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Sean Barrs 's Reviews > Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, #1)
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“If you knew Time as well as I do,’ said the Hatter, ‘you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.
There are so many great things to say about this story. For me, as a work of fantasy, it is on par with The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz in terms of its creative imagination.
These stories seem to centre on the idea of escape, escape from a boring reality in which the protagonist enters a world of exciting, and sometimes terrifying, adventure as they walk away from their old mundane life. This is a popular trope and here it works very well, Alice jumps down a rabbit hole and enters a truly insane world that makes little sense.
“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”
Of all the fantasy worlds that work around this idea, this is by far the most bizarre I have read about. To put in mildly, the things Alice encounters feel hallucinogenic as if the mind has conjured them up whilst being intoxicated. Because as strange as it all seems, there is always a touch of the real about them. And I think this is because Lewis Carroll draws on real life experiences to bring his world to life.
The Mad Hatter, of course, is the best example. Although he only plays a small role here, and the movie versions certainly capitalise on his colourful character, he still stands out within the narrative: his character is the most memorable part of the story. He is only referred to as that name once, and he never identifies with it, though the name is distinctively his.
“How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another.”
He is the embodiment of true madness: dementia. And I did a little research on him and the origins of his character. In Victorian society, hatters often went mad because of the hat making process. They handled chemicals that caused what we now identify as dementia. Prolonged exposure to such substances degraded their minds to such a degree. So, in a way, he embodies a little piece of history with his quirkiness.
So I had a lot of fun here. This was actually my first ever read of this story. I've seen the films but never actually picked this up, it's certainly a quaint piece of madness to brighten your day with its nonsensical nature.
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There are so many great things to say about this story. For me, as a work of fantasy, it is on par with The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz in terms of its creative imagination.
These stories seem to centre on the idea of escape, escape from a boring reality in which the protagonist enters a world of exciting, and sometimes terrifying, adventure as they walk away from their old mundane life. This is a popular trope and here it works very well, Alice jumps down a rabbit hole and enters a truly insane world that makes little sense.
“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”
Of all the fantasy worlds that work around this idea, this is by far the most bizarre I have read about. To put in mildly, the things Alice encounters feel hallucinogenic as if the mind has conjured them up whilst being intoxicated. Because as strange as it all seems, there is always a touch of the real about them. And I think this is because Lewis Carroll draws on real life experiences to bring his world to life.
The Mad Hatter, of course, is the best example. Although he only plays a small role here, and the movie versions certainly capitalise on his colourful character, he still stands out within the narrative: his character is the most memorable part of the story. He is only referred to as that name once, and he never identifies with it, though the name is distinctively his.
“How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another.”
He is the embodiment of true madness: dementia. And I did a little research on him and the origins of his character. In Victorian society, hatters often went mad because of the hat making process. They handled chemicals that caused what we now identify as dementia. Prolonged exposure to such substances degraded their minds to such a degree. So, in a way, he embodies a little piece of history with his quirkiness.
So I had a lot of fun here. This was actually my first ever read of this story. I've seen the films but never actually picked this up, it's certainly a quaint piece of madness to brighten your day with its nonsensical nature.
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Reading Progress
April 21, 2020
–
Started Reading
April 22, 2020
– Shelved
April 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
4-star-reads
April 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
children-of-all-ages
April 22, 2020
– Shelved as:
fantasy
April 22, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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Tahlia
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Apr 22, 2020 03:01PM
That’s really interesting that there was a historical rooting for the mad hatter!
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Tahlia wrote: "That’s really interesting that there was a historical rooting for the mad hatter!"Who ever thought hat making could be so dangerous!?
I'm glad you enjoyed it :-) I also read it for the first time this month. Are you planning on reading "Through the Looking Glass" soon?
Tilly wrote: "I'm glad you enjoyed it :-) I also read it for the first time this month. Are you planning on reading "Through the Looking Glass" soon?"yep, it's on my list for next month :D
Great review - I will have to reread this someday. I could never get into Oz or Narnia, but Carroll is brilliant!
Beth wrote: "Great review - I will have to reread this someday. I could never get into Oz or Narnia, but Carroll is brilliant!"I hate OZ with a passion! Though i love Narnia.
I absolutely love this book, the strange and perplexing behaviour of the characters definitely has the feel of a weird dream about it, I think the depiction of the humpty dumpy of the nursery rhyme as an egg comes largely from the book (and the book's illustration of it)
I'm one of the many who's seen more adaptations than the number of times I've read this, so I hadn't realised the Mad Hatter was a more minor character originally than we tend to think of him. Good review!(But true madness = dementia? I'm not sure about that...)
That is interesting about the chemicals used by hatters (and sad). Since you couldn't get into Oz, I recently reread the other Oz books by Baum which I loved as a child, but had forgotten. The original story didn't interest me as much, but a few of the later 14 were very creative. Since I think you are vegan you might like the one that had a hen character that gets into an argument over cooking her children with Dorothy's aunt. The hen, Billina, is a very outspoken character. Another one, "The Patchwork Girl" I found entertaining with quite a bit of humor. I listened to them on Librivox.
I once had a fun dream where I fell down Alice's rabbit hole. It was covered with shiny tin foil! I don't remember much else of it except that it ended too soon.
