Conclusion

Well, this is the end of my blog regarding Alice in Wonderland and the Victorian Literature. I hope you all like and i get a good grade =P. Ms Lima, you should definitely ask us to do this assignment more. Its way more fun than just writing an essay and i think you can test our skill in a better and more complete way. I enjoyed very much writing this blog. 

People say you always got to please your readers when writing something public so by request of a friend of mine, who will also read this blog, i'll add the following picture. (this friend of mine also enjoys a lot Alice in Wonderland and Carroll's writing)

Well here it is, Gi. ^^ 

Ms Lima, you should probably just ignore this part. 

Links

Original Alice in Wonderland (1951) trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLIqErnQCuw

Tim Burton's sequel to Alice in Wonderland trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POCgSRVvf0

Disney's web page regarding Alice in Wonderland
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/

Wikipedia's page about Alice in Wonderland 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland

Remarkable Passage

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”

     This is the very first paragraph of the novel and in my opinion is one of the most important since this is the first impression you have of the story and the author's writing style. I know you can't judge a whole book by its first few lines, but a catchy first paragraph can make your reading more pleasant or not. 

     Well this is where our story begins. You can see theres some imagery in this passage, enhancing its impact. We also can tell that the character in the passage, Alice, is a child and she feels bored about the world around her. We can also infer that Alice has a creative mind and likes to discover new things and feed her imagination. Through this passage we can start to know our protagonist traces and her reality 

Important Quotes

The following quotes and analysis are related to the previous post.

“Who in the world am I?” Ah, that’s the great puzzle. - Alice

Once again Alice is a victim of the Wonderland madness. She giving all of her to understand the creatures she just met and the rituals of the place. This lack of security makes Alice to start questioning her own identity and reality. This adds to the unique and fantastical mood of the Wonderland, bringing the feeling to the reader that this is the real deal and the Wonderland is not fooling around. We can relate back to this quote at the end of the book, when Alice wakes up. Neither Alice nor the reader is sure about the existence of the Wonderland.

"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!" - The White Rabbit

The White Rabbit is the one responsible for bringing Alice all the way into the Wonderland. We can all thank him because if didn't run near Alice by the riverbank, she would never discover the existence of the Wonderland. And this quote refers exactly to this moment. Where the White Rabbit grabs his clock inside his waistcoat and Alice sees it. She realizes that's not something you would see everyday and decide to follow him. We can understand this quote as a foreshadow of what is coming for Alice. First, the rabbit talks: this means he is a mystical being who probably live in a mystical place. Second, he keeps saying to himself he is late and looks at his watch: we can infer that something big is happening and that the rabbit can't be late. Taking this two facts we can guess that this place where the rabbit is going is definitely not normal.

"We are all mad here." - The Cheshire Cat

Another evidence of the madness of the Wonderland. When someone that lives in a place and admits everyone there, including himself, is crazy it's time for you to start selecting better people to talk to. Alice probably felt more insecure at that time. The constant fear of something coming out of nowhere and attacking here was always present. Alice would have to be more cautious onwards.

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?" - Alice

Here we can observe Alice's natural child behavior towards a boring book. I used the same criteria for selecting my books to rear when I was younger. This shows how innocent she is and how hungry for fantasy she also is. This is the same theme discussed previously.

Themes related to the novel

Contrasts between the reality and the fantasy world: This is perhaps the theme that Lewis discourses with greater mastery. He really catches the essence of a kid who really wants something different to happen in his life and his reaction when it finally happen. When you are a kid, you always daydream about visiting fantastical places or meeting extraordinary beings but, no matter how bad you imagine it, it never turns real. Who never thought of meeting a real sorcerer who can make you fly through a enchanted forest and summon tiny chocolate bears who are alive? I did. Does it became reality, you ask? No... Well, in Alice in Wonderland, Lewis breaks this paradigm. Through Alice, Carroll takes everyone who dreamed about the fantasy and drops in the magic world of Wonderland. Together with Alice, a girl who was used to the ordinary laws of life but also dreamed about the extraordinary, the reader becomes a child again, identifying himself with Alice.

