Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland By:Casie Filjones P-2

Lewis Carroll, English author  was born on January 27, 1832, and died January 14,  His real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson  He was the third child born out of 11  He was a author, mathematician, Anglican clergyman and a photographer.

The Real Alice  on July 4, 1862, on a blazing summer afternoon – Dodgson began to tell a long story to Alice Liddell (died in 1934), his child friend, who was the daughter of Henry George Liddell, the head of his Oxford college. The Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was born from these stories he made up for her.

Summary  One summer day Alice was sitting on the riverbank with her older sister. Alice’s sister was reading a book and Alice noticed that the book didn’t have any pictures, which made Alice lose interest in it. Then as she looked out into the meadow, she saw something very peculiar. She saw a large white rabbit running past her looking at his watch saying “Oh dear! I shall be too late.” Then he popped down a rabbit hole. Alice, being the curious girl she was, followed the rabbit and found herself in a wonderland. She met some interesting creatures including the King and Queen of Hearts, the Hatter, and the March Hare. She found that many creatures in this land didn’t have the best of tempers and didn’t want to try to help Alice figure out where to go and what to do. When Alice was in this land she expected the unexpected and didn’t think much of the unusual occurrences. As much as Alice thought it interesting being with these strange creatures and trying to get along with them, she wondered when she would return home to her normal life or if she would.

Alice  Alice is the main character of the story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the sequel "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there". She is a seven- year-old English girl with lots of imagination Alice is polite, well raised and interested in others, although she sometimes makes the wrong remarks and upsets the creatures in Wonderland..  The character of Alice is based on a real girl, called Alice Liddell, who was one of the author's child- friends.

The White Rabbit  The White Rabbit is the first Wonderland character Alice encounters. She follows him when he hurries into his hole and thereby enters Wonderland. He appears to be late for his job with the Duchess. While walking through Wonderland, Alice comes upon his house where the White Rabbit, still in a hurry, mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann. In the end we discover that the White Rabbit is a herald in the Queen of Heart's court.  Dean Liddell, Alice's father, might have been an inspiration for the White Rabbit. The Dean was always running late as well; when Alice was a child, there was no west entrance to the Christ Church Cathedral and the Dean would normally have had to leave the Deanery, walk along Tom Quad, around the Cloisters and into the Cathedral through the south door. Therefore he was notorious for being late for services.

The Cheshire Cat  The Cheshire Cat is the cat of the Duchess. Alice meets him when she leaves the Duchess house, and finds it in a tree. He constantly grins and can disappear and reappear whenever he likes. Sometimes he disappears and leaves his grin behind.  It is not 100% clear why Carroll named this character 'Cheshire Cat'. "To grin like a Cheshire Cat" was a common phrase in Carroll's day. Its origin is unknown, but it may have originated from a sign painter in Cheshire, who painted grinning lions on the sign-boards of inns in the area.

The Mad Hatter  The Mad Hatter is one of the members of the Mad Tea Party. He occasionally is very rude and provokes Alice during the tea party.  The phrase 'mad as a hatter' was common in Carroll's time. 'Mad as a hatter' probably owes its origin to the fact that hatters actually did go mad, because the mercury they used sometimes gave them mercury poisoning.

The Queen of Hearts  The Queen of Hearts rules over Wonderland and is a tyrant. She constantly orders the beheading of people when something isn't to her liking. She also has her own ideas about how trials should be conducted, and is feared by all other Wonderland inhabitants.

The Caterpillar  The Caterpillar actually teaches Alice how to cope with the difficulties she encounters in Wonderland. He teaches her how to change size by eating the mushroom and thereby to adapt to her environment when needed.

Quotes  "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."  “"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”  " Curiouser and curiouser."  "'I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir,' said Alice, 'because I'm not myself you see.'"

Through The Looking Glass…  is the sequel to Alice In Wonderland.  When Dodgson was in London, he met a little girl, Alice Raikes. He invited her indoors, put an orange in her right hand and asked her in which hand she was holding it. Then, he put her in front of a mirror, and asked which hand the child in the mirror was holding the orange in. Alice told him that it was in her left hand. When he asked her for an explanation, she answered: "Supposing I was on the other side of the glass, wouldn't the orange still be in my right hand?" He was delighted with her answer and decided that his new book would be about the world on the other side of the looking glass.

JABBERWOCKY told by TweedleDee&TweedleDum about the Walrus and the Carpenter (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)`  Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Movies  Many movies have been made. Each are mixtures of Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass.  But the two most popular are the original Disney movie and Tim Burton’s version.  Movie Trailer: db.com/video/imdb/vi / db.com/video/imdb/vi /

Works Cited  w/QUO.html w/QUO.html  wonderland.net/ wonderland.net/  literature.com/carroll/ literature.com/carroll/