Biography of the author:

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 Biography of the author:

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ('Lewis Carroll')

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen
name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman,
and photographer.

His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the
Looking-Glass as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky".

His facility at word play, logic, and fantasy has delighted audiences ranging from children to
the literary elite. But beyond this, his work has become embedded deeply in modern culture.
He has directly influenced many artists.

There are societies dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the
investigation of his life in many parts of the world including North America, Japan, the
United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

His biography has recently come under much question as a result of what has come to be
termed the "Carroll Myth."

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CONTEXT IN WICH THE
AUTHOR WROTE THIS
BOOK

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According to his own account, Lewis Carroll composed the story that
became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on a sunny July day in 1862.

He created it for the Liddell sisters while on a boating trip up the

Thames River. Although the book and its sequel Through the Looking-
Glass and What Alice Found There have since become timeless classics,
they nonetheless clearly reflect their Victorian origins in their language,
their classconsciousness, and their attitude toward children. The
Victorian age, named for the long rule of Britain's Queen Victoria,
spanned the years 1837 to 1901.

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SUMMARY

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Plot summary

A girl named Alice is bored while on a picnic with her older sister. She finds interest in a
passing white rabbit, dressed in a waistcoat and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too
late!", whom she follows down a rabbit-hole, she finds herself floating down into a dream
underworld. As she attempts to follow the rabbit, she has several adventures. She grows to
gigantic size and shrinks to a fraction of her original height; meets a group of small animals
stranded in a sea of her own previously shed tears; gets trapped in the rabbit's house when she
enlarges herself again; meets a baby which changes into a pig, and a cat which disappears
leaving only his smile behind; goes to a never-ending tea party; goes to the shore and meets a
Gryphon and a Mock Turtle; and attends the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who has been
accused of stealing tarts. Eventually, Alice wakes up back with her sister.

Major themes

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PORTRAYAL OF THE
CHARACTERS

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  Alice's Sister
 The White Rabbit
 Alice's Cat, Dinah
 The Mouse
 The Duck
 The Dodo
 The Lory
 The Eaglet
 Bill the Lizard
 The Caterpillar
 The Fish-Footman
 The Frog-Footman
 The Duchess
 The Baby
 The Cook
 The Cheshire Cat
 The March Hare
 The Hatter
 The Dormouse
 Two, Five & Seven (cards)
 The King of Hearts
 The Queen of Hearts
 The Executioner
 The Knave of Hearts
 The Gryphon
 The Mock Turtle
 The Jurymen

Character allusions

The members of the boating party that first heard Carroll's tale all show up in Chapter 3 ("A
Caucus-Race and a Long Tale") in one form or another. There is, of course, Alice herself,
while Carroll, or Charles Dodgson, is caricatured as the Dodo. The Duck refers to Rev.
Robinson Duckworth, the Lory to Lorina Liddell, and the Eaglet to Edith Liddell.

Bill the Lizard may be a play on the name of Benjamin Disraeli. One of Tenniel's illustrations
in Through the Looking Glass depicts a caricature of Disraeli, wearing a paper hat, as a
passenger on a train. The illustrations of the Lion and the Unicorn also bear a striking
resemblance to Tenniel's Punch illustrations of Gladstone and Disraeli.

The Hatter is most likely a reference to Theophilus Carter, a furniture dealer known in Oxford
for his unorthodox inventions. Tenniel apparently drew the Hatter to resemble Carter, on a
suggestion of Carroll's.

The Dormouse tells a story about three little sisters named Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie. These are
the Liddell sisters: Elsie is L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Tillie is Edith (her family nickname is
Matilda), and Lacie is an anagram of Alice.

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The Mock Turtle speaks of a Drawling-master, "an old conger eel", that used to come once a
week to teach "Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". This is a reference to the art
critic John Ruskin, who came once a week to the Liddell house to teach the children drawing,
sketching, and painting in oils. (The children did, in fact, learn well; Alice Liddell, for one,
produced a number of skilled watercolours.)

The Mock Turtle also sings "Turtle Soup". This is a parody of a song called "Star of the
Evening, Beautiful Star", which was performed as a trio by Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell
for Lewis Carroll in the Liddell home during the same summer in which he first told the story
of Alice's Adventures Under Ground (source: the diary of Lewis Carroll, August 1, 1862
entry).

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DESCRIPTION OF THE
SETTING

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Setting

The novel opens with a bored and sleepy Alice sitting with her sister on the riverbank
on a hot day. Suddenly she notices a White Rabbit with pink eyes run close by her.
She hears him say "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" as he pulls a watch out of
his waistcoat-pocket. He scurries down a rabbit-hole under a hedge.

Alice follows him and falls into Wonderland.

Carroll immediately situates readers in Wonderland's setting. As Alice tumbles down,

down, down, she sees cupboards and bookshelves, maps, and pictures hung on
pegs. She thinks the fall may never end.

Then she plops, without a scratch, onto a pile of sticks and dry leaves. She follows
White Rabbit as he hurries down a long passage, and the tale's magic unfolds.

Although Wonderland is a place where anything can happen, the events are
nonetheless grounded in a realistic setting. Familiar things make the story believable:
a threelegged glass table, a tiny golden key, locked doors, and "the loveliest .....

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SHORT APPRECIATION

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, like all great literary works,
challenges the young reader to question certain conventional ways of
thinking, in this case to recognize that the meaning of words can be
flexible.

They can be played with in such a way that a listener or reader

becomes confused, amused, or even angry over what may be, upon
closer examination, nothing but nonsense.

Alice's adventures also demonstrate the importance of words to our

sense of identity and value. Because Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
calls attention to the slippery relationship between words and
meanings, the reader is made aware that language (in textbooks,
novels, films, and newspapers) must be challenged again and again if
important concepts are to be separated from nonsense.

The humorous verses Carroll places in the mouths of his Wonderland

characters provide a literary treat for his readers.

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