Research Essay “Of Mice and Men”

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First Last ENC-1102/Costa Word Count: 1516 May 1,2019

Lewis Carroll’s Inspiration For

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, A Research Study

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was a photographer, poet,

and an instructor at Oxford University. Lewis Carroll was famous for writing “Alice’s

Adventures in Wonderland,” and other children’s fiction novels. Lewis Carroll preferred

communicating with children rather than adults because of his speech impediment. He had

friendships with children because he understood them, and they felt like he was their friend.

Lewis Carroll was friends with Henry Liddell, dean of Christ Church, and his three daughters;

Alice, Lorina, and Edith. There is great evidence that Lewis Carroll wrote “Alice’s Adventures

in Wonderland,” about Alice Liddell, and throughout the book Alice shows what it is like to be a

kid through a child’s point of view.

While tutoring mathematics at Christ Church, Carroll started to do photography and

create children stories (Maidment, 333). He became friends with the dean of Christ Church,

Henry Liddell, and he became really close to his daughters. Carroll got permission to photograph

Henry’s three daughters. The time he spent with Henry’s daughters allowed him to build a

relationship with them. The three girls became really close to Carroll and they liked when he

would tell them stories. Carroll would spend time creating stories to tell the girls when he visited

them. Lewis Carroll first told the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Alice Liddell and

her two sisters on a boat to Godstow. “…Alice was so delighted that she asked him to write it

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down for her, which he presently did…” ( Cavendish, 8). Alice Liddell was the first person to

have a copy of the story of “Alice Adventures in Wonderland.” Carroll did not plan to publish a

book until he showed his friends the story that he wrote for Alice Liddell. Carroll showed his

story of Alice to his friend George Mcdonald who later encouraged him to look for a publisher

(Cavendish, 8). Before Carroll Published Alice’s Adventures Underground, he decided to change

the title to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because he wanted children to be intrigued to read

his book (Cavendish, 8). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland grabbed the children’s attention

because of the illustrations that the book had, and the crazy adventures Alice experienced

throughout the story. Children could relate with Alice and the decisions she made in the story.

Alice Liddell was said to be the main inspiration of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because

of the friendship Carroll had with her. “The fictional Alice had the same birthday as the real one,

May 4th…” (Cavendish,8). Alice Liddell having the same birthday as the character made people

assume that he wrote the book about her. Alice Liddell denied that the story was about her.

Carroll would have picnics with Henry’s daughters symbolizing the mad tea party in “Alice’s

Adventures in Wonderland.” He also had characters that symbolized himself and other people in

his life. Carroll never intended to have a moral when he wrote the story for Alice Liddell,

because he made it up along the way (Cavendish, 8).

Lewis Carroll was the oldest of eight children so he had to take care of his siblings. He

liked to talk to children rather than adults because he would always make up games and stories

when he was with his siblings. “...he invented games following their own rules,” (Trisciuzzi, 84).

Carroll shows that he did not like to make children follow his own rules, because of the

friendships he had with the children. Carroll loved to tell stories to children, but he also like to

take professional photographs of children because he understood them. Photography allowed

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Carroll to show the children his new stories and take a break from math. Carroll decided to put

illustrations in his work with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because of the way the children

responded when he used to do it during his story telling. “What struck him the most was their

natural kindness…” (Mallardi, 550). Carroll spending time with children helped the character

Alice become who she is because of her kindness and understanding with the people she meets in

the story. Children would think that Carroll made them feel like he was one of them and on their

side ( Mallardi, 552). Carroll understood children because he would spend time with them. He

did not treat children like he was the adult but like he was one of them. Carroll never felt like he

had power over the children like adults do. In the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,

Carroll had Alice think that nobody was on her side during the trial of the stolen tarts. In the

story, the animals usually got annoyed with Alice because they did not understand her. Alice did

not have anybody to talk to without them getting mad at her. Carroll shows what its really like to

be a child powerless in a world where adults are in control over their whole life.

