Critiques of Alice in Wonderland

Quite frankly, I loved this book. I never found anything in the book I didn't like. I loved how everything was so strange to Alice, and that she was having a hard time figuring out everything about Wonderland at first, but she soon became used to everything there. Even though the book is a children's book, it's a great read. I would suggest the book to anyone who loves the strange and to really think about why there are so many poems and riddles. All in all, just an amazing book.

Summary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

In the beginning of the story, Alice in lying with her older sister, who was reading a book, when she soon began to feel extremely born when she saw a white rabbit running by, checking his pocket watch and nervous that he was going to be late. Alice follows him to a rabbit hole, and then falls down the rabbit hole for what seemed like hours. She saw all sorts of things as she was falling down, marmalade, tea cups, etc. When she fell to the floor, she was surrounded by a bunch of doors. There was a key on a table, but it only fit a door that was much to small for her to fit in. She opens the door anyway and sees a beautiful garden. When she turns around, there is a drink that clearly states, ‘Drink Me’. She sets the key down, and drinks the entire bottle. She soon shrunk to the size of the door, but she left the key on the table. Then there was a cake that said ‘Eat Me’, she ate the cake and grew large enough to hit her head on the high ceiling. She started crying, making a pool of her tears because she wasn’t sure how to shrink again. Then there was a fan and a set of white gloves the rabbit dropped as he was running by, so Alice had picked them up to see what they were all about. She shrunk down to size, and then followed a little mouse to shore where she met with several interesting animals. They all tried drying off by running, and soon enough Alice had offended all of the animals when talking about her cat Dinah, who would eat birds and mice. The rabbit came by, looking for his white gloves and fan, fearing the Duchess would have his head when he sent Alice for them at his home. She finds them, then finds yet another bottle that says, ‘Drink Me’. She ends up drinking half the bottle and grows to an uncomfortable size inside the home. The rabbit comes, demanding his gloves, and they get into a tiny little scuffle when Alice eventually finds another cake that says ‘Eat Me,’ and she grew small again. She runs into a caterpillar, smoking a long hookah and he tells her eventually how to grow a little bit larger. She soon finds the Duchess’ house and sees them torturing what seemed to be a small child. The Duchess finds her, gets angry and then throws the supposed child out. The child turned out to be a pig, and then Alice meets the Cheshire cat. He appears and disappears, but tells her to visit the Hatter and his tea party. She goes to the Hatter, and they do all sorts of things that are just plain strange and leaves to find her self at the Red Queen’s place. They play croquet with flamingoes and a hedgehog. Surely she felt it was very strange, but the Red Queen wasn’t exactly the nicest Queen you’d meet. She runs into the Duchess again, and then is sent off to listen to a sad turtle sing. She comes back to be in a trial as to who stole the Queen’s tart. She is called in, and she argues with the King and Queen about her possibly being guilty, and soon wakes up to be right next to her sister, reading the same book as before.

Alice Merchandise

So, if you have read and watched all of this Alice in Wonderland material, you probably think it's either super strange and don't like it, or you're really intrigued about it. I was just googling stuff for Alice in Wonderland when I found this merchandise sight that is really cool. It has backwards clocks with the hatter in the background, caterpillar earings, character charms for charm bracelets, and so much more. It really makes me want to buy some of this stuff, but I am a broke teenager unfortunately. If you have some money however, and just absolutely love Alice, check out the site below.

http://thewhiterabbit.net

Alice in Wonderland 2010

This movie is actually what got me interested in reading Alice in Wonderland. My sister had read it sometime ago, and after watching this film, I was truly intrigued. First off, the movie is a combination of both 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There'. That's why you see a change in the movie from playing cards to a chess board. They kept a lot of the things the same from what I saw in the movie and from what I've read so far. It's really cool to see what the movie was like live action and then to imagine it. You could almost feel like you're in Wonderland yourself. I truly love it, and plan on buying it as soon as possible. You should too if you did not see it. It's a fantastic movie.

Alice in Wonderland: Japan Style

Let me just say this. This picture is beautiful. The story being based in England, it's really refreshing to see that everybody has their own vision of Alice. In America, Alice is a blonde haired, blue eyes little girl. That's the picture of pure innocence to us, but maybe Japan has a different idea. Maybe their idea of young and inncocent short black hair. The fact that the book has such an impact on our world's children is truly amazing. How a book made 145 years ago is still quite popular today is quite amazing.

Brown Univeristy's take on Alice in Wonderland

I truly agree with how the author puts their thoughts on what certain things mean in Wonderland. Like, how she asks towards the bottom, "How would the books original title, 'Alice's Adventures Underground,' affect your interpretation of Wonderland?" When I think underground, I tend to think of coal mines and really dirty places. It doesn't bring the wonder and excitement as Wonderland does. I think that's why it's called Wonderland, because it is full of wonder. To read the article, here's the link to it.

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/decola8.htm

If you have never read the book...

I can tell you for sure it's a good read. There are parts where it really makes you wonder why it's consider a child's book, since there is some drug use in it, but all in all it's a great read. Don't have a library near you? Well, there's an online book that you can read it on. I would really suggest reading it, because you can form an opinion on whether or not the movies do a good job on following the story.

Here's the link.

http://bygosh.com/AIW/C01/AIWC01.htm

It even has illustrations!

