Lewis Carroll uses a group of three at the end of the paragraph, ‘…since her swim in the pool, and the great hall with the glass table and the little door…’ to describe how things had changed. This group of three is also written in parallel.
When the White Rabbit spots Alice, he calls out to her in an angry tone “Why, Mary-Anne, what are you doing out here?’ mistaking her for his maid. Here lexis is used, now we don’t say ‘Why, Mary-Anne…’. This again tells us how they spoke then. The White Rabbit having a maid tells us that he was quite rich, and of course that could be linked by the fact that he knows the Duchess.
Alliteration is integrated, ‘bright brass’ to describe the plate.
Lexis is used again, ‘…in great fear lest she…’ we don’t say ‘great fear’ now-a-days, and ‘lest’ is an antiquated word as is ‘queer’ and ‘fancying’ and ‘pleasanter’.
As we move on, Alice speaks informally, “I suppose Dinah’ll be…” She forgets that’s she’s a posh Victorian girl. That whole paragraph on pg. 41 in which Alice is speaking in, is also full of exclamations. This shows Alice’s frustration.
The last paragraph on pg. 41 starts off with a complex sentence, ‘By this time she had found her way into a tidy room, with a table in the window, and in it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass.’ This complex includes a group of three, lexis and a hyphenated word. Brackets are used to integrate the writer’s thoughts and background information,
Carroll as the narrator and Carroll as Alice, uses adjectives to describe things, ‘tidy little room’, tiny little thing’. I’ve noticed the word little used a lot in order to emphasise the size of things as Alice does change quite a lot.
Again Alice tends to speak informally more often as if she’s forgetting how she as a posh Victorian should speak, ‘shan’t’. This also is a word we don’t use anymore. ‘Alas’ is another word we don’t use anymore but is used a lot in the novel with exclamation.
Alice kept on ‘growing and growing’. By using repetition, children can imagine Alice growing taller and taller.
Further on, when Alice starts to regret going down the rabbit hole, thinks to herself, “I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole, and yet – and yet – it’s rather curious…”. In this sentence, Alice pauses a couple of times to anticipate the reader and make them want to read on.
Carroll does include a fair deal of puns, and ironies. On pg. 43, while Alice is still talking to herself she says, “There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought!”
But then when Alice remembers that she’s all grown up, she starts with a ‘sorrowful’ tone. This makes the readers pity her.
When Alice begins to have a conversation with herself from pg. 43 to pg.44, we can refer back to when she says that she thinks herself as two people. Now, this makes us wonder if she may be crazy or not as she IS in this absurd ‘Wonderland’ or possibly it could be her imagination.
Carroll includes onomatopoeia – the White Rabbit’s ‘Pat! Pat!’-for children
We’re then introduced to Bill, a character in the novel, who we know is a Northerner by his accent, which Carroll has stressed. “Sure its an arm, yer honour!’(He pronounced it ‘arrum’)’ Bill represents the Northerners who migrated to England in Victorian times, who used to take up menial and unimportant jobs such as gardeners and maids and such.
On pg. 46, when Alice is caught in the house, there’s a commotion. Carroll shows this by having a ‘good many voices’ all talking together. ‘Where’s the other ladder? – Why, I hadn’t to bring but one; Bills got the other – Bill! Fetch it here, lad! – Here, put ‘em up at the corner – No, tie ‘em together first – they don’t reach half high enough yet – Oh! They’ll do well enough; don’t be particular – Here, Bill! Catch hold of this rope – Will the roof bear? – Mind that loose slate – Oh, its coming down!’ (a loud crash) – ‘Now, who did that? – It was Bill, I fancy – Who’s to go down the chimney? – Nay, I shan’t! You do it! – That I wont, then! – Bill’s to go down – Here, Bill! The master says you’re to go down the chimney!’’ This long conversation confuses the reader and entertains them also. 02
They characters Alice and the White Rabbit talk to themselves a lot
Alice seems to lose her value of politeness, as she spends more time in Wonderland.
