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CASD 1717 – Fall 2024

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

50th Street New York City subway tile mural of Alice pulling the curtain back with the White Rabbit with pocket watch out
“Alice In Wonderland Subway Tile Art” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Scott Beale

While today we may think of Alice in Wonderland as one complete story, Lewis Carroll published Alice’s story in two parts – Alice’s Adventures Underground (later Wonderland) and Through the Looking Glass.

Read

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – chapters 1-7, 11 and 12

Through the Looking Glass – chapters 1,2, 4, 6, 9-12 (these last three are VERY short.)

If you have the time, I do highly recommend reading more of each of these texts. Text links are via Project Gutenberg.

Alice in Wonderland Text
Through the Looking Glass Text
Alice in Wonderland Audio Book
Through the Looking Glass Audio Book

How would you describe these texts? What is the writing style like? What was expected? What was unexpected?

Go back to the Golden Age
About Lewis Carroll

Comments

20 responses to “Alice in Wonderland”

  1. Sofia Buttaro Avatar
    Sofia Buttaro

    The stories in both books are fantastical, combining ridiculousness with lighthearted reasoning. With its use of wordplay, riddles, and absurd scenarios that defy logic, the literature is incredibly inventive. Carroll creates a sense of perceptual uncertainty through the use of vivid, dreamy surroundings and odd characters. Alice’s curiosity and her interactions with strange characters like the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter are expected components. The reader is taken aback by the unexpected turns, though, including the sudden changes in plot and identity. Carroll’s work defies traditional narrative, which increases the unpredictability by largely omitting expected conflict resolution or obvious moral implications. Though tinted with slight reflections on the difficulties of growing up, the main tone is playful.

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  2. Brittany Giler Avatar
    Brittany Giler

    Lewis Carroll’s writing style is both playful and sophisticated. He employs a simple, straightforward narrative that is easy for children to understand. However, the story is filled with wordplay, puns, and logical paradoxes that will challenge and delight adults. Also Beneath the whimsical surface, the story touches on darker themes, such as the fear of the unknown, the loss of childhood innocence, and the absurdity of adult life.

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  3. Anthea longville Avatar
    Anthea longville

    These text are creative wordplay, imaginative, absurdity and exploration of realities but they differ in tone, structure and theme. In wonderland Alice is guided by curiosity and finds herself in a nonsensical world filled with different types of characters and constant surprises.In the wonderland text there is often playfulness and environments that cant be predicted. Example the Mad Hatter’s tea party and the Queen of Hearts croquet game. The writing style is unique and highly important filled with playful language. What was expected was an adventurous story with magical elements

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    1. Ariana Loyfman Avatar
      Ariana Loyfman

      I agree that this version has a lot of creativity and imaginative factors as well as imagery. I expected for similar features that include a lot of descriptive language that allows the reader to imagine the creativity in their minds and to bring the magic to life.

      Reply
  4. Alexa Mendez Avatar
    Alexa Mendez

    All of the texts were similar in the matter of being fantasy and enjoyable for children. The intended audience was for children on any age and they describe a mythical world that Alice stumbles into.

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  5. Mahnoor Avatar
    Mahnoor

    The texts both follow the story of Alice in Wonderland; however, Alice’s journey goes along differently. The setting and how Alice gets to the magical world, the characters, her goal through each stage, and the way time moves are some of the main differences between the two books. The writing style in both is very magical and whimsical, requiring readers to use their imagination. Some things that were present as expected are the moral lesson that the character learns and the children’s story of Alice in Wonderland. While reading, I often unexpected how absurd the story can get. 

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  6. Amy Khait Avatar
    Amy Khait

    The texts both describe the story of Alice in Wonderland. They both are creative, unusual, imaginative and full of exploration, adventure, and magic but they differ in their sequence of events, characters, and themes. Things that I expected was that there was still lessons and messages learned throughout the story, such as fearing the the unknown and the loss of innocence. I unexpected that the story can get pretty odd.

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  7. Kaylee Pontone Avatar
    Kaylee Pontone

    I really enjoyed his writing style because it was just very funny which stands out from the other traditional writing from other classics I had been used to, where the text just seemed to drag on. His was clever to me and kept my attention.

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  8. Naurah Romulus Avatar
    Naurah Romulus

    Both texts are playful and strange, with unusual characters and funny wordplay. The writing style is imaginative and dreamlike, which is expected since they’re fantasy stories. What’s surprising is that there are hidden messages about things like identity and rules beneath the silliness. The stories are easy to follow but have clever puzzles and deeper meanings that make you think. I really enjoyed reading them.

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  9. Nitzan Naim Avatar
    Nitzan Naim

    Both texts are creative and imaginative, and it feels like there are actually no rules at all—everything can happen. So, nothing was expected/predictable to me. Especially in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the writing style is more episodic, and there is little connection between chapters, which, for me, makes it harder to read and follow.

