For Kids or Adults?

I have read several blogs where people talk about whether they think Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story for children or adults.

I personally  think the Disney movie version is for children. But the actual book, I feel is for older students who can fully understand the complexity of the book.

I tried to sit and watch Alice in Wonderland. I turned the TV of before Alice even went down the rabbit hole! I definitely think children should watch the movie.

When we were told we would be reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I was surprised. I had always seen it as a kids story. Not a tenth grade class assignment.

Wow, was I wrong!

I never realized how complex and complicated a childrens story could be. We may over-analyze, but that is just us trying to understand the book. I can not believe how much I have learned from this story!

Tell me what you think. For kids or adults?

Let’s Get Back to Reality!

As we have learned, this journey Alice went through was a dream.

I like that it ended up being a dream. I think it was actually a good idea for Carroll to end the story this way.

Dreams are an important aspect of life.

Children are known for being big dreamers. But for children, they can continue to dream. Children don’t necessarily have to “wake up” from their dreams yet. But as we grow up, we learn to wake up from dreams.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it is especially important for everyone to dream. Dreams allow us to have an escape from everyday life. But it is also important that we learn to wake up from our dreams. Dreams give us hope. Hope is generally what inspires us and boosts us try harder. But we need to come back to reality at some point.

I think Carroll was trying to point that out to children. Dreams are great. But eventually we wake up. That is just the way it works. I would like to think that Carroll is trying to teach children this. Using Wonderland is a great way to let kids dream and for their imaginations to run wild.

Kicking and Screaming

My group had a very helpful and insightful discussion on CoverItLive. Scott brought up the trial scene and how Alice was kicking and stepping on the jury.

The trial is my favorite part of the story. I see it as Alice waking up. She is growing because she is waking up from her dream.

I personally think her adventure in Wonderland was a dream. My group discussed why we believed it was a dream.

The great detail and strangeness of the story can only be a dream. What else would it be?

During the trial scene, Alice becomes very defensive. Alice becomes angry. She is not afraid because she is now so much larger than the rest of them. She is braver now.

Alice begins to kick and step on the jury. To me, this seems like she is having a nightmare. Sometimes when people are having nightmares, they kick in their sleep. I think that could be a reason why Alice was kicking and knocking people over. She was doing it subconsciously in her sleep.

Learn about Alice Liddell

As I said in one of my previous blogs, we never got a background knowledge of Alice Liddell. I decided to do research and learn more about her so we might be able to understand the story better. Here’s what I found.

Alice was born on May 4, 1852. She was the third child of Lorina and George Liddell. Alice In 1856 the family moved to Oxford when her father, George was appointed Dean of the Christ Church College in Oxford. The Liddell family met Carroll through Christ Church College. Carroll became close with the three young girls Lorina, Alice, and Edith.

Carroll would take the three girls boating. While they were boating he told the girls stories. Carroll told stories of a young girl named Alice and her adventures after she fell down a rabbit hole. This story was Alice’s favorite. Alice asked to Carroll to write it down for her. Carroll finally finished it several months later. November 1864 Carroll gave Alice the manuscript for what was titled “Alice’s Adventures Underground.”

During publishing of the book, Alice’s mother became concerned with the close relationship between Carroll and Alice. Her mother limited access so they could not see each other.

When Alice was 20 years old, Prince Leopold arrived at Christ Church. There was a rumored romance between Alice and Leopold. But Leopold was a Prince and Alice was a “commoner” so marriage was not allowed between them.

Alice married Reginald Hargreaves in 1880 at the age of 28. Alice later had three sons. Alice named her first son Leopold and made Prince Leopold the godfather. When Prince Leopold had a daughter, he named her Alice. Two of Alice’s sons died in World War I.

When Alice’s husband died, she needed money. Alice was forced to sell the original manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Underground. When Alice was 80, she published her memoirs. Alice was quoted saying that she was “tired of being Alice in Wonderland.” Alice died on November 14 1934 at the age of 82.

I found one weird thing compared to the general Alice that we imagine. In the movie “Alice in Wonderland” Alice is blonde. But in real life, Alice had dark hair.

sources: http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice1e.html

http://en.allexperts.com/e/a/al/alice_liddell.htm

pictures: alice liddell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_Liddell_as_a_young_woman.jpg

alice: http://www.mindflare.com/celgallery/alice2m.jpg

Pig/Boy

In chapter 6 Alice first meets the Duchess. I found this scene to be very interesting.

The biggest thing that caught my attention was the baby. Alice sees that the Duchess is holding a baby. She is shocked by how crazy things are in the kitchen. The cook was throwing plates and dishes around the room. The Duchess and the baby were hit several times. The Duchess then throws the baby at Alice.

Alice knew that she must take the baby in order to save it. Soon Alice notices the baby’s weird behavior and odd features. Alice says to the baby, “don’t grunt, that is not at all a proper way of expressing yourself.”

It seems to me that this was a very mature act for Alice. For the character of a seven year old girl, she handles the situation pretty maturely.

The baby soon begins to grow a snout. Alice realized the baby was turning into a pig! Alice then let the pig go.

As we know, Carroll did not like boys. He is using the baby turning into a pig as symbolism for what he thought was true.

Alice was happy to save the baby, but as soon as it turned into a pig she let it go. I think Carroll was trying to teach her a lesson about boys. Showing that boys turn into pigs and you don’t want anything to do with them. This was probably very critical of Carroll, but it did add humor to the story!

