Alice in Wonderland

First impressions:

Of course I was already familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland. The reason I decided to read it was because I was very curious how everything would be described. It is a very fantastical story and reading it now makes me realize how creative somebody must be to write this in such a matter that you can picture every scene and every creature. The writer was very imaginative to come up with all this 'nonsense'. Nothing in the whole story is logical or makes sense, but still you understand. The whole setting was described very detailed and the book also had images which portrayed some of the animals that were a bit more difficult to picture. When reading, I discovered that I was dreading certain parts that were coming up, because they made me feel uneasy when I was younger (the part with the queen of hearts for example). Reading it now, I still do not like the feeling that is created. But maybe that just means that it is very well written, because Alice feels uncomfortable as well.

Insights after class discussion:

At the time Alice was written, children were seen as innocent and adventures. The story of Alice talks about a journey with a return, and interwoven in this is the theme of growing up. Most children are eager to learn and that is not any different with Alice. She is very curious about what the rabbit was going to do and followed it. Her journey down the rabbit hole is one big adventure. The lack of parents in the story can entail freedom, because now she can do what she wants.

Looking at her behavior, you can see Alice is still a young girl. She thinks everybody is rude to her, while her own behavior is quite impolite as well (e.g. the way she reacts to the Duchess or her behavior at the tea party). As said before, she is really curious and does not think about the consequences of what she is doing or saying. When she has to fetch the rabbits gloves for example, she sees cakes that say ‘eat me’. She just eats them, without thinking of what might happen and she grows so much that she gets stuck in the rabbit’s house. Although there are no parents in the story, you can also see that she is still in need of guidance, she asks the caterpillar what she should do and the Cheshire cat which direction she should go. She is a bit afraid of the unknown, of growing up. Throughout the story, you can see her growing up, at the end of the dream she even sticks up for the Knave in front of everybody in the courtroom.

These features are characteristic for classic literature. They also came back in the other books we discussed in class (Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz and the secret Garden). There was not any parental guidance in any of the books, which meant that the characters had to discover and learn new things by their own experience. In all the books they were on a fantastical journey with lots of adventures, in which they kind of feared growing up, but in the end, they all did grow up and learned a lot from their journey.

Theory:

According to Donald Maass a novel for children should have at least a few items in order to make it a good novel. It should have an intriguing character, a meaningful plot, a captivating setting, an appropriate theme and an accessible style (complete reader, 2013, p. 21). Alice has these features.
Alice, is somebody young children can relate to: they are curious, they want to discover things and go on adventures and they grow up. They can probably relate to the way she reacts in certain situations. Besides Alice there are a lot of very interesting and weird characters in the book, who will certainly capture their attention.

Although the story as a lot of illogical items in it, the whole plot does make sense, it has a clear line of action. Alice falls down the rabbit hole, meets a lot of different characters and sees a lot of different places there. During her adventures her goal becomes finding the beautiful garden again and getting back to her normal size.

The setting certainly is captivating. Everything and everybody is portrayed in great detail so you can totally immerge in this story. You start to understand this world, even though there is nothing understandable about it.

The theme is mostly interwoven in the character of Alice, it is all about growing up and being afraid to grow up (Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site). Besides the changing of her body, it includes trying to solve problems which actually cannot be solved (e.g. how to win the game of croquet with the queen). Children can see they are not the only ones who struggle, and they might feel supported by this.
The style is accessible for children. Even though it was written in 1865 it is not difficult to read and everything is described clearly. 

Apart from just enjoying a good story, enriching their vocabulary and developing empathy, children who read this book will automatically enhance their cognitive mechanisms, which are used when learning unconsciously. They are challenged to create logic in an irrational world and through this they will improve in finding patterns and structures (the Guardian, 2009), which is needed in so many aspects of studies and life.

Age group:

Alice is suitable for almost any age. Young children will enjoy it when it is read to them, because of all the funny things that happen. Children who can read comprehensively themselves will enjoy these images and adventures, so from the age of eight and above. 

Children with the age from 6-11 have to deal with social expectations and teenagers (12-18, adolescence) are developing a sense of self and personal identity (About.com, n.d.). Both things happen in this book, Alice is dealing with different points of view than her own and has to try to cope with this. Furthermore it is obvious that she is very aware of herself, of her own body and identity. Her body shrinks and grows out of proportion and she feels really uncomfortable about that. These different features will be recognizable for children of various age groups.

Besides that, it also has a crossover factor to it. Hopefully, most young children will not understand the reference to hookahs and mushrooms, neither will they grasp that the book is about a little girl growing up. In this respect the book is very suitable for adults as well.

Other interesting information: 

Besides the analysis above, there is so much to find on this book! For instance, there are many different theories about other themes in the book: Dodsgon ridiculing other mathematicians (e.g. the riddles at the tea party), his (platonic) love for little girls (the beautiful garden could be the garden of Eden) and that there is much more to do about the drugs than just the Caterpillar on the mushroom (Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site, n.d.). I find this very interesting and it makes you think of how indeed he meant everything. Was he trying to make the point that the new mathematical theories were wrong, or just playing with numbers? (QI website, n.d.). Was he a perverted man, or was he really just writing a nice story for the Liddell girls? On this website there is so much to read and to discover on the story and besides that you can even order attributes for your own mad tea party. Go mad!
 

Sources: 

About.com. Psychology. Retrieved 20^th of September from http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm

Complete Reader (2013, p. 21), Youth Literature.

Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site. Resources. Retrieved 14^th of September from http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/explain/alice841.html

The Guardian. Culture – Books. Retrieved 20^th of September from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/17/kafka-enhances-cognitive-functions-study

QI.com. Infocloud. Retrieved 14^th of September from http://qi.com/infocloud/alice-in-wonderland