Loss of innocence and growth towards adulthood: In the beginning of the novel, Alice can barely keep herself from crying if something bad happens. However, by the end of the book, this has changed and she is pretty much secure and certain of herself. This loss of innocence happens when Alice is put to the test by inumerous factors around her such as the constant possibility of death or enigmatic characters or even the abnormal realty of the Wonderland. Alice walks toward adulthood every step her take in the novel.

Children's vulnerability: Carroll points out throughout his book how Alice is small compared to the rest of the world and how she mostly likely to get hurt anytime. This is more frequent in the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, however Alice is constantly referring to his death without even noticing.

Wonderland's Logic: Wonderland is a very peculiar place which runs on their own laws and rules contrasting to everything previously seen in the real world. This bunch of puzzles trick Alice, twisting her innocent mind. This absence of reason is maybe given by Carroll's past as a logician. He kinds of makes fun of logic and reason. Creating the charm in the novel with the constant riddles. This charm gives a feeling that everything is a game in Wonderland even though things are pretty serious there.

Size matters: This theme is related to the second one, however, taking a more physical approach. The different sizes Alice turns to is an comparison to what happens to everyone on adolescence, since everything is changing. The key word here is, just as in the second theme, adaptation. The outer part of Alice reflects directly on her inner judgement.

I didn't know what picture to add in this post and since I want to have at least a picture per post to make things a little more colorful, here is a picture of a cupcake.

Cupcake ;D

SparkNotes. "Alice in Wonderland" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011

Quick Facts

Plot

Screenshot of the Disney's adaptation of Alice

Alice sits next to her sister in a riverbank on a summer day feeling bored when suddenly she sees a white rabit in a waistcoat running a few meters from her. The rabbit grabs his watch and exclaims he is late and run for a nearby rabbit hole. Alice without thinking twice follows the rabbit and jumps inside the hole. After falling for several minutes, Alice hits the bottom and encounter a huge hallway with many looked doors. She finds a small door that opened with a key that was lying over a table in the middle of the room. Through the tiny door she can see an beautiful garden, however, she doesn't fit through it. After drinking a bottle labeled "DRINK ME" and shrinking, Alice founds herself crying when she realizes she left the key to the door over the table and she can't reach it. Alice then discovers a little cake marked "EAT ME", which she eats and grows until the ceiling. Once again she finds herself crying since she is to big to fit in the doors. However, now her tears are so big they turn in to an ocean where she starts to drown. A mice appears out of nowhere and helps Alice to get to the shore, there she meets a couple of animals but quickly scare them away and finds herself alone again. Alice finally gets to the wonderland. Here, she will experience the most weird and impossible events trying to get back to her world. Meanwhile Alice mets various iconic characters which either help her on her journey or are foils between Alice and Her goal. The antagonist of the novel, the Queen of Hearts, is the supreme ruler of Wonderland and won't let Alice leave. After great suffering, Alice finally manages to leave Wonderland. She wakes up on her sister's lap at the riverbank questioning if it was all a dream.


Characters


Alice: The protagonist of the novel. A seven year old girl, who is used to the monotony of the world and has a insatiable curiosity on everything around her. Wonderland is the great contrast between everything she believed.


The White Rabbit: A very important character to the story. He is the one who brings Alice to Wonderland. He is always worried about the time  adn somewhat manic, timid and aggressive. 


The Queen of Hearts: The ruler of Wonderland. The antagonist of the novel, a very demanding a angry character.


The Cheshire Cat:  A classic and iconic character of the novel. A cat who can teleport and become invisible at will. He is responsible for explaining the madness of the Wonderland to Alice


The Caterpillar: Another Wonderland creature. He lives in a mushroom and is constantly smoking a hookah. He always treat Alice with disdain.


Setting

Alice in Wonderland  is set in various places such as riverbank at the begining of the story or the rabbit hole. However it is mostly set in the magical places inside the Wonderland such as the forest she meets the Cheshire Cat and the Caterpillar and the Queen of Hearts Castle


SparkNotes. "Alice in Wonderland" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011


PS. I used Sparknotes since it's hard to remember every detail of the plot or traces of the characters. It was some kind of aid while i was writing. I'm not that lazy ;D

Lewis Carrol

If i was told to describe Lewis in a single phrase, i would probably say:


"Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, mostly known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was born in England in 1832 and was a mathematic, photographer, logician and writer who became famous because of his work Alice in Wonderland; died in 1898."

