Alice_in_Wonderland

Character Descriptions Alice-Alice is the main character or protagonist throughout the story. She is a seven-year-old English girl with a big imagination and loves showing off her knowledge. Alice is polite, well raised and sociable, although she can sometimes makes the wrong remarks and upsets the creatures in Wonderland. She is easily put off by rudeness of others and is undoubtedly mature for a child of her age. Alice seems bright but, makes many mistakes throughout the story. However, she grows more confident as the book progresses. White Rabbit-The White Rabbit wears a waist-coat and carries a pocket watch. He seems to always be in a rush. The rabbit is a messenger and a herald at the Court of the King and Queen of Hearts. He is the reason Alice travels Wonderland. Caterpillar-The caterpillar is a wise, mysterious character; he gives Alice valuable advice about how to get by in Wonderland. He smokes a hookah and sits on a mushroom. He also gives Alice the two sides of the mushroom. One side of the mushroom makes her grow bigger and the other makes her small; which gives her control of her size in Wonderland. Cheshire Cat-The Cheshire cat is the cat of the Duchess. He is very courteous and helps Alice along her journey through Wonderland. The Cheshire cat is the only character in Wonderland who essentially listens to Alice. He teaches Alice the ‘rules’ of Wonderland and gives her insight in how things work down there. He constantly grins and can make any and all parts of his body disappear and reappear whenever he pleases. Hatter-The Hatter is madman who is constantly having a tea party with the March Hare and the Dormouse, ever since time has stopped working for him. He always seems to be talking about nothing in particular. Alice is temporarily their guest, although she believes it to be the stupidest tea party she has ever attended. Later in the story, the hatter is forced to be a witness at the trial. Queen of Hearts-The Queen of Hearts is a very brutal, outspoken, temperate character. She Hearts rules over Wonderland and its inhabitants. The Queen enjoys ordering executions and does it quite often although, everyone usually get pardoned in the end. She is a greatly feared by everyone in Wonderland. Although Alice initially thinks she is silly, she soon becomes frightened of her. However, in the end Alice is able to stand up to the Queen's temper and her threats. Plot Summary The story starts off with Alice sitting with her sister outdoors when she spies a White Rabbit with a pocket watch. Upon seeing the white rabbit she immediately becomes fascinated by it and follows the rabbit down a hole. She soon finds out it wasn’t a good idea to follow the rabbit. Alice falls for a long time and suddenly finds herself amongst a hallway full of doors. There is also a key on the table, which seems to unlock a tiny door; through this door, she finds a wonderful garden. Once she finds the garden she longs to get there, however the door leading to the garden is too small. Looking around, she soon finds a drink with a label reading “Drink Me” across the bottle, takes a sip only to find she is shrinking in size. After finding she is too small she spots a cake with a note reading “Eat Me”; Alice uses both, to try to become the right size to fit through the door leading to the garden but, she can’t seem to get a handle on things and is always either too large to get through the door or too small to reach the key. When she becomes tiny, she suddenly slips and falls into a pool of water. Alice soon realizes that this little sea she fell in is made up of tears she cried while she was a giant. Trying to get out of the sea, she swims to shore with animals she had just met. Most of these animals consist of mice and birds. However she somehow manages to offend everyone by talking about her cat Dinah’s ability to catch birds and mice and they abandon her. Once left alone, she travels through the woods and once again runs into the White Rabbit. The Rabbit however, mistakes her for his maid and sends her to fetch some things for him from his house. While in the White Rabbit's home, she drinks another potion and becomes too huge to get out through the door. She eventually finds another cake which she eats to become small again. As she continues traveling through woods again, she meets a caterpillar sitting on a mushroom. He helps Alice by giving her valuable advice, as well as the two sides of the mushroom he is sitting on, which can make Alice grow larger and smaller as she wishes. The first time she uses them, her body begins to stretch out tremendously. While she is stretched out, she manages to poke her head into some branches of a tree and meet a pigeon. The pigeon mistakes Alice for a serpent, even though Alice repeatedly tries to convince him she is only a little girl, the pigeon tells her to be off. Once Alice manages to get herself down to her normal proportions she continues walking through the woods. She soon finds a clearing and stumbles across a little house and immediately shrinks herself down to get inside. The house belongs to the Duchess. In the kitchen Alice finds the Duchess and the cook are arguing, and seem to be unconcerned about the safety of the baby that the Duchess is nursing. Feeling sorry for the child, Alice takes the baby with her, then the child suddenly turns into a pig and runs off into the woods. Next, Alice meets the Cheshire cat. The Cheshire cat helps her to find her way through the woods and warns her of the mad people of Wonderland. Alice soon finds herself in the March Hare's house, where she joins the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse to a Mad Tea Party. They have a continuous tea party ever since time stopped working for the Hatter; it has always been six o'clock. Once Alice decides to leave them she finds a tree with a door in it. As she peeps through the door, she sees the long hallway of doors from when she began her adventures through Wonderland. Determined, she decides to find a way to get to the garden that she saw earlier. As