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strange happenings, and strange
linguistic logic. This is the focus
of the book and its principal theme.
Part of the book’s coherence
comes from the fact that Alice
herself entertains unconventional
logic. As she falls down the rabbit
hole she wonders if she is going
to land in the “Antipathies”
(Antipodes), and imagines herself
appearing ignorant when she has to
ask whether she is in Australia or
New Zealand. Her next observationshows Carroll brilliantly inhabiting
a child’s ingenuousness: “No, it’ll
never do to ask: perhaps I shall
see it written up somewhere.”
Alice constantly wonders: about
who she is, what are the rules of
this peculiar world, and how she is
to regain normality; common issues
of childhood. Her bewilderment at
first focuses on her being the wrong
size, either too big or too small to do
as she wants. After she meets the
Caterpillar a new anxiety arises:
the challenge of being repeatedly,
often rudely, contradicted. Toward
the end, with the Queen’s repeated
plea for a beheading, the possibility
of violence adds to the tension.Escape from rules
The characters that Alice meets
are mostly animals. Aside from
Alice and her sister, who features
before and after the adventure,
the only human characters are the
Mad Hatter and the Duchess, since
the King and Queen of Hearts are
playing cards. Parents do not make
an appearance, nor is there any
reference to them.
Yet the inversions of everyday
life that imprison Alice might also,
at the same time, be seen asALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
liberating by Victorian adults
accustomed to convention. One
of the attractions of nonsense is
that it offers a playground for the
imagination, and arguably for the
satisfaction of subliminal needs,
including occasional escape from
social rules.
Alice makes no reference at the
end to having learned any lessons
from her adventures. However, she
does, in the course of the book,
become more forthright, and by the
time of the trial scene near the end
she is capable of saying to the‘Well! I’ve often seen a cat
without a grin,’ thought Alice;
‘but a grin without a cat!
It’s the most curious thing
I ever saw in all my life!’
Alice’s Adventures
in WonderlandThe brusque, hookah-smoking
Caterpillar intensifies Alice’s
insecurity: she is so confused by
Wonderland that she cannot even
answer his question “Who are you?”The Harry Potter phenomenon
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
novels (1997–2007), featuring
the adventures of a young wizard,
show how powerful children’s
writing can be. Rowling owes
the phenomenal success of the
books partly to her skillful mixing
of genres, combining fantasy,
coming of age, and school story,
together with elements of the
thriller and romance. Rowling
has stated that death is a major
theme in the books, but this does
not prevent them from containing
a strong vein of humor.The publication schedule of the
series allowed Harry to grow
up in real time, so that the first
generation of young Harry
Potter readers literally grew
up along with him, making
their experience of reading the
books particularly powerful.
Immensely popular with
children and also garnering a
substantial adult readership,
the books have generated great
wealth for their author. More
than 450 million of the seven
books had been sold by 2013.For Harry Potter, mortality lurks
in the shadows: he is a hero fighting
the forces of darkness, and learning
life lessons in the process.US_168-171_Wonderland.indd 170 08/10/2015 13:06