Recently, I did a bit of book
shopping (seriously don't let me into a book shop with too much money; I will
buy out the store!). I bought "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland &
Other Stories" by Lewis Carroll. Besides Alice in Wonderland it has all of
Carroll's other work. Aside from it having a pink leather bound hard cover with
gold pages! It's a simply beautiful story.
I've got to say, in this day
of tablet technology, NOTHING beats a real book. Just the smell and the texture
of the pages just immerses you, wraps you up in the actually
"reading" part.
While reading the
introduction of the book, I found that Carroll received much criticism for
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." The book was written in 1865. In
the period of the 20's when Freud's writings on sexual repression where in the
spot light, some people assumed the author had a sick fascination with young
girls. If that's true or not, I don't know (I'll leave that up to you all to
make up your minds); but I have a completely different approach. [I'd just like
to make clear these are just my own observations and opinions] I think it’s
about a child’s introduction to the adult / grown up world. You're finally
comfortable as a child (going through school, making friends and learning new
things), then you're sudden thrown into a new world again. Like Alice, you
don't really know who you are anymore, and the world around you has morphed
into a strange, unfamiliar place.
I haven't read the whole book
yet but I have picked up on a few things that are symbolic or meaningful:
In the beginning, Alice
chases the little white bunny into the rabbit hole. I think this, in a way,
symbolises the terrifyingly brief period of innocence of your life as a child.
She doesn't know where she's going, or what will happen; she just has the
thrill of the chase and the thought of the endless possibilities when she
stops.
Also, there are no other
children in the story (so far) that have played any role - just Alice. All are
adults or creatures of some description that don't have a definable age.
Everything in the book is
very proper and adult. For example: the rabbit in the waist-coat with a pocket
watch, the mad hatter and the hare having "Tea," and the Queen
playing croquet.
I'll leave it at that for
now. But it's a little bit of food for thought. The more I read the stronger I seem
to be feeling about the story.
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