The Themes
| Changing Identity | Death | Social Class Distinctions |
| Rule and Misrule | Language | Meaning in Dreams, Nonsense and Puzzles |
Rules and Misrule –
‘If it was so,
it might be; and if it were so, it would be: but as it isn’t, it ain’t.
That’s logic’. – Tweedledee.
Rules, balance, order, regulations and control. These were bywords for the
Victorian society of Lewis Carroll. Carroll (Dodgson) was known as a stickler
for details and a bit of a pedant. This is reflected in the many characters
he created in his Wonderland stories that are constantly questioning or correcting
a bemused Alice. These range from the philosophical questions asked of Alice
by the Caterpillar (“Who are you?”) to the March Hare’s correction
of Alice’s misunderstanding of language in mixing up saying what one
means and meaning what one says. There are several other characters in the
stories obsessed by rule making and forthright in their corrections, notably
The Red Queen, who is the essence of the overbearing governess.
Alice throughout the story is constantly breaking rules and transgressing codes. She tries to remember a moralizing poem only to turn it into something very comic in “You are old, Father William.” She kicks Bill up the backside when the lizard comes down the chimney during her brief visit to the White Rabbit’s house (which she almost destroys).
The appeal of the story for children (and adults) isn’t just rule breaking. Alice is the underdog and so Alice’s achievement and ultimate appeal is her triumph over the adults that dominated her, notably in the scene with the pack of cards. Alice breaks rules and flouts authority – both characteristics that have popular appeal with all ages.
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