Abstract The following paper explores the human tendency to break the world down into tidy little definitions as seen in most interpretations of "The Jabberwocky". This paper, however, also takes a look at how "The Jabberwocky" ceases to be nonsense, becoming instead a tragic and beautiful glimpse into the process of growing up.
From the Paper "In the second book of the Alice in Wonderland stories, Alice finds a poem called Jabberwocky of which she can make little or no sense. Later in the book she asks Humpty Dumpty (of nursery rhyme fame) to help her interpret the story. With fitting irony, the main emphasize of most scholars attempting to approach this poem is precisely the same as that of the famous giant egg. In fact, despite the fact that he is a decidedly cracked source, Dumpty's opinion on the poem's meaning has been taken as definitive for most scholars."
Abstract This paper describes Kincaid's more cynical view of "Alice in Wonderland" in which he talks about the subversive and brutal elements of the classic story. The paper also compares Kincaid's reading of "Alice in Wonderland" to more traditional readings of the story.
From the Paper "Yet another traditional reading which Kincaid references is that which says Alice is ?the reader's surrogate on a frightful journey into meaningless night [where] practically all pattern, save the consistency of chaos, is annihilated." (92) Kincaid says that in this reading, Alice learns to reject chaos and the darkness of unlimited imagination and return to the ?sane madness of ordinary existence.? (92) This is the sort of reading which might suggest the story to be not only about children learning to navigate a foreign and nonsensical adult world, but also about the way in which children filter out the nonsense of their own fantasy lives and learn how to grow up and
chooses to reject chaos and also imagination and take part in the "ordinary existence" of adult life. These first two readings can be reconciled by saying that Wonderland represents the fantasy of a very young child's nonsensical imagination transposed over a sort of archetypal structure that is adult life (hence making adults seem absurd) -- and that what Alice is doing is rejecting the fantasy aspects while learning to make sense of the reality-based adult aspects."
Abstract This paper argues that the treatment of reality and fantasy in works by Lewis Carroll is unique in the annals of literature, for never has it been accomplished with such an effectiveness, subtlety, delicacy and poignancy. The paper first outlines the realms of reality and fantasy, before positing a commentary on the treatment, the juxtaposition and the eventual merging of these existential states in the earlier set of works by Lewis Carroll. The works considered are: "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass".
From the Paper "Looking at these works, an extremely interesting fact emerges. The author has made use of a skillful set of frames in the narration of works that aspire almost to the status of epics. Literary frames are devices that enable an author to activate various levels of demarcation in a work, enabling the author himself to remain relatively discrete of his own work. The first frame used in 'Alice in Wonderland' is the concept of a dream into which Alice tumbles, thus entering the world of Wonderland. The figure of the White Rabbit, the harbinger of chaos, a denizen from the other world setting foot into this one is the first element of fantasy that one finds in the book."