she walking through, the garden she meets the Queen of Hearts. In the garden there are three gardeners that have bodies shaped like playing cards. They are painting the roses on the rose bush red; if the Queen finds out that they had accidentally planted white roses by mistake she'll have them beheaded. As soon as the Queen arrives she immediately orders their execution however Alice helps to hide them in a large flowerpot. The Queen then invites Alice to accompany her in a game of croquet. However, Alice finds it to be a very difficult game in Wonderland. The balls and mallets are live animals and the Queens soldiers are the hoops. Suddenly the game is interrupted by the appearance of the Cheshire cat, whom the King of Hearts immediately dislikes. The Queen then takes Alice to meet the Gryphon. However as soon as she and the Gryphon were introduced he takes Alice to meet the Mock Turtle. The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle begin tell Alice strange stories about their school under the sea. The Mock Turtles begins sings a song about turtle soup. Afterwards the Gryphon takes Alice to watch the trial of the Knave of Hearts. The Knave of Hearts has been accused of stealing the Queen of Hearts tarts. Sadly all the evidence against him seems to be very bad. Alice is shocked by the ridiculous trial. During the trial she begins to grow larger again. Then she is called to the witness stand; at this time she has grown to be giant. Because she refuses to be intimidated by the court and the King of Hearts, the cards rise up to attack her. However, she suddenly wakes up to find that all her adventures in Wonderland have all been a dream. Central Themes Growth into Adulthood: Alice's adventures in Wonderland seem to mock the journey a child faces from childhood to adulthood. She runs into many situations throughout the story in which as must adapt to attain success. Alice progresses throughout the course of the book. In the beginning, she can barely maintain enough self-control to keep herself from bursting into tear. By the end, she becomes more confident and is able to stand her ground against the most of Wonderland’s logic. She then speaks out against the ridiculous dealings of the trial. Games/ Learning Rules: Each new encounter she faces is a game of some sort. There are rules to learn and follow as well as consequences for not learning or following the rules. Games are treated as a lifestyle in Wonderland. Such as the Caucus race to the croquet match with the Queen of Hearts. Every new encounter is like a game; there are bizarre and illogical rules that Alice has to master. Learning the rules symbolizes the adaptations to new situations that every child makes as they grow older. By mastering these new challenges, Alice grows wiser and is able to adapt as time goes on. Significant Quotes "'I wonder if I've been changed in the night' Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning' I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I'' Ah, that's the great puzzle!'" (Carroll 78) In this quote Alice is referring to the changes she has gone through in Wonderland such as the changes one takes in becoming an adult. She is very confused on who she is anymore and is unable to answer who is now. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here'" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don’t much care where…" said Alice. "Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat. "….so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added. "Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough." (Carroll 220) In the quote above Alice asks the Cheshire cat where she should go. The cat replies “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”. However Alice says she doesn’t care where as long as she gets somewhere. This is a metaphor on which path she should take when growing up. She doesn’t know where or what exactly are her plans on what she wants to do in life she just wants to get somewhere. The cat assures her it doesn’t matter what path she chooses as long as she is able to choose one. "Tut, tut, child!" said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." (Carroll 59) Here the Duchess reminds Alice everything she does is for a reason. She may not understand it as a child now but, she will once she grows older. Everything she does is for a reason and contains a moral whether she believes it or not. “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” (Carroll 110) This quote suggests you have to try to remain in the same place in life. If you want to go a little farther and reach your goals you need to have drive and work twice as hard to get where you want to go. “If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said, in a hoarse growl, 'the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.'" (Carroll 39.) The Duchess is referring to the problems a child faces such as rumors and bullying. She believes life wouldn’t be so hard if everyone kept to their self. This alone would make growing up much easier on kids these days. Recommendation I would recommend this book to young adults from 9th to 12th grade. It was an exciting read that I enjoyed very much. There were twists and turns on every page, it was hard to determine what would come next in this fantastical adventure. The book mainly focuses on the hardships a child faces as he or she is becoming a young adult. This is shown by a lot of slight references to problems in real life. This is exemplified by Alice not knowing how to answer the caterpillar when he asks “Who are you'” (Carroll 78). Also when the Cheshire cat tells her it does not matter what path she takes. If she at least tries she is bound to get somewhere in life. There are many other examples within the book; those mentioned are just a few. Within the story I see many metaphors and symbolism. The wacky challenges Alice faces are metaphors for the little problem a child faces growing up; this as well is symbolic.   Works Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. Surrey England: MacMillan, 1865.