Is 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' a book for children or adults?

by rakib654hotmailcouk (student)

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a book for children or for adults? You may discuss one or both of the Alice books.

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ is a novel written by the English author Lewis Carroll in 1865, the story tells of a young girl named Alice following a talking white rabbit down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world full of amazing creatures and sights. This premise is very much one which seems typical of a piece of literature aimed at children, with it’s over the top characters and surreal atmosphere it is just as appealing to modern children as it was to the children of 1865. However if one were to look at the sub text, wordplay, philosophical ideas, character allusions or the huge amount of meaning within his story it is clear that Carroll did not just have a child audience in mind.

Alice in Wonderland is a book very much about the anxiety of Alice, she is often lost or bewildered trying to get in or out of some place or another.

“There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever going to get out again.” (Page 40, Wordsworth Classics Edition, 1992)

This sense of anxiety is exciting for both audiences, young and old. Unlike some of the later literal themes and concepts which would go above the heads of most children this sense of urgency and frustration lends itself to the story as a powerful literary device for both adults and child readers.

Lewis Carroll also published another book based off of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ called ‘The Nursery Alice’ in 1890 which was not only illustrated in colour, but was also simplified and made easier for children to understand. It was made clear within the story that it’s a dream from the start.

“‘Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Alice: and she had a very curious dream. Would you like to hear what it was that she dreamed about?” (Macmillan Edition, 1890)

It is clear from the fact that Carroll published this book that he atleast acknowledged that the original wasn’t suitable for atleast some children.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The 1951 animated disney screenplay of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ with a few additional elements from‘Through the Looking Glass’ was primarily designed by disney for children. With a lack of the more philosophically complex and logical dialogue it was created to entertain children, not unlike the original publication but with much of the subtext removed. However, the 2010 Tim Burton film version is more directed towards a mature audience, it tells the story of an older and more mature Alice about to marry someone who she’d rather not. Flashbacks are used to explain that she suffered from nightmares as a child and that she is finding it difficult to fit into upper class adult society. This is where the film then picks up with the appearance of the white rabbit. Already we have a more complex and darker premise to the story, one which takes the sub text of the original book more into account. Wonderland has now been renamed Underland and Alice finds herself in the middle of a rivalry between the Red and White queens. This film also borrows several elements from the ‘The Looking Glass’ including the Jabberwock which is actually beheaded by Alice in the film, not particularly what you’d see in a kids film. Each of the popular characters feature heavily, even those that didn’t feature heavily in the book. When Alice gets back home she refuses to marry and instead decides to go into work. Tim Burton’s film is definitely aimed at the more mature members of the audience, he turned it dark and more grotesque.

The most obvious theme in both Alice’s adventures in Wonderland and in Through the Looking Glass is that of growing up. It’s clear that Lewis Carroll was fascinated by the way in which young children approach the world. Through Alice in Wonderland he wanted to show how a child sees our adult world, including all the social rules which which would seem silly to one. Wonderland is a very strange place for Alice, this can be seen as a metaphor for Victorian society being a confusing and bewildering experience for children growing up. “No room! No room!’ They cried out when they saw Alice coming. ‘There’s plenty of room!’ said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large armchair at one end of the table.” (Page 90, Wordsworth Classics Edition, 1992) Both Alice’s quarrelsomeness and lack of understanding when it comes to social etiquette is highlighted during this scene, it shows just how clueless she is when it comes to traditional table manners. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland represents the difficulties a child faces in the confusing world of adults. To grasp our world Alice has to move past the open mindedness that is characteristic for children. A younger audience would fail to grasp the social message that Lewis Carroll is putting across.

