The Victorians 1832-1901: Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland

The Main Theme is that of growing up. 


     Alice the protagonist must find her way through this strange place called "Wonderland".She is a 7 year old girl who while sitting with her sisters falls asleep and enters this world by falling down a rabbit hole. She follows the White Rabbit who leads her on many adventures throughout the book
     Lewis Carroll's book "Alice in Wonderland' is full of fanciful characters, each one adding a bit of humor and dimension to the story.When Alice falls down the rabbit hole she encounters various talking animals and an unusual Queen.Alice is the protagonist of the story,a little girl who goes on the adventure in Wonderland. The first character she meets is The White Rabbit, he reappears throughout the book and acts as Alice's guide, which is amusing because he doesn't seem to know even what time it is.
     The Caterpillar is like a very wise man who provides Alice with a way to control her growth.The Caterpillar who is not very friendly, is helpful by advising her to eat from the mushroom if she wants to change her size. The Caterpillar teaches Alice how to cope with the difficult situations she encounters in Wonderland. He shows her how to change size by eating the mushroom and thereby to adapt to her environment when needed. He is smoking a hookah on top of a mushroom. This character many felt was representing drug use with the hookah and the magic mushrooms which make her change size. This was one of the reasons cited for banning the book.
      Another character is a smiling cat who can disappear and reappear at will  named the Cheshire Cat. It is funny because sometime the cat leaves but his huge grin remains behind.The Cheshire Cat represents the time between adulthood and childhood.
   He reveals to Alice how although you follow the rules the rules can change after you have become comfortable with them . She then moves on and comes in contact with the Hatter and The Queen of hearts. They play an important part as antagonists in the story The Hatter is the leader of a perpetual tea time. The Queen of Hearts is the mad tyrantwho rules Wonderland. The Queen represents an old person who has become quite mad. As Alice grows stronger and uses reason more, the Queen is becoming less reasonable and mad. 
     The book is very complex and has a lot of symbolism conveyed through the characters and setting. He intricately weaves a story using these characters and many more lessor ones to tell his story. His goal was to teach a lesson to children about growing up in an entertaining way.Each character teaches Alice something about life and growing up in a dangerous world.