“Which way I ought to go from here?”
That depends a good deal on where you want to go,” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where—.” Said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh you’re sure to do that,” said the cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
The cat as a character has great authority over Alice’s decisions and therefore over the stories development. However much Alice asks for his guidance and help, he can’t help but try to confuse her or procrastinate in giving her the answer she wants. In ‘James and the Giant Peach’, James’s stories and adventures are influenced by the insects he stays with on the peach. Unlike the cat in Alice, they are his friends and the advice, assistance and aid they provide him with is helpful, friendly and upfront.
“Would you like me to take you under my wing so that you won’t fall over?” asked the Ladybird.
“I don’t know what we’d do with out you. You are so clever.” Said the Grasshopper.
Unlike in Alice, all the characters James is forced to be with are nice to him, support him and appreciate him. Alice however, has no friends in her story. Instead all the characters she comes across tease her and are unkind because she continuously asks questions. For example, her conversation with the caterpillar is very confusing to her. She simply asks him for directions and as the discussion goes on, her questions are either returned with another question or a snide remark which makes no sense at all, all to mystify Alice.
James on the other hand has a relationship with his friends on the peach and they seem to rely on him, more than him on them, meaning he isn’t treated with such disrespect as Alice is. Also, because James is among friends, he never once thinks back to people at home, he has nobody worth thinking about. Where as Alice can’t help but think about he people she loves at home, particularly her cat, Dinah.
“Dinah’ll miss me very much tonight, I should think! Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me!”
Dinah almost adopts the role of the equivalent to James’s parents, they’re the only people that James ever mentions and the only people he misses, this is the same as with Alice and Dinah.
“...if he looked in the right direction, he could see the house he used to live in with his beloved mother and father.”
These two stories are very similar in plot, scenes and character usage. The characters are very similar between stories; the protagonists are both affected and influenced in the same way by other characters. Different characters that have different relationships towards James or Alice have similar attitudes and react similarly towards the protagonists during the story.
A major difference between these two stories is obviously the dates which they were published. With a century between them, the change in the language used is inevitable. The language used in 1865 was very different to that of the language used in 1965 and that is shown very clearly by the way that Alice talks to people and how James talks to people.
“...if one only knew...”
“What sort of people live about here?”
“I should like it very much...”
“You make one quite giddy.”
These quotes are statements made by Alice and prove a great language difference between the books. Also, Alice has what seems to be quite a posh background and a great deal of education. Maybe children in the time of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” were meant to be as well spoken and polite as Alice is, this could also be a reason why the book has lost popularity over time.
Had the book been published in the days of Roald Dahl, these quotes, and Alice’s use of language would have been slightly different. For example, the use of the word ‘one’ is used in the way the words ‘you’ or ‘I’ are today and would have been replaced by either. Other words are used in the story that wouldn’t be used in the same context today such as gay, queer and ejaculated. Language is the obvious major difference between these two stories and considering both were written for children, Alice is a much more difficult story to read and understand today, because of this great language distinction.
Not only are some words in Alice slightly confusing in the way they are used, but sentences are much longer than in modern stories. Semi-colons, commas and full stops aren’t used often and this can often puzzle readers. Even adults today can be bewildered by some of the things, not just in the story, but in the way it is written. ‘James and the Giant Peach’ on the other hand is a very easy story to read, there are no complicated words or phrases and sentences are short and broken up with punctuation used appropriately. It’s very easy to read fluently and therefore is enjoyed very much by modern day children, and yet it’s probably as complex as a child’s story gets in the current day.
The majority of children’s books ever written are based on fantasy and this is what I believe attracts children to them. Some of the best authors, Roald Dahl, J K Rowling and R L Stine all write ‘fantastic’ stories that are very unrealistic. This unrealism is what children enjoy and works with their imagination. I find however, that the use of fantasy in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ far too overwhelming and confusing at times. The story seems to get stuck in areas and doesn’t flow and develop consistently. Instead it pauses frequently and stays in some scenes longer than it really should, before dramatically moving onto something completely different making no sense and giving no explanation as to how and why.
The over use of fantasy in ‘Alice’ I find sometimes boring and pointless, as do a lot of small children of today. Where as the fantasy used in ‘James and the Giant Peach’ is fun, exciting and even with talking insects and flying peaches doesn’t come across as too silly. These out of the ordinary occurrences may sound stupid, but Roald Dahl has written it well enough that you don’t become bored and disinterested. This is because he hasn’t gone into too much depth and detail as to why these phenomenon have happened. He just says it; you accept it, and read on, eager to find out what happens.
Lewis Carroll has overdone the fantasy. Alice falls down a rabbit hole following a talking rabbit, she shrinks and grows continuously throughout the story after eating or drinking things that miraculously appear without explanation. I find the story stupid and inconclusive as well, when you find out that it is all a dream, this is almost a rushed ending to somehow justify the strange and unrealistic scenes that have unfolded throughout the story.
“...she looked at her feet; they seemed to be almost out of sight...”
“...chimneys shaped like ears and the roof was thatched with fur.”
“...the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets were live flamingos.”
After reading both stories and comparing the two in their plot, scene structure and character influence, I have come to the conclusion that ‘Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland’ simply isn’t as enjoyed by children as it used to be. It is too out of the ordinary and merely unbelievable. Fantasy works with the imagination, but this story is just too fantastical. The introduction of the animated film has also discouraged children from reading the book, because not as much effort has to be put in just to understand what’s happening. This is the case with modern stories as well. For example, the Harry Potter stories are released as films as well as in books, yet many children still enjoy and are inspired to read the books as well as watching the films. Basically ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ has passed its time, and in the modern day requires too much concentrating, hard work and deep thought to be enjoyed. Easily read stories, are easily enjoyed.