Alice is a bit of a know-it-all in the first book. She’s keen to show off what she knows and is proud of knowing long words. When she is falling down the rabbit hole she wonders if she falling to the centre of the earth and also what latitude and longitude she’s at, “though it was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her” (Page 39, Wordsworth Classics Edition, 1992). The tone of Through the Looking Glass (1871) however is more philosophical with Alice talking to herself more than she did during the first story and also doubting herself more, she often wonders if she is the one in someone else’s dream. Even from the start there are obvious differences: Alice starts of indoors, alone apart from her kitten, it’s winter with snow hitting the window. In Through the Looking glass the men are portrayed as being old and weak with Alice often helping them, there are a few different ways in which this could be interpreted. It was published 6 years after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Carroll had likely grown attached to the idea of Alice’s childhood innocence, which was slipping away with Alice Liddell (Carroll’s inspiration for Alice) growing older. In his first book Carroll channelled his worries about Alice growing older into her extreme body changes, in his second book he projected more into the weak old men, caricatures of failed masculinity. This is a deep subtext and shows Carroll’s anxiousness over Alice growing older, Alice helping them instantly makes her seem older and this is something that both a mature audience would particularly pick up on. In opposition to these weak male figures there are a number of aggressive mother figures with whom Alice always argues, this could be seen as Carroll portraying Alice as becoming the woman of the house usurping her mother figures and becoming the queen herself which she so desires.

In Carroll’s second book Alice is much more in control, although she is only half a year older within the timeline of the book. Alice makes a conscious decision to climb into the Looking Glass rather than accidentally fall into it like she did with the Rabbit hole. In the first book Alice was very confused by the adult world. In Through the Looking Glass, we almost see a grown up Alice that is more confident with herself and in her dealings with the Wonderland characters and creatures. While she was being constantly lectures and told what to do in the first book, she is now the one who teaches and who mothers as seen with her helping the weak old men. This is quite the transformation, although Carroll did this for the benefit of the story and to address his concerns about Alice growing up he likely didn’t do it with a specific audience in mind as it would seem that even children would see the difference in Alice between the two different books.

Another theme that is likely to be missed by the children that read the two Alice books is that of Alice’s numerous identity crisis’. Even the narrator mentions the fact that “this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.” (Page 43, Wordsworth Classics Edition, 1992). Alice clearly has some kind of identity problem, when she realises how strange her situation is she thinks that she may have been swapped with someone else, “Who am I then?” (Page 48, Wordsworth Classics Edition, 1992) she believes she might have been swapped for the girls ‘Ada’ or ‘Mabel’ but later disproves this through various tests (checking if her hair has turned to ringlets etc).

Although Carroll invented ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ for the entertainment of children, many critics have argued for various underlying influences in his work. Because the story lends itself so well to so many different interpretations it has become a favourite piece of literature to analyse. Many people believe that both of the books are aimed at children.

“It is very obvious in the story that it was written for the three Liddell girls, of whom Alice was the closest to Dodgson. In the introductory poem to the tale, there are clear indications to the three, there named Prima, Secunda and Tertia — Latin for first, second and third respectively in feminized forms.” (Jerry Maatta, HII, Katedralskolan, Uppsala, Sweden; March 1997).

However, if one were to look at the sub text of his books it is obvious that something deeper is going on here. If Carroll really intended his books to be primarily read by children why would he have put in so much symbolism. Carroll even went to the trouble to publish a simplified, children’s only version. There are a lot of allusions to growing up, it would make sense to put these in as an author in some form if your audience were children who are slowly growing up. However Carroll does it in such a way that most children would not even understand all the different metaphors used, they would likely realize a difference in Alice over the two books but not much else. In Lewis Carroll’s biography he stated "I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense. Still, you know, words mean more than we mean to express when we use them; so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means. So, whatever good meanings are in the book, I'm glad to accept as the meaning of the book." (The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll, Collingwood, 1898). In this he wasn’t specifically talking about ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ but this comment can be applied to many of his works including his two ‘Alice’ books. This statement is neither confirming nor denying whether ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ is a book for children or for adults, Carroll likely intended both children and adults to enjoy his book. Some for the fantasy world and magical atmosphere. And others for the sub text and philosophical allusions.