However, one phrase is nothing compared to the actual life of this unique man and his entire work developed throughout his 66 years alive.

Lewis Carroll

Charles L. Dodgson was born, more precisely, in Daresbury, England, on January 27th of 1832. He received a very religious education from his protestant father and was expected to also follow the religious carrier. However, Charles decided to attend the University of Oxford. And in 1855 he was invited to stay at the university as a mathematics teacher, where he taught until 1881. Contrasting his first books regarding geometry and algebra, Dodgson stood out for his outstanding logician skills. This interest for logic, reason and numbers led Charles to write some books about it -The Game of Logic (1887) and Symbolic Logic (1896).

During his years in Oxford, Dodgson met one of his great friends, Henry Liddell, father of 3 daughters - Alice, Lorina and Edith. His friend's daughter name, Alice, and his famous novel character is not a coincidence. Charles inspired his pure character in this enigmatic flesh and bones girl.


C. Dodgson finally adopts the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, which he uses to sign his literary works leaving his real name to the scientific papers. After the huge success Alice in Wonderland in 1865, Carrol wrote its sequel Through de Looking Glass in 1871, which was also an masterpiece. Other notable works were: The Hunting of Snark of 1876 and Sylvie and Bruno of 1889.

From 1850 onwards, Carroll also stood out as a photographer. His favorite pictures were important figures of the time ( artists, writers, poets, scientists, teachers, etc) and children, mostly girls between 8 and 12 years old


Charles Lutwidge Dodgson passed away in January 14th of 1899 in the city of Guilford, England

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Lewis Carroll is mostly known for his peculiar writing style. Characterizing it as unique is a slight underrating of his skills. Carroll's books transmit an incredible amount of energy and charm, perfect for a children's book. One of Carroll's many traits in writing is the often use of italics to give emphasis to many words and passages. Its amazing how this italics together with his colorful writing adds to the mood of the work. Lewis makes it clear how his writing isn't 100% serious, its almost like children playing. You can feel the magic in it.


Wikipedia. "Lewis Carroll" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011

The Victorian Era

Well, this the first actual post/topic and is one of the most important, since we can situate ourselves in history and the contexts in which the authors lived and the novels were written. Let's begin then, shall we?

The Victorian literature was produced during the reign of Queen Victoria who lived between 1837 and 1901. This period later on was called the Victorian Era. Mainly, it was a transition period between the writers of the romantic era and the modern literature of the 20th century.

Queen Victoria in 1887

Queen Victoria is known for her great administration of the United Kingdom. During her reign, the British were gifted with a prolonged prosperity and solid peace. In addition, Queen Victoria, is also responsible for economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation.

During the Victorian Era, people saw the "novel" taking the lead over all the various literary works out there in English Literature. Because of that, more works were influencing more people. Books and novels rapidly gained value and importance, creating a huge reading mass not only in the United Kingdom but in other countries.

Victorian literature is known for its strong sense of morality, prudishness and oppression. Its novels are mostly idealized portraits of difficult lives in which hard work, perseverance, love and luck pervade. Virtue is always rewarded and evil are suitably punished. They tended to show an improving human nature with a central moral lesson at its core. While this formula was the basis for much of earlier Victorian fiction, the situation became more complex as the century progressed. In addition, Victorian literature is also known for its attempts to combine imagination and emotion with the neoclassical ideal of the presence of art in the common person. Some of the best-known authors of this period are Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), and Charles Dickens (Great Expectations).
Wikipedia. "Victorian Era" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011

Wikipedia. "Victorian Literature" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011

eNote. "Victorian Literature" 2011. n. pag. Web. 28/02/2011

Introduction

Hello everybody! (or just Ms. Lima. since I'm pretty sure you'll be the only person to ever read this blog)

I felt it would be adequate to write an introduction to this blog , something like an "about page", since just trowing a bunch of info here wouldn't make that much sense.

Well, this blog is part my AP English Course and I'll be graded for it =D. Here I'll discuss some topics related to the Victorian Era in the English Literature and the novel Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol.

I hope you enjoy!