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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, is recognized by all as the silly fairy-tale author of stories such as Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass. However, little is known about what drove him to write such obviously fantastic stories. Themes such as nonsense and fantasy, education, drug abuse, racism and prejudice, money, malnutrition and public health are touched upon throughout his works. While only speculation can be offered, it is clear that these topics were developed as a result of real life experiences. Carroll's childhood had a strong impact on his writing, mostly because of his playful nature. By this time [age 8 ] Lewis Carroll was very fond of inventing games for the amusement of his brothers and sisters, (Kelly 3).
As a child, Carroll was very attached to his mother Carroll's love and affection for his mother was exceptional (Kelly, 2). Her death in 1851 had an enormous negative effect on Carroll's morale, which was at an all-time low, and when his father died, Carroll stated that it was the greatest blow that has ever fallen on my life, (Gardner 9). During his adolescent years, he secluded himself from others because of his everlasting stammer. Carroll was a part of the wealthier class in Victorian England, but not aristocratic. His father was an Archdeacon at Christ Church in Yorkshire, England. From his father, he developed an early love of nonsense.
A letter from Archdeacon Dodgson, away in Leeds, to his eight-year-old son, for example, reads (Wullschlager 31): Then what a bawling & a tearing of hair there will be! Pigs and babies, camels and Butterflies, rolling in the Gutter together old women rushing up chimneys & Cows after them ducks hiding themselves in coffee Cups and fat geese trying to squeeze themselves Into pencil cases at last the Mayor of Leeds will Be found covered up with custard & stuck full of Almonds to make him look like a sponge cake that he may escape the dreadful destruction of the town. These such letters from his father was the germ of the Alice books, with their babies turning into pigs, bread and butterflies, little girls stuck in chimneys, talking puddings and people leaping into soup tureens (Wullschlager 31). Education played a large role in Carroll's writing, as it was his treasure of varied knowledge that allowed him to expand upon the characters and depiction of Victorian England. Throughout the Alice books, Alice constantly refers to her education in a very proud manor. However, what Alice refers back to is either useless or wrong.
For example, while she is falling through the hole, she states I wonder how many miles Ive fallen by this time? she said aloud. I must be nearing the center of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think- For, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge. As there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over (Cohen 187). Alice is correct in saying the distance through the earth, but is incorrect when she wonders if everything will be upside down when she arrives at the other side.
Here, Carroll combines his aspects of education and humor, perhaps trying to make the former more desirable for his young audiences. It is know that there widespread use of opium during the Victorian age. Carroll's usage of opium may have been reflected in his writing, specifically the detailed descriptions, such as the growing and shrinking of Alice and of the caterpillar smoking the hookah. The complex dream atmosphere which Alice lives through can easily be compared to a mind-altering drug experience. The idea of eating a mushroom or drinking from a bottle that causes one to feel altered in someway is like a drug experience. (Kelly, 143).
In Carroll's time, five out of six families habitually used opium. Infant mortality was an extremely common result of use of the narcotic. It was said that infants shrank up into little old men when they became sick. This is similar to what happens to the duchess baby turning into a pig, (Gardner 328). The baby grunted again, and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had a very turn-up nose, much more like a snout than a real nose; also its eyes were getting extremely small for a baby.
Altogether Alice did not like the look of the thing at all. But perhaps it was only sobbing, she thought, and looked into its eyes again, to see if there were any tears. (Wonderland 82) Of course, this is not to imply that Carroll's works are simply a result of his opium usage, but such evidence and confirmation within the Alice books especially certainly expose such abuse. During the Victorian ages, the upper class looked down upon the Irish and blacks of the lower classes. Both were viewed as unreasonable, irrational, easily excited, and child like. The cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing every thing within her reach at the Duchess and the baby -- the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes... 'If everyone minded their own business', the Duchess said, in a hoarse growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does'... 'Which would not be an advantage', said Alice, who felt very glad to get an opportunity of showing off a little of her knowledge. 'Just think of what work it would make of day and night!
You see the earth takes 24 hours to turn round on its axis'... 'Talking of axes', said the Duchess, 'chop off their heads!' (Wonderland 48) This passage from Alice in Wonderland is almost identical to Herbert Spencers argument that intellectual traits of the uncivilized are the traits recurring in the children of the civilized (Kelly 52). Lewis Carroll presents a reality from a childs extreme fantasy in which adults are cruel, childlike, irresponsible, impulsive, and self-indulgent. These adjectives are almost identical to how the Victorian upper class attributed to the Blacks and lower class. While the cook is hurling pans, the ignorant Duchess mistakes the work axis for axed and orders Alice's decapitation.
Carroll is using the traits that are labeled to the lower class to describe the same trait in which the more authoritative class shows. With these i...
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Research essay sample on Alice In Wonderland Lewis Carroll