I was reading this review by James Schellenburg and completely felt the same way about his feelings for the story of Alice. It's always interesting to read and imagine a crazy world that Alice had walked through. When you're a child, all the unimaginable happens and it makes you want to be a part of the book. As an adult, it gives you that feeling of being a kid again.

Here's the link to his review.

www.challengingdestiny.com/reviews/alice.htm

The Hatter

In the book, there is a tea party going on with a hatter, a mouse, and a rabbit who have all seem to have gone mad. The hatter has always been my favorite, asking Alice "How is a raven like a writing desk?". I was first introduced to the Hatter as the Mad Hatter in Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland'. I thought he was very interesting and funny because he was just all over the place. I also had recently watched Tim Burton's rendition of 'Alice in Wonderland' and quite frankly, I loved it. Tim Burton's version had both stories, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There'. The Mad Hatter was portrayed by Johnny Depp and he did a tremendous job playing him.

A great website to check out information on The Hatter, other characters and more fun is Lenny's Alice in Wonderland. They have the story origins, quotes and so much more.

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/

Chapter 3: A Caucus Race and A Long Tale

In this particular chapter, there was something that struck me as interesting, applying to now and probably forever when it comes to human nature.

'"The race is over!" and they all crowded 'round it, panting and asking, "But who has won?"'

To me, the adult life is like a race. A race to be ahead of everybody else, to be successful. Your whole life you are supposed to work toward whatever you want, whether it to be rich or live comfortably. Everybody else is competition to your goal, making you strive that harder. Once your life is nearing an end, that race is beginning to end, no more goals to strive for. So when you look back on your life, and everybody else who's in the same boat you are, it can be wondered who won out of that group? Who succeeded the most? The question could never be really answered, because everybody has a different po,int of view. I think the author was trying to portray it as fun to children, and make adults think about the big race they run everyday. The book isn't just a children's book, but should be a book to make you think about what exactly is being said.

Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears

Since Alice had eaten the cake that had said 'Eat me', Alice grew about 9 feet tall so she could reach the key. Now that she could reach it, she could go into the door she was curious about, only she was way to big to fit in. She soon began to cry, making a pool on the ground 4 inches deep. Soon enough, she sees the rabbit making a fuss about his Duchess, and how upset she will be with him. He soon throws down a set of white gloves and a fan. Alice picks up both objects, talking to herself about nonsense until she realizes that the fan was helping her shrink. She then throws down the fan so she won't disappear into nothing. Yet again, Alice left the key on the table top and was now swimming and trying to figure out how to get into the garden she saw. A mouse swims by her, and Alice tries talking to her, and offends her twice with cats and dogs. Nonetheless, the mouse and Alice soon swim their way to shore where they meet a duck, a dodo, a leary, an eaglet and many other interesting creatures.



While reading this chapter, I began to wonder what the key to open up the door to the beautiful garden on the other side meant. I was wondering if perhaps the author was trying to portray his own feelings of longing for happiness. Alice felt distraught because she was growing and shrinking, but not grabbing the key to unlock the door. Sometimes people don't grasp on every oppurtunity handed to them, therefore maybe regret in their future. Possible oppurtunities could be what the key stands for, and the door is a happy future. The book never says if she opened the door, only that she swam to shore with the mouse, so I am not sure if she ever reaches the garden, but that she is saved from another being. If she had stayed in the pool, she would have eventually drowned. So the mouse, in my opinion, symbolizes a purpose or a being to pull somebody out of a path to their demise. Maybe the author never reached his garden, but a simple mouse in his life may have pulled him from a bad path getting worse.

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

In this chapter, Alice is starting to doze off as her sister reads a book when she sees a rabbit run by, flipping out that he is going to be to be late, checking his pocket watch and running off. Alice immediately had started to follow the rabbit, coming across a rabbit hole. She falls down the hole, and keeps falling for quite a period of time and falls into a hallway with many doors, a table and a key. She takes the key to try and get into a door, but the only door that the key fits is a tiny door that she can't get through. She soon then finds a bottle that reads "Drink me". As she drinks it, she shrinks to the size that she would be able to fit through the door, but she left the key on the table. She then finds a cake that says "Eat me". She eats the whole cake a grows quite a great deal, so she would be able to reach the key.

In the beginning of the chapter, it says that she is dozing off while her sister is reading to her.  That tells me that the author finds that books with no fun or exciting adventures really appeal to him, like Alice.  The rabbit running off, fearing he is going to be late makes me think of how people are today.  Always rushing off and completely stressed out because there are so many things to do in one day.  Now, since the book was published in 1865, I have no idea what the adult life was like back then, but I can imagine that the rabbit was possibly symbolizing human beings and their tendencies to stress themselves out.
The rabbit hole symbolizes the depth of a child's imagination.  When I was little, my imagination stretched out far and wide, always pretending and having fun.  The fact that children can pretty much make a game out of anything is pretty fascinating to me.  The rabbit hole seems to go one forever and ever, seeing cupboards, china, and even groceries (Orange Marmalade).  No adult, young or old, really imagines anything like that. Typically, they want facts, not fiction.  It goes back to the rabbit, adults don't have time to imagine things, nor do they want to.  They overstress themselves, as children smile and have fun with their imagination.