Alice in Wonderland: A Fairy Tale

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" lacks the traditional elements of fairy tales, where there is a prince, a "rags to riches" story line and a beautiful, yet silent princess. The paper highlights how in Carroll's fairy tale, a prince is not the ultimate prize, but the attaining of knowledge of a world that has books without pictures as well as of a greater existence. The paper discusses how although Alice does not show the same ideas of good and evil present in human characters, it can still be classified as a fairy tale since the contrast is between the good and evil worlds. The paper believes that Alice represents a more realistic hero and a protagonist that young girls can actually aspire to be like without demeaning themselves.

From the Paper:

"For many societies, children are taught the way to function successfully through the art of story telling and fairy tales. It is a conscious decision to fill tales with morality and a clear distinction between good and evil and children will begin to see for the first time what it means to be a human. Tales that have survived for so many years still act as a way of socializing children and providing with them means of conformity. In popular fairy tales such as, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the female characters in particular come as close to death as possible while still having no agency, but because killing the protagonist will leave the child with a sense of hopelessness, a sleep-like death is the only way to keep her silent."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Random House, 1975.
• Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. London:Arcturus Publishing, 2008.
• Landow, P. George. Victorian and Victorianism. 9, Dec. 2006. Accessed 20, April. 2009.http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html
• Nikolajeva, Maria. "Fairy Tales in Society's Service." Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies 16.2 (2002): 171-87. Literature Resource. Rosenthal Lib., Queens College CUNY. April 2009.
• Ross, Deborah. "Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination." Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies 18.1 (2004): 53-66. Literature Resource. Rosenthal Lib., Queens College CUNY. April 2009.

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