, Research Paper

Cadyn Allen

April 1, 1999

CP English IV

Ms. Wade

A Strange Man of Many Endowments

Lewis Carroll by today & # 8217 ; s criterions would be considered a creep. Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, besides known as Lewis Carroll, who was a detached adult male who delighted in the consortship of small misss. Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland was influenced by Lewis Carroll & # 8217 ; s life.

Lewis Carroll, one of 11 kids, was born at Daresbury in Cheshire England. As a kid, he lived in distant state topographic points. After Daresbury his following place was Croft in Yorkshire and he depended really much on the company of his brothers and sisters, Lewis made up cockamamie games and told cockamamie narratives for merriment and amusement. He was a successful bookman that took a distinguished grade at Christ Church and became a senior pupil in 1855. He contributed humourous verse forms and lampoons to periodicals and for one of these, The Train, he used the anonym Carolus Ludovicus. Subsequently he reversed it and retranslated it Lewis Carroll. Lewis was besides a mathematician who published a formidable organic structure of work. He was a really diffident adult male with a stutter and ever responded to kids. He was instantly at easiness with them and in their company his stutter left him. The Cambridge Guide to English Literature provinces that, & # 8220 ; he ne’er married, but he likely had an unhappy love matter when he was immature: The grounds is inconclusive & # 8221 ; ( 301 ) . Carroll was uncomfortable around people of his ain age but was comfy around kids particularly small misss.

Lewis was ever fascinated with small misss ; he liked to read to them, to do up narratives for them, to pull them, and to snap them sometimes in the nude. Richard Kelly in Lewis Carroll Revised Edition provinces Lewis Carroll said & # 8220 ; I confess I do non look up to bare male childs in images. They ever seem to me need apparels: Whereas one barely sees why the lovely fans of misss should of all time be covered up & # 8221 ; ( 152 ) . Among the kids who became his friends were those of George MacDonald and the Dean of Christ Church, Henry George Liddell. The 2nd Liddell kid was a three twelvemonth old miss named Alice. Six old ages subsequently he told the Liddell kids after a boating party the narrative of Alice & # 8217 ; s escapades belowground and he undertook to compose it out for Alice.

Lewis Carroll & # 8217 ; s life had a big influence on the narrative. He played a batch of games and told narratives to go through the times with his brothers and sisters. Lewis didn & # 8217 ; Ts have many friends, The Cambridge Guide to English Literature states & # 8220 ; because of his confidant shyness, although he was subjected to a certain sum of strong-arming & # 8221 ; ( 901 ) . Carroll besides had a stutter and was deaf in one ear, and was left handed which besides contributed to his low ego assurance. Harmonizing to Richard Kelly in Lewis Carroll Revised Edition & # 8220 ; In a missive to Mrs. Jones Chataway, Carroll goes a measure beyond nightgowns in bespeaking to snap her girl Gertrude in the nude & # 8221 ; ( 9 ) . As each kid matured they were replaced by a kid who shared the secret universe of childhood with him.

Carroll & # 8217 ; s understanding and love of kids had been combined with the preciseness of a mathematician to bring forth two fantastic books that as the writer himself stated & # 8220 ; make non learn anything at all & # 8221 ; ( 145 ) . Alice was his favourite among all of the kids. One could likely state that he had a captivation with her.

The chief character in Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland is of class Alice, a miss that follows a white coney down a hole

. The White Rabbit besides plays an of import function. He is running tardily for a meeting with the Queen. The Caterpillar is a smoking smart alex who Alice comes upon. He is wise and provides her with cognition in her nonsensical milieus. The Cheshire Cat is a character who talks nil but bunk to Alice, and sometimes his whole organic structure is non seen. He besides makes merriment of the King and Queen towards the terminal of the narrative at the croquet land. The Mad Hatter, Door Mouse, and March Hare prosecute Alice in a nonsensical tea party. The Door Mouse is seeking really hard to remain awake. The March Hare goes along with the Mad Hatter in all he does and says. The Queen of Hearts is an angry adult female who replies to about everything with “off with their head” ( 77 ) . The King of Hearts merely follows the Queen around and does what she says. This could be contributed to his life. He spent most of his clip with small misss, playing games, stating narratives, and snaping them. He may hold made the Queen the dominating figure because of his captivation with immature misss.

The narrative starts with Alice acquiring her lessons under a tree when she dozes off and is awakened by a White Rabbit. She follows the coney into a whole and falls ( 17-19 ) . She looks through a door an the underside and sees the loveliest garden in the universe ( 20 ) . Throughout the narrative she is seeking to acquire to the garden. The garden is the Queens tribunal which she comes to for a croquet game towards the terminal of the narrative ( 74 ) . The narrative may associate to him maturating in his life. As a kid he read in the household library which may be an penetration to Alice having her lessons entirely. The White Rabbit could stand for immature misss and how he fell in love with them which relates to Alice falling down the hole. After falling in love with them he thought they were the most beautiful existences in the universe, so he spent his life in the company of them. His dream could hold been for adult females to be in charge and that is where the Queen of Hearts character came from.

Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland is full of meaningless duologues. An illustration is a portion from the tea party, & # 8220 ; hold some vino, the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the tabular array but there was nil but tea & # 8221 ; ( 66 ) . In an illustration from the Queens croquet game he wrote & # 8220 ; Alice thought she had ne’er seen such a funny croquet-ground in her life: it was all ridges and furrows ; the croquet balls were unrecorded porcupines, and the mallets live flamingoes & # 8221 ; ( 79 ) . Carrolls usage of math could hold been present in him taking cards for the Queens workers and soldiers. A comment from Alice says & # 8220 ; & # 8216 ; Who cares for you? & # 8217 ; said Alice ( she had grown to her full size by this clip ) . & # 8216 ; You & # 8217 ; re nil but a battalion of cards! & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( 114 ) . The narrative includes a batch of the elements of his life which makes it a interesting and entertaining narrative for kids of all ages.

Lewis Carroll & # 8217 ; s life influenced his book Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis was an first-class mathematician, but at the same clip he could be really silly. He was a small eldritch particularly in his activities with immature kids. He is still remembered and many films have been made about his narrative Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland. He was a adult male who entertained many kids during his life and after his decease. His narratives will last throughout clip.

Plants Cited

Carroll, Lewis. Alice & # 8217 ; s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Penguin Group, 1960.

Kelly, Richard. Lewis Carroll Revised Edition. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.

& # 8220 ; Lewis Carroll. & # 8221 ; The Cambridge Guide to English Literature, 1983.