See the Journey for Yourself!

I came across this really great website:  http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/wonderland/index.htm

The website has a lot of games and activities that relate to the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I am really impressed with this website. It is an “Interactive Adventure.” Just like you are going through the journey. It is very detailed and follows the story exactly!

They have a Wonderland Word Search. You can also ask the caterpillar a question. Paint the roses red! And you can play chess with the Queen!

So when you need a break from writing all of your blogs, take a break and check out the website. Maybe it will inspire you!!

Sweet Dreams??

I was reading a blog about the strangeness behind dreams. I have always been intrigued by the thought of dreams. I am one of those people who likes to know facts and research things. So i decided I would do some research on the meaning and reasons of dreams.

It is a scientific fact that we all dream. Dreams seem to be messages that go beyond the outer appearance. But sometimes, dreams are just random. It is weird how you can kind of picture your dream. But you can’t really explain it to someone else. Also you cant really see anything

During the trial in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice begins to grow larger.  The King and Queen said she was a “mile high.” Alice continues to gradually grow larger. It is as if she is beginning to wake up. Alice is coming back to reality. Waking up from her dreams.

I think Carroll is trying to get kids to come back form reality. It would be great if we could all stay in our own wonderland. But that is just not the way things work. I think that is why we dream. When we dream we are able to go back into that state of mind we had as a young child.

Dreams allow us to..well dream!  Maybe that is why he just a child as a main character for the story. Dreams send us back to a world where there isn’t any stress or pressure. But eventually, we must wake up.

I think Carroll knew that. This is why he presented the story this way. We fall into a dream. A dream that we can’t explain to anyone else. But soon we are woken up and must face reality.

Alice in….Oz?

Caroline M. first made the reference to the similarities in Alice in wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.

I found that to be really interesting! So I thought I would expand on that idea and point out similarities between them.

First of all, both Alice and Dorothy are young girls who are trapped in a different world. Both searching for an adventure they cannot control. They are such strange worlds. Alice’s Wonderland has talking rabbits, playing cards, turtles, a Queen 0f Hearts, and many more. Oz has munchkins, flying monkeys, witches, a Tinman and more.

Both follow a similar storyline.  Dorothy is unsure of which way to go on the yellow brick road, just as Alice is puzzled by the path she should take through the woods. Both Alice and Dorothy are looking for something, but don’t know how to reach it.

The Queen in Alice in Wonderland is similar  to the Wicked Witch of the West. Both stories also seem to have strong drug references. In Alice in Wonderland we see the smoking caterpillar, eating cake that makes her change size. Pretty similar to The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy falls asleep in a field of poppies and is woken up by falling snow.

In Alice In Wonderland the flowers can talk, the woods are eerie and seem to be alive . In The Wizard of Oz the flowers pop up and end up as the munchkins, the tress are alive and can throw things.

It is amazing to me how much they have in common!

It is like Mr Long told us, movies follow a certain formula. I thought it was interesting. What do you think?

What was Alice Thinking? part2

I have to give Rivu D. credit for the inspiration of this post…

Rivu made a point in his team’s blog that the readers aren’t exactly “attached” to the character of Alice. That really made me think! I agree with him.

For some reason I seem to feel unattached to the story and to Alice. The main reason I came up with is that Carroll did not give us much insight on Alice. We barely know anything about the character. The character of Alice does not have any of those qualities that generally draw the readers in. We really have not seen her personality be portrayed in the story. We as readers, don’t have an emotional connection with the character. This was probably a big mistake on Carroll’s part.

Why aren’t we attached to the story?

Is it because Carroll wrote it for Alice Liddell?

Sometimes I can’t help but think that when Carroll wrote the story, he did not have any plans on publishing it. He wrote it for Alice. I guess it makes sense though. If someone wrote a story about you, you would not need to know much about the character, because it is you! So I guess that could explain why we don’t feel connected to Alice. Another thing is, I think there are too many other characters on the story. The characters seem to take away the focus of who the story is really about. We see alot of strange qualities in the characters of “Wonderland”, which takes away from Alice. I wish I could know more about the character of Aloce and what she was thinking in the story.

What Is It about Alice?

In class, Mr Long told us that his son, Beckett, loves to watch the show iCarly. Mr Long thought it was strange because his son is only three-and a half years old. The show iCarly is meant for middle school or high school age kids. It is funny that Beckett loves iCarly even though he does not really understand it. Beckett probably does not get the story of the show or the technology and dialog in it.

That made me wonder. What is it that attracts kids to the story of Alice?

Most popular childrens’ stories are fairy tales. A fairy Godmother who helps a young girl get to the ball. A prince who has to fight off a dragon to rescue the princess. It is all of these things that generally draw in children.

What does the movie Alice in Wonderland have?

It doesn’t have a prince. There isn’t a princess in need. No “and they lived happily ever after.”  So what is it? Is it that the children relate to Alice’s innocence? Generally people like things that they can relate to, like music. My other guess is that kids are attracted to the “silly” characters in the story. A talking, smiling cat. Tweedledum and Tweedledee. A talking Queen of Hearts card. The movie makes these characters seem so fun. When really, they aren’t.

In the book, the characters seem to be opposite of that. The Queen orders gardeners to be beheaded. That does not seem like a character in a children’s story to me.

But, when you make a movie, you can change anything to make it appeal to any audience. It seems pretty manipulative.

What do you think?