This commentary is on Chapter XI in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which is the first fictional
novel written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson also known as Lewis Carroll. It was
published in 1865 in England and it is considered one of the most inspirational
books for children and adults as well. Carroll wrote a sequel which he called Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice
Found There, with which he gave new relevance to the non-sense genre in
literature.
The story of Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland begins when a little girl named Alice falls asleep while she is
sitting by her elder sister who was reading a book which, as having “no
pictures or conversations in it,” seemed boring to Alice. In the dream, she
follows a curious hurried White Rabbit and falls through its rabbit hole. Once
she reached the bottom, Alice discovers a fantastic world of anthropomorphic creatures
with illogic reasoning; among them are a smoker caterpillar who questions her about
her identity and a mad hatter who seems to be trapped in time. Besides, Alice
grows larger and smaller many times, which makes her uncomfortable and which
might symbolize what real Alice feels towards her maturation. The dream ends
when she is in a trial with some of the creatures she has met and gives signals
that she is more secure about herself. Alice wakes up and tells her sister the
dream, and then Alice’s sister falls asleep and starts off dreaming,
reproducing Wonderland all over again.
One of the issues presented in the story refers to the fears experienced
by a girl aware of her self-maturation and growth. Allusions to elements as
time, education, self-identity, logic and others play together and get the
child to adapt to change and her environment.
Now, Chapter 11, “Who Stole the Tarts?” tells how some main characters
are gathered in a trial, where the Queen of Hearts is accusing the Knave of
Hearts of having stolen her tarts. To give sense to the trial the King calls
out three witnesses to declare, being Alice the last witness to be called. This
chapter is essential to the plot because it provides the climax of the whole
story. Here,Alice starts questioning and at some point insulting Wonderland
creatures, showing an important change of attitude, as she had been hesitating
and fearful so far. She is not uncomfortable or insecure about herself anymore,
and so she gives signals of acceptance to the fact that she is growing up.
The narrative is in third person with a partially omniscient narrator
that only knows Alice’s thoughts but not the other characters’. The story is
carried out in twelve chapters showing a linear plot, with precise
illustrations made by British prominent illustrator John Tenniel in the
original publication (1865). The descriptions given by the narrator offer the
reader the chance to imagine the environment, animals, actions, and even attitudes
just as Alice perceives them. Besides, lots of dialogues are presented between
Alice and Wonderland’s creatures, full of allusions and symbolism regarding what
the reader can guess her real world. Of course, the narrator steps aside
sometimes, so the reader can develop his own conclusions about the messages underlying
every dialogue. Besides, we can get to know the characters as they talk and
while doing this, we recognize which of them are important or significant to
Alice.
In chapter twelve, there are some interesting clues that clearly tell
how Alice is finally feeling more critical of the actions held by Wonderland
creatures. Even though she is a little child, she demonstrates feeling good
about the acknowledged fact that she knows more than a child of her age. At the
beginning of the chapter she identifies the people who carry the trial, which
are the judge, who turns out to be the King as well, the box of jurors, the
guards, the herald and the accused:
‘And that’s the jury-box,’
thought Alice; ‘and those twelve creatures,’ (she was obliged to say
‘creatures’, you see, because some of them were animals, and some were birds),
‘I supposed they are the jurors’. She said this last word two or three times
over to herself, being rather proud of it: for she thought and rightly too,
that very few little girls of her age knew the meaning of it at all. (45)
Later, Alice
does not understand what the jurors are doing so she asks the Griphon about it.
The Griphon answers that they are putting down their names so they do not
forget before the trial is started. Toward this illogic reasoning, Alice feels
very upset:
‘Stupid things!’ Alice began
in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped hastily, for the White Rabbit cried
out, ‘Silence in the court!’ and the King put on his spectacles and looked
anxiously round, to make out who was talking. (45)
After
that, the narrator remarks how Alice cannot stand some of the jurors. This is
unusual because to that point this little girl has been always very polite and
correct and never would show any kind of disrespect towards one that could make
her feel annoyed. This evinces how Alice’s attitude is starting to change:
One of the
jurors had a pencil that squeaked. This of course, Alice could not stand, and she went round the court
and got behind him, and very soon found an opportunity of taking it away. (45)
Then,
the king opens the trial backwards, by telling the jurors to provide a verdict
without even having called the first witness, which is clearly a description of
how illogic Wonderland creatures can be. The White Rabbit, which performs as
herald in the court, is the only one who seems to know how to carry out a
trial. He indicates the king that he could not do that without calling the
witnesses, being the first one the Hatter, who enters the room with a teacup in
one hand and bread and butter in the other one. He excuses himself for not
having finished his meal. Here we could appreciate how this character is
somehow trapped in time as he does not manage to continue life after the tea
party, so he is always at tea time:
‘I beg
pardon, your Majesty,’ he began, ‘for bringing these in; but I hadn’t quite
finished my tea when I was sent for’.