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    1. Anifat Abumislimova Avatar
      Anifat Abumislimova

      I agree with you. I also found Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a little bit challenging because each chapter feels like has own story with little connection to the chapters. And how I would describe the texts, I would describe them as playful, creative, and imaginative.

      Reply
  10. Victoria Lucenti Avatar
    Victoria Lucenti

    These texts present so many features of fantasy, exploration, and the use of structure truly within wordplay, and the overall messages and themes that are connected, yet hidden in a way within these texts that makes a reader, such as myself, really sit back and look deeper into the stories. Some things that were expected were Alice’s own curiosity that led her into a magical realm/world, especially with known characters that she encounters. Something that was unexpected was the use of darker themes within the texts that made the stories a little more strange and peculiar in my own personal opinion.

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  11. Kateryna Senkovych Avatar
    Kateryna Senkovych

    The text seems to be creative and playful, intended for children. The story is full of unusual characters and fantasy elements. But underneath those fantasy elements, there were also darker themes in the story, too.

    Reply
  12. Selina Chen Avatar
    Selina Chen

    Both texts tell the story of Alice in Wonderland, filled with creativity and adventure, but they feature different events, characters, and themes. The stories mix absurdity with a fun tone, showcasing Carroll’s clever wordplay and illogical scenarios. Alice’s curiosity and her encounters with characters like the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter are familiar, but the unexpected plot twists keep the reader engaged.

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  13. ashley dai Avatar
    ashley dai

    I chose to listen to the audiobook versions. As a child, I found the language too difficult to understand when attempting to read by myself, and wondered if I would feel differently about the appropriateness of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland if it were read to me. I believe the text succeeds in pleasing both audiences of adult and child. The overall tone of the text comes off as condescending to me, as if every thing Alice does is expected of a human child (a sentient being with zero foresight, and where there is foresight, there is lack of safety for one’s well-being as it is overridden by desire or curiosity). I.e. Alice eating everything without hesitation because she knows there will be an effect post-consumption but has no clue what the effect will be.

    There is a huge continuous theme of curiosity regarding theory of mind, something common for a child of Alice’s age ~7y. She is very aware that other beings have lives and thoughts of their own, but she has no sense of empathy until she is faced with their reactions. This provides the ‘wonder’ effect for the listening child, and makes the stories relatable and engaging. Alice’s reactions to the creatures become interesting as she steps into a role of authority as she garners more agency in this world. The first obvious sign of Alice’s discovery of self is when she meets the baby— a creature distinctly younger than she is, and therefore, to her, less knowledgeable (as everyone around her gives the messaging that they know more because they have been around for longer). “Don’t grunt, that’s not a proper way of expressing yourself.”

    Her boldness grows even stronger after the constant questioning of the Caterpillar about who Alice is. We see this in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, where she eventually storms out dubbing it “the stupidest tea party” after she is spoken over multiple times by the Hatter and the Hare.

    I think this energy carries over into Through the Looking Glass when we see Alice get confronted with her lack of knowledge again when she comes across poetry she cannot decipher and vocabulary she does not understand— as well as confusing homophones. In the scenes with the queens she begins to get more and more frustrated as she cannot seem to answer any of their questions. However, she remains confident in her intellect by acknowledging them as riddles with no right answer. Still, she has a strong desire to prove the queens wrong. Whether it is through the writing or the narrator, it seems that Alice’s desire stems from defensiveness and not defiance.

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  14. Michelle Cortes Rodriguez Avatar
    Michelle Cortes Rodriguez

    As I mentioned before I never encountered any of Alice’s stories but after reading these texts they are very interesting and creative. The writing style in most of them were really different but yet it was in a good way because it made you want to read more.

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  15. Tory Sen Avatar
    Tory Sen

    “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll, are both creative and funny. They are both full of strange situations and jokes. Because Alice is naturally curious, her dreams take her to strange places and with strange people. The silly tone and strange story don’t have any clear morals or conflicts. Instead, they focus on discovery and creativity. You can expect magical adventures, but the story twists that you can’t see coming and the lack of traditional structure give it a surprising amount of depth.

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  16. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Both do include the theme of being magical and imaginative for their audience of young children. The adventures of Alice may differ slightly but the overall plot of the story is similar.

    Reply
  17. Amna Syeda Avatar
    Amna Syeda

    The texts from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are playful and creative, with humor, wordplay, and strange logic. The stories feel like a dream, with unexpected twists and odd characters. While the talking animals and magical settings were expected, the unpredictable and nonsensical events were surprising, making the stories fun and thought-provoking.

    Reply
  18. Jaylyn Calles Avatar
    Jaylyn Calles

    How would you describe these texts? What is the writing style like? What was expected? What was unexpected?
    I describe these texts very magical , creative and fantasy. The style looks like old times writing. What was expected based on the movie i previously seen is lots of descriptive words to help the reader go to the place alice is in. What was unexpected was story line.

    Reply

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