Did you know: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was never meant to be published in the first place? What a shame that would have been for the world! Lewis Carroll wrote iconic, fantastical characters in an imaginary world which has made the beloved children’s fantasy book popular since its publication on November 26, 1865. Even now, the story continues to be reimagined and reinvented and this keeps the story alive.
Synopsis
The story starts with our main character, a girl named Alice who one day wakes up to see a rabbit in quite a hurry. Because of her curiousness, she followed it through a rabbit hole, which turned out to be a door to the fantasy world of Wonderland inhabited by peculiar creatures she had never seen before. Alice then lives through an enthralling adventure that includes changing her size by drinking magical fluids, meeting the odd beings in the land, and of course making new friends.
Readers will follow her journey in an unfamiliar and fascinating world and her encounters with March Hare, Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts. How did Carroll come up with these odd ideas? Let’s deep dive in the rabbit hole!
Lewis Carroll’s Muse
Who in the world am I?
Lewis Carroll’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and he met Alice, his muse, when he was hired to photograph her family. He was invited to snap the photos of the Liddell family where he eventually formed a close bond; especially with the children. one notable moment of his encounters was when Carroll and a friend took the children, Lorina, Edith, and Alice on a boat trip to a nearby town where they had a tea party. This was inspiration for the tea parties in his book.
During their trip, this is where Carroll started to make up a magical story about Alice to entertain the girls. It is widely known that Liddell herself inspired the character of Alice. Real-life Alice became so fascinated with the story that she asked Carroll countless times to retell the story. As a gift, Lewis Carroll wrote a copy and drew illustrations to accompany his tale entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.
A visitor in the Liddell’s residence saw the manuscript and thought that it should be published. It was only then when Carroll revised and expanded the story.
The Fantastical World of Wonderland
The author’s instant connection with the girls was rooted in his being the eldest among the Dodgson siblings. He knew that the minds of children enjoyed nonsensical things, so he told the adventure in an unconventional way. However, some of the bits and pieces of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland came from the real experiences of Carroll with the Liddell girls, such as their tea party.
In an account made by the real Alice in 1932,
they used to sit on the big sofa on each side of him, while he told us stories, illustrating them by pencil or ink drawings as he went along.… He seemed to have an endless store of these fantastical tales, which he made up as he told them, drawing busily on a large sheet of paper all the time. They were not always entirely new. Sometimes they were new versions of old stories; sometimes they started on the old basis but grew into new tales owing to the frequent interruptions which opened up fresh and undreamed-of possibilities.
Reading this statement astonishes readers on how Lewis Carroll’s mind worked during these times.
Carroll was also fond of inventing games when he was young among his little circle of friend in their isolated country village. The riddles and poems associated with the story were widely notable in his published book.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland combines the logical and untainted amusement of children. The origin of the world and characters remain a mystery. Like Mad Hatter’s riddle in the book, the story does not need interpretations and afterthoughts. It has no hidden meaning nor message since the tale of Alice is not an allegory. What the author made clear was the story has touches of gentle satire.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland phenomenon
A tale intended for a young girl named Alice has been adapted to numerous films, theatrical performances, ballets, and various book versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with or without illustrations have circulated across the globe. This English children’s book received both positive and negative interpretations because of its surreal features. What are your thoughts about Lewis Carroll’s creation?
