I just finished reading “Alice in Wonderland,” and my initial feelings are: a sense of satisfaction, as we are all like Alice; a feeling of hope, as I would like to see in myself the childlike heart Alice's sister describes in the closing paragraphs; and pleasure that this seemingly confused tale would have a tidy ending, that Alice would continue in her life just as before.
Alice is selfish and self-centered, yet generous and inquisitive—as often children are. But do we ever really grow out of that? As Alice journeyed through Wonderland, she reacted to the challenges and drama with tremendous self-assurance, though fraught with fallacy and flat-out untruths. Far from being restricted to just children, most of us can admit to going through life in as self-centered a fashion as our Alice. But like Alice, we generally mean no harm, but only do what is necessary to reach our own gardens.
Also, this was wacky. Odd.
Who was the Cheshire Cat, by the way? What did he symbolize, if anything? This leads to my greater question: As the author created “Alice” to entertain a child of the same name, is it likely that he really had any deeper intentions or message?
4 comments:
I think you're right about Alice and I think you've answered your own question. Even though Alice was created on the fly, she still has something to teach children. Carroll is attempting to show, even to the little girls that he told the story to, that the innocence of childhood is important and must be held on to throughout our lives.
I don't know about the Cheshire, though. He has always driven me crazy.
The Chesire Cat was to represent the keeper of the house in realtionship to mice who eat up the fruit of the human's toils. And percecptive of what was right. Make sense? I must admit I cheated. http://bookstove.com/book-talk/timeless-political-allegory-in-alice-in-wonderland-by-lewis-carrol-the-symbolism-of-the-caucus-race/
Oops. Emily Latella moment there.That was Dinah. But wouldn't both cats play the same role?
Ahh, thank you. And yes, I can see Dinah and Cheshire having similar, if not the same, roles. Though, Dinah is never seen, only feared by those she's wronged. Cheshire, though not constantly apparent, does pop in now and again; though not feared by others, Cheshire certainly doesn't fear them. Interesting.
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