ELA Alice in Wonderland Essay

The classic Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll depicts a young girls’ dreams as she travels through Wonderland in her dreams. Alice has issues adjusting to a new state of society and lifestyle. Lewis Carroll portrays the idea of childhood innocence and life as a meaningless puzzle. Lewis Carroll depicts symbolism and changes in childhood by using objects to show the bigger picture and deeper meaning. Alice is faced with a series of problems that puts her knowledge to the test. She is forced to use her instinct when she falls down a rabbit hole and “lands” into the Victorian Era. An era of class in Britain from 1837-1901. Lewis Carroll portrays the idea of childhood innocence and struggles, and life as a meaningless puzzle.

Throughout the story, Alice is faced with a series of challenges that appear to be unsolvable. These series of  events replicate the struggles and challenges of a crisis in the life of a child. For example, The Caucus Race and The Mad Hatter’s Riddle are events in Wonderland that test the limits of Alice’s abilities and knowledge. The Caucus Race was a land race with all the animals in Wonderland that seemed endless to Alice. Constantly racing through the course that the Dodo set. The race was only a half an hour. The Mad Hatter’s Riddle “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” was proposed to her at the dinner table, this riddle caused an argument and a huge debate over semantics. This shows unorder in Wonderland.

In the beginning of the story, Alice goes through a variety of physical challenges. After she falls down the rabbit hole, she is in a small room, unproportional to her body. On a small table there is a bottle labeled ‘DRINK ME’. When she drinks it, Alice shrinks to a size proportional to the room. After she shrunk, Alice realized she had left a key to a door on top of a table. She then spots a cake saying ‘EAT ME’ hoping it will bring her to normal size, but it only makes her grow a few inches taller. Leaving the key on the table forces her to cry uncontrollably to the point where she forms a pool of tears. This leads us to believe and symbolizes that as a young girl, Alice or girls around her age, are lead to be struggling with physical appearance. While girls go through these times, it is speculated that they have emotional problems as well, hence the pool of tears in chapter two.

In conclusion, Lewis Carroll depicts ideas of childhood innocence and life as a meaningless puzzle by symbolizing things we are able to perceive as something else. Many authors use symbolism throughout their stories to show two ideas using one object. Symbolism is widely used throughout Alice in Wonderland, although only some were covered, the book has plenty more to offer.