‘You ought
to have finished,’ said the King. ‘When did you begin?’
The Hatter
looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into the court, arm in arm with
the Dormouse. ‘Fourteenth of March, I think
it was,’ he said.
‘Fifteenth,’
said the March Hare.
‘Sixteenth’,
added the Dormouse. (46)
While
the King and the Queen are pushing the Hatter to offer his testimony, Alice
starts growing larger again in the middle of the trial. Somehow, nobody notices
this but the Dormouse, who is affected because Alice is squeezing him hard as
she is growing. Here we have the clearest evidence that Alice is completely
determined to accept her growth and is not ashamed of her size—or who she is—anymore:
She was
beginning to grow larger again, and she thought at first she would get up and
leave the court; but on second thoughts she decide to remain where she was as
long as there was room for her.
‘I wish you
wouldn’t squeeze so.’ said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. ‘I can
hardly breathe.’
‘I can’t help
it,’ said Alice very meekly: ‘I’m growing.’
‘You’ve no right
to grow here,’ said the Dormouse.
‘Don’t talk
nonsense,’ said Alice more boldly: ‘you know you are growing too.’ (46)
Meanwhile,
the Hatter continues trying to explain himself to the King, who ends up
infuriated because this witness does not provide any useful evidence and
continues confusing the trial with his meaningless words. The next witness to
be called out is the Duchess’s cook who, instead of improving the trial, brings
confusion and excitement and finally disappears. Later the chapter ends when
Alice is surprised as she hears the White Rabbit calling her to testify as
witness: “‘-for they haven’t got much evidence yet,’ she said to herself. Imagine her surprise, when the White
Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the name ‘Alice!’” (48).
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a hit of the nonsense genre. The chapter “Who Stole
the Tarts?” presents us with a good illustration of how nonsense works out, for
even though the trial resembles a parade of characters talking and doing
nonsense, it seems to be, as I said before, that this is just a picture of how
Alice perceives Wonderland which somehow is arguably an oneiric representation
of her real world—one must remember this is a dream. Indeed, from and adult
point of view, Alice is just a little girl that is not entirely ready to
understand the world of grownups. However, one of the messages in the story is
that perhaps we just cannot understand the world after all and so we try to
make reality fit our rules and not the other way around. Besides, as much of
what the adults give importance and value in this life will turn into ashes
afterwards, many human practices seem as pointless as going in circles with no
purpose, as cleverly represented by the Caucus Race in chapter three, and as
you can understand it from reading the whole book.
There
are lots of meanings and symbols throughout the whole novel, but one of the
remarkable ones is twofold: Alice’s growth and change. There is something very
exciting in Alice’s going down the hole, which occurs in chapter one, as it is
a vertiginous way to literally fall into an introspection of herself, because
as the whole story is made out in a dream, all the images and figures appearing
are supposed to be connected to her real life inasmuch as they are
representations of her subconscious.
That
is why we can suggest that her emotions towards her physical growth make her
feel uncomfortable at first, as in her dream she grows the opposite way she
wants it: she grows larger when she wants to be small and shrinks when she
wants to grow larger. The nonconformist nature of Alice makes her very upset
when she is not able to do or reach something when she wants it, so she is sad
and disappointed all the time at the beginning. Now, the part in which she
grows larger in the trial is significant because she is already adapting to
this transformation and also is determined not to feel upset about it anymore
as she cannot help it, which in the end can be interpreted as the
acknowledgement of her own maturation.
It
is a mystery how children enjoy this book. We adults are the ones worried about
the significance of words and life and when we start reading this story, our logical
reasoning leads us to criticize the lack of meaning in it. It is only when we consider
its symbolism that we start realizing its true and sound significance; and so
we perform different interpretations that make us own the reading.
As
one of the best classics in the History of Literature, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland offers a plethora of messages laid
for the reader to make meaningful to their own understanding and appreciation
of the work of literature. As we assess the meaning of the full story, we
acknowledge that although we readers may get our opinions to coincide, there is
the issue of individual right in reading, as no interpretation is the only one
available. This tells much of what the act of literary reading conveys.
Works
Cited
Carroll, Lewis. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The Complete Stories and Poems of Lewis Carroll.
New York: Penguin. Print.
Works
Consulted
Carroll, Lewis. “Through the Looking-Glass
and What Alice Found There.” The Complete Stories and Poems of Lewis Carroll. Print.
Enaudeau, Corinne. La paradoja de la representación. Buenos
Aires: Paidós, 1999. Print.
Lázaro, Fernando and Evaristo Correa. Cómo se comenta un texto literario. Madrid:
Cátedra,
1981. Print.
“MLA Styling and Formatting Guide.” The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab,
2010.
Onieva, Juan. Introducción a los géneros literarios a través del
comentario de textos.
1st
ed. Madrid: Playor, 1992. Print.
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