Alice and Drugs

So I spend a few hours looking at Alice on the internet.  The most difficult part of this is the fact that very few sites acknowledge the fact that Carroll wrote the book in Victorian England and not in 60's America.  One of the most infuriating things that I hear when I bring up Alice is that it is an "LSD trip."  Ugh!  It's one of those moments where I wish the violence of cartoons was real and I could wop someone with a sledgehammer.  Anyone who has watched "Hooked: A History of Illegal Drugs" on the History Channel (and come on, who hasn't?)  knows that LSD is a laboratory created drug made by psychiatrists in the 1930's, long after Carroll's boat ride with the Liddell sisters.  If Carroll was using any drugs, and it looks like he was not, it would be the drug du jur: opium.

Along the lines of ascribing drug references where they don't exist, check this out.  While it is likely that some of the differences between Alice the book and Alice the Disney movie can be connected with the drug culture of the time, there are few drug references in the original text.  I do think that anyone who ignores the hookah smoking caterpillar as a not-so-subtle connection to opium is delusional.  Although, I don't think that it is supposed to be a pro-drug reference, just a connection that reflects the social usage of the drug during the time period.  For these two reasons, I want to blow up the website previously linked.

The website also describes the fading in and out of the Cheshire Cat as a representation of the fading in and out of Alice's conciousness while she is "tripping".  Now we're pushing it.

It is important to remember that Alice is a FAIRY TALE!!!  She is traveling through a wonderland and experiencing things that are characatures of real people or experiences.  These stories focus on the belief in the unknown, and trusting in that unknown to resolve all problems.  Alice, though she does cry at the beginning, sets aside her fear and enjoys the journey into Wonderland.  This belief is another way to describe a concept that we tend to forget as adults:  faith.  This lack of faith, or even a clear understanding of how it works, causes us to be jaded and look for other explanations for the story.

This is the cause for the re-tellings of several wonderful fairy tales, like the sexually experimental Little Red Riding Hood, and destroys the true innocence of these tales.  This drug obsessed reading of Alice is just another example of this and distracts from the true meaning of the story:  to explore the unknown with an open heart and to remember that innocence throughout our lives.

Another quick thought:  have either of you read the book Jurassic Park?  When teaching the book in Onalaska, I read some analysis that compared it to Alice and there is quite the connection when you start to break it down.  Just a thought for another discussion point but I wanted to see how close we were to the same page.

Alice!

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?

Looking Forward

This is a nice opportunity for me to start reading the classics. I can't wait to get my copy and get started. This site looks so nice, too. This is going to be great!

A New Year, A New Book

It's January and this is Wisconsin.  It is impossible to imagine a drearier time.  "It's always winter but never Christmas."  So, we have chosen a new book and are going to revive this dead blog.  A lot has changed in the past two years but our friendship has not, nor our love of books.  In light of this, we have chosen a classic to begin anew.  We will be starting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 

I'd like to propose an open mind to this tale.  As is often the case with classics, we are already familiar with certain elements of the story.  We know the character and the basic line of her story, but as we know all too well, there is much to be seen when reading something again.  Remember The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter:  "Ahh, but have you ever read a book twice? Books change each time you read them."  Let's try to approach Alice with as much of a clear mind as is possible.  We never know what she will show us, but we can certainly change it by allowing our prejudice to blind us.

This extends to criticism.  I've been trying, especially since I'm focused on classics lately, to avoid reading any criticism of a novel before reading the novel itself.  Alice is particularly vulnerable to criticism for several reasons, including the recent movie, the overwhelming popular representations of her in our culture and the somewhat scandalous nature of Lewis Carroll's life.  After we finish the book though, I would be interested in comparing our reactions with those of others in the literary community.  Symbols in particular tend to surprise me when I look at criticism and I imagine that there is quite a bit written about what Alice means.

With that said, here we go!  I'll see you at the bottom of the rabbit's hole.....