Overview of Alice in Wonderland: A Summary of Selected Criticism and an Explication.

This thesis was written in 1971. Some of the main points (and my own comments) include:

There are 2 types of people who read Alice in Wonderland. They either really like it or they are a critic and only read the book as a totally serious work.

The author examines Lewis Carroll's humor, his 'rage' for order, his logical mind and his fondness for little girls. (I would have added his mathematical nature and his inventiveness to these four.)

Critics interpret Alice in Wonderland as a satire or an allegory.

There are books about the psychology of Lewis Carroll. These vary in approach and assumptions.

Lewis Carroll was willing to make fun of himself (which is pretty cool, really.) The Dodo is based on him due to his stuttering. He can also be seen as the White Knight, an old man who is gentle and invents things.

He never joked about religion.

The author talks about how his life was orderly. It's interesting, though, that Alice in Wonderland is composed of considerable chaos and very little, if any, actual order. Also, it's not surprising he was very orderly considering is work in math (orderly) and logic (orderly.)

The author examines Carroll's relationship to little girls and how he felt more at ease with them than with grownups.

He wrote lots of letters and some of them are very funny.

The author also examines some examples of how some people tried to read too much into the book. For example, one writes that the mouse is a Church mouse and the Caterpillar is an example of Oxford philosophy. One thing to keep in mind, the author notes, is that t he biographies and criticisms were written after his death (and by people that didn't know him personally.)

The author examines Alice's behavior in relationship to how young girls were supposed to behave in Victorian society.

Logic is not one solid thing in Wonderland. It becomes relative according to who is talking. There is going to be differences between the logic of the reader the lack of logic in Wonderland.

Language is of major importance in Alice in Wonderland. Alice has a tendency to offend Wonderland characters. (Humpty Dumpty's talk on words is significant.)

What several thesis writers point out is that Alice is hostile to the Wonderland environment and she eventually destroys Wonderland.

There's an objective narrator in the story.

Personal identity is significant and difficult to pin down.

There's types of order in Wonderland in contrast to the type of order that Alice is used to.

I think the thesis is well written and it's pretty easy to understand. The thesis can be found here. Just click view/open.

Main Index

Main Alice in Wonderland index page