In the novel, Carroll has Alice make her own decisions. Alice is placed in an imaginative

world without her parents causing her to find her own way through wonderland. “He portrays the

struggle of power between the adult and child in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and

displays a strong sympathy for the child Alice who is thrown into a mad and disorderly world of

adults” (Ren, 1659). Carroll shows the reader how Alice is treated when she does not have power

in the wonderland. “Alice is very curious and is always trying to understand, listen, and think…”

(Trisciuzzi,87). Alice is always trying to think about how people might feel about her because of

her size when she changes. Alice finds a bottle that says drink me that makes her grow smaller

and she also finds small cakes that make her grow bigger. Carroll has Alice go through changes

of growth to show how Alice feels when she gets bigger or when she gets smaller. Once Alice

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grows tall, she begins to cry and makes a pool of tears that makes her argue with the Lory about

how to get dry. The Lory responds to Alice with, “I am Older than you, and must know better”

(Carroll, 31), Carroll shows how Alice will follow the rules because Lory is older than her, as

she would with adults. A child’s opinion does not matter as much as an adult’s opinion, because

the adults have the power to say what is right and what is not (Ren, 1660). Adults do not allow

children to talk back or challenge them because they must show who has power. Alice also

decides to follow the rules when she plays croquet with the queen even though the rules of the

game are not correct. “…she tries to follow the rules and occasionally accepts its anarchy…”

(Trisciuzzi,88). The question of “Who are you” is asked, causing Alice to respond with, “I hardly

know, sir…” ( Carroll, 57). This line shows how Alice does not understand who she is and

throughout her journey she is looking for her identity. “…Alice does not look for a new family to

substitute hers, but for her own freedom of being and knowing herself through an initiation

path,” (Trisciuzzi, 85). Carroll has Alice ask questions throughout the story because she is

confused about who she is. “Alice is attacked as being a fool for asking questions,” (Ren,1660).

Alice is a child that asks a lot of questions because she has a desire for knowledge. Children

want to be like adults and know as much as adults do. Alice gets mad when the caterpillar asks

her the same question again because she does not know how to answer him. She is still trying to

figure out who she is and is struggling to find out. Carroll shows the reader that it is very difficult

for children when they start to grow up. Adults sometimes don’t understand what a child goes

through. Children are left alone to find out who they are or want to be. Alice is left by herself in

wonderland to find who she wants to be. “Childhood feels that there is something hidden behind

something else…and only who is really curious…will see what is hidden” (Trisciuzzi, 84).

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Children are smart and know more things than an adult thinks they know. Carroll has Alice

explore wonderland by herself to show how children think and feel when they are left alone.

Lewis Carroll says that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland did not mean to have a moral

when he wrote the story, yet in the story he writes, “Tut, tut, child!’ said the Duchess.

“Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it” (Carroll 118). The story has different morals

throughout the story because Alice must face different situations by herself. As Carroll has

suggested, he did not write “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” about Alice Liddell, she

certainly was an inspiration for the novel. He also shows how children feel about growing up and

finding who they are without a parent figure around.

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Works Cited

Aihong Ren1. “Power Struggle between the Adult and Child in Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland.” Theory & Practice in Language Studies, vol. 5, no. 8, Aug. 2015, pp.

1659–1663. Academic OneFile

Cavendish, Richard. “The ‘Alice in Wondeland’ Story First Told.” History Today, no. 7,

2012, p. 8. Academic OneFile

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Puffin Books, Penguin Random

House LLC, 1946.

Gray, Donald. “The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of

Wonderland.” Victorian Studies, vol. 59, no. 2, Winter 2017, pp. 333–334.

Mallardi, Rosella. “The Photographic Eye and the Vision of Childhood in Lewis

Carroll.” Studies in Philology, vol. 107, no. 4, Fall 2010, pp. 548–572.

Trisciuzzi, Maria Teresa. "Tea Time at Wonderland. Domestic models and family relationships

over the looking glass." Studi sulla Formazione, vol. 19, no. 1, 2017, p. 83+.

Academic OneFile