Alice’s adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass
“And what is the use of a book”, thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
What is the use of such a book indeed. Luckily, Alice’s adventure in Wonderland[1] is a book full of curious conversations and wondrous pictures. It starts of in Victorian times, where young Alice is sitting in a garden next to her sister. Alice, being terribly bored, allows her mind to wonder. It is a rather warm day, making her thoughts “sleepy and stupid”.
Life seems good, there is a small rabbit passing by, with pink eyes and dressed in a waistcoat. On first thought she does not really pay attention to this.. until he takes a watch out of his pockets and mummers to itself “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”. Of this, Alice does take notice, and follows him down the rabbit hole, where all the wondrous adventures begin. Down, down, down through the rabbit hole she went. Either she fell so slowly or the fall was indeed quite long, so Alice begins thinking again. The rabbit hole is her doorway to wonderland, in which she has many adventures. She meets many talking animals, strange creatures such as: Humpty Dumpty, the Duchess, the smoking caterpillar and of course the king and queen of hearts.
The book lacks a plot, but consists of different situations, always evolving to become “curiouser and curiouser”. This however, does not make it any less of a good book. The book is an incredibly popular children’s book, it has endured since 1895, when it was originally published. Does this mean that adults can’t read it? Of course not! On the contrary! Alice’s adventures in Wonderland is a wondrous book to read for adults, it offers a way to relax and just enjoy some strange situations. The world we live in currently can be so harsh and stern, that a good book can be just what we need sometimes. Just stop thinking and allow the words of this wonderful story to take you away, away from the harsh reality that we live in, and into a world of long lost and forgotten childhood dreams. Alice’s rabbit hole is her door to Wonderland, the book is ours. Alice shows us a whole new way of thinking as she falls down the rabbit hole, imploring us to conjure up as many as seven impossible things, before breakfast! The flowers sing exquisitely, Humpty Dumpty tells magnificent stories and the Queen of Hearts is terrible at playing crochet, eventually resulting in a rather funny trial. The mad hatter and march hare are well, mad, and Cheshire cat’s grin speaks full of mischief and fun, and perhaps even a little danger. Take a bite and grow, take a small sip and shrink. Wonderland really is a land filled with wonder.
In a similar fashion as Wonderland, again we travel along with Alice to another whimsical world. This time, we pass through the looking glass and wind up in a marvellous garden, divided up in a similar fashion as a chess board. This grants the story somewhat more structure than Wonderland and there is significantly more of a plot.
Alice has to travel through the chess board following instructions she gained from the White Queen. While passing through the chess board, she again meets many strange creatures and experiences strange adventures. This is where she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee and a number of different creatures. The Red Queen and White Queen quarrel and especially the Red Queen deceives Alice quite often, though in the end she wins. Both stories are wonderful, and Carroll never seems happier than when playing with the English language. Several peculiar exclamations are uttered throughout the books, making both of them a fun reprieve from normal life. And, like Alice eventually wakes up from her incredible dreams and tells her older sister everything, we too must, unfortunately, finish the book and go back to our usual lives. The stories over, the dreams are dreamt, but never truly forgotten. And always they are waiting for us to return to the incredible world full of wonders.. Wonderland.