Alice in Wonderland 5

Essay 1 – Question 1

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, is a narrative which seeks to react against Didacticism. A didactic novel sets out to emphasize informative and instructional characteristics in Literature. Carroll’s novel is structured with key differences towards didacticism, which are shown in different ways throughout the text. The novels characters are central in playing roles which distinguish the book from being didactic. The atmosphere and imaginative ideas also play a key part in showing this narrative as an alternative kind of fiction.
The main character central to the notion of morals is The Duchess. At first she is quite rude to Alice, but later we see friendliness and respect towards her. The Duchess is “inconsistent, unpleasant and pointlessly didactic” (Leach, 92) and her belief is that “Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it” (Carroll, 106). “Alice, on the other hand, reasserts her innocence and prudence by maintaining that things don 't always have morals and should be accepted on face value” (D’Ambrosio, 1075). Alice’s revolt towards the Duchess shows the reaction of didactic ways. Carroll uses the Duchess to introduce all types of nonsense morals, some of which may be his own. But these morals do not get the chance to be instructional or informative as they are not believed or regarded as true. It is the Duchess’ constant change of morals that may have led to this disregard of belief. She adopts morals as she feels appropriate, and she preys on others like Alice to respect her morals and beliefs. Here, we see another way in which this narrative is not didactic. The morals which are delivered by the adults are ridiculed by the younger generation.
This leads on to the question of authority in the adult characters of the text. The book, as a whole, has an underlying message which shows the rejection towards authority. This message immediately proves to any reader that this book is reacting to the idea of a didactic novel, because the rejection of authority would not be a dominant part of an instructional narrative. The attitude of Alice towards adults in the book is not what you would expect to find in any Children’s book. “Alice examines the conventions of the adult world and finds this world abounding in rules and regulations, many of which seem nonsensical” (D’Ambrosio, 1074). Adult authority in the book is parodied, and this is how Carroll exerts the message of difference in authority. Parody of the adult authority is shown when the Queen demands to have Alice’s head cut off, but Alice replies very loudly and authoritative “Nonsense” (Carroll, 95). And afterwards, the Queen is silent, and it is as if nothing has happened. It can therefore be said that Adult authority is not taken seriously in the novel. But another example of a strategy Carroll uses to distinguish this from a realistic novel is how the smaller animals have more authority than others. The White Rabbit is a good example of authority over Alice, as she complies when ordered to run back to his house. This is received as a lack of respect to Alice when reading the novel.
Alice is not treated with the respect you would expect to find in an average Children’s book. She is not taken very seriously and is treated with a lack of respect. “The Duchess becomes something of a foil to Alice, both parodying the child and highlighting her defects” (Kincaid, 94) but later in the text we do see her being more flirtatious and friendly with Alice. When Alice meets the Duchess in her kitchen, Alice tries to show off some of her knowledge to the Duchess, but she is uninterested and threatens to chop off Alice’s head. This type of behaviour and violence is not associated with a Children’s novel, and it shows how Carroll uses a different approach to Children’s Literature. Alike, in this novel Alice’s child voice also ridicules the adult voice. As mentioned before, Alice disregards the authority of the Queen when she ordered to have Alice’s head cut off. Also, when asked by the Caterpillar who is she, Alice does not answer the question and makes sure that the Caterpillar answers who he is. Alice here is portraying a lack of respect or ridicule towards the Caterpillar.
A didactic novel is very sure of itself, and its characters would not question their sense of knowledge or education. In this novel, we see Alice herself questioning her knowledge and trying to decide if she is correct in the questions she poses to herself. We see this at the start of the novel, when Alice is falling down the Rabbit Hole. Alice has time to think while falling down, and she estimates if she is becoming near to the centre of the earth “Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think-“ (Carroll, 13). Alice makes further statements, even thought there is no one around to hear her spurt out her knowledge. Alice uses her knowledge throughout the novel to test who she is, as she feels she has changed numerous times. But from this, we get the impression that Alice is very unsure of herself and we question whether she has had a good education, or if she just learns things here and there. It is not realistic for Alice to be wondering how far down the earth she is, when falling down the Rabbit Hole. She doesn’t wonder or worry about where she is going to Land or how she is going to get back out again. Alice’ knowledge is not very useful throughout the novel. Alice is told, by the Duchess and other characters that she does not have much knowledge.
Alice challenges the idea of the model child in her Adventures in Wonderland. Alice does this because she is a character who does not act specifically well behaved, but also is not malicious towards any of the other characters. She cannot be categorised in either a good or bad manner. The reason this is of importance to a notion of a didactic narrative is because Alice does not have a certain instructive definition of behaviour, and Carroll uses this to add to the way in which it creates a different kind of fiction. Alice does not always follow the instructions and morals of others. But she complies with orders from the animals which creates the balance in behaviour. Punishment and reward in Carroll’s book is not is not something in which Alice is central to. Punishment in the novel does not seem to ever be carried out, and this criticizes the instructions of the Queen. The queen makes a promise that she will cut off Alice’s head if she does not leave at once. But Alice, frightened, never actually has her head cut off, nor does she receive any other punishment. The boundary for punishment and reward in the text is very unclear, especially to Alice as she is a neutral character in terms of behavioural issues. This therefore shows that there is no true moral learned from her behaviour and didacticism is not shown to the reader.
The atmosphere of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is made up by a few different but important features that Lewis Carroll has included in the novel. The first thing that Carroll does which clearly distinguishes this novel from a realistic one is the way in which he humanises the animals. In the text, Carroll uses the animals to create an extreme personification. The animals play key roles in the whole experience for Alice in Wonderland. It is exaggerated how they all seem to help Alice on the adventure, and how they also interact as normal human beings with Alice. But the lack of inhibitions and the absurd, nonsensical and dream like atmosphere which runs throughout the novel again shows the unrealistic nature of Wonderland.