for herself to the King and Queen. Not only did Alice change physically from growing and shrinking all the time depending on what she ate or drank but she also changed mentally and emotionally.
Towards the end of the book Alice also learned how to handle her emotion Alice was crying pools of tears and she was just so sad until she became comfortable. Socially Alice was just out of place and she felt and knew that she did not belong there. The antagonist of this novel is Wonderland. Wonderland is this mysterious place where animals talk and walk around and also have decks of cards as the King and Queen of hearts. Alice is stuck in a hall with locked doors and can not seem to get in the rooms which is deranged why would all the doors of a hallway be locked. Wonderland was unrealistic because when Alice first entered into Wonderland everyone was startled by her especially the Mouse even though they all got sick of her they still tolerated her.
The mouse would sit and have conversations with her with her on the bay. I would say Wonderland was dynamic because once they got to understand her they were more open with her and including Alice in things. Alice was sitting on the bank with her and was reading then she seen a Rabbit in a waistcoat. The Rabbit pulls out a pocket watch and went into a rabbit hole. Alice follows the Rabbit down the hole and falls through. Alice found a small door that she could open with a key that she found on the table. She peeked through the door and sees a garden. Alice began to cry when she can’t fit through the door.
Alice found a bottle marked “ DRINK ME” and you guessed it she drunk it, and Alice shrank down to the size she needed to be to get into the door but couldn’t get into the door because she left the key on the table. Alice found a cake marked “ EAT ME” and the cake made her grow into a giant. Alice cried again and made a pool of tears. When she was was crying Alice shrunk and was in her tears and she met a Mouse that she spoke to in French to and the Mouse was frightened.
The Mouse helped Alice to the bay. When Alice and the Mouse got to the bay there were a lot of animals. The mouse decided that they should have a Caucus Race (When you run around a track until your dry.) Alice scared the animals away talking about cats and dogs she apologizes and the mouse came to tell Alice why animals don’t like cats and dogs. Alice finally seen the Rabbit again and he thought she was a servant.
When Alice went into the Rabbit’s house running errands she found a bottle near the looking-glass that said “ DRINK ME” and she did and grew bigger than the room. When the Rabbit came back and yelled at her. Alice tried to snatch them up.
The Rabbit started throwing rocks at her through the window, which that turned into cakes when they landed on Alice. Alice ate the cake and it made her shrink. After Alice could fit through the door she ran away. When she was running away Alice seen a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar told Alice that the left side of the mushroom would make her grow and the right side would make her shrink. Alice tasted a piece of the mushroom and her neck grew.
A pigeon sees Alice and beated her violently because the Pigeon thought she was a serpent that wanted their eggs. Alice ate the other piece of the mushroom and she shrunk to her regular height When Alice was walking she seen the house of Dutches. Before she went in she heard the frog-man say “ For the Dutchess. An invitation to play croquet with the Queen.” When her nosey self walked in she walked into a large kitchen and it was smokey. Dutches was sitting on a stool in the middle of a room nursing a baby and the cook was leaning over the fire stirring a big pot of soup.
Alice thought it had to much pepper in it because she kept sneezing. When the duchess left for the croquet game. They tell Alice to hold the baby which turns out to be a pig. When Alice realizes it’s a pig she puts in down and lets it go into the woods. The cat gave directions to the March Hare’s house then vanishes.
When Alice went to the March Hare’s house she seen the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse and the Hare drinking tea. Alice takes upon herself to join and they keep getting upset trying to tell a story and Alice keeps interrupting. When the Hatter told Alice she shouldn’t talk she gets up and leaves upset. When Alice was walking she found a tree with a door on the right side. Again, Alice nosey self went in and found the same hallway from before when she left the key on the table nevertheless she grabs the keys eats a piece of the mushroom and she is finally able to get into the door. When Alice got in the door there was a large rose bush near the entrance.
Alice kept the Queen from taking their heads off so she followed and joined the croquet game which was very unusual. The croquet ground was ridges and furrows, the balls were live hedgehogs the mallets were live flamingos and soldiers doubled up to make arches. When the queen realized how hard the game was she just started screaming “ off which her head and off with his head.
“ The Duchess run into Alice and is super nice to her. The Queen of Hearts gets the Duchess away and tells Alice that she has to visit the Mock Turtle to hear the story. The Gryphon takes her to meet the Mock Turtle. She told him the crazy stuff that’s been happening to her. Alice hears that there is about to be a trial and goes to see what’s going on. The King and Queen was sitting on their throne trying to figure out who stole the tarts. The Knave of Hearts was in trail and so was Alice, the cook, and the Mad Hatter.
When the Rabbit calls Alice up she was about the size of the room knocking everything down when she went to the stand up. The Rabbit finds a letter and reads it out loud. When Alice hears it she thinks it is bull crap so she stands up and says something and the the Queen wants Alice executed when she got up because she was so big she knocked down the cards. Alice woke up to her sister brushing leaves off her hair while laying on her on the bank. Alice’s sister tells her that she’s been asleep for a while and Alice told her about this deranged dream she just had. The importance of the title of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is it gives you a hint of what the book is going to be about and a character.
The two elements are irony and symbolism. Two quotes that are an example of irony is the title “ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “ There ought to be a book written about me” (Carroll 22). Two additional quotes that show symbolism arre “ She found a very small cake labeled “ EAT ME” (Carroll 9) and “ There was no label this time just the words “ DRINK ME” (Carroll 22). The use of irony enhances the plot of the story because it gives off a humorous tone.
Lastly symbolism enhances the plot of the story because it gives the reader the suspense that everytime Alice eats or drinks something she is either going to grow or shrink. The theme of Alice’s Adventures on Wonderland is curiosity can lead you to trouble. Carroll uses conflict to enhance the theme by her growing and shrinking Alice has to undergo many different obstacles. Carroll uses methods such as characters and the setting to contribute to the theme also.
He uses the characters because every where she wandered she ran into someone new to help her with her journey of her being big or small. Lastly, Carroll used the setting to contribute to the theme because being in wonderland makes the story make sense and how she wants to get into that garden. In conclusion, Lewis Carroll also known as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote the story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and she sequel Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found in it. The theme of the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is that is curiosity can lead you to trouble. Carroll used conflict as his literary element to enhance the theme by her growing and shrinking Alice has to undergo many different obstacles of changes.
Now off with their heads!