Alice Was Not Surprised

The main points of the paper are:

Alice doesn't freak out when she sees the White Rabbit. It isn't something that is 'impossible to exist.' this indicates she still has an active imagination.

When the rabbit looks at a watch, though, that's something totally new and arouses her curiosity.

Even when she falls down the rabbit hole she keep things as natural as possible. (She doesn't just drop the empty jar of marmalade because she's concerned it might hit someone when it falls.)

Alice is surprised when she drinks something and shrinks since normally drinking something doesn't cause a person to shrink. (Later in the house of the White Rabbit she sees something to drink and something to eat and expects something unusual will happen to her. She has adapted to a new reality in Wonderland.)

Alice, while in Wonderland, can no longer be sure of her 'rational' knowledge. The poems she tries to recite, for example, come out all wrong.

The Rabbit is shown to be a type of Victorian gentleman when Bill the Lizard refers to him as 'yer honour.'

Then there's the odd sideways (?) use of words when the one queen talks about jam in a way that Alice will never get any of it at all.

The White Rabbit calls Alice 'Mary Ann' which was the name given to female servants. Lewis Carroll might have been making a comment on the upper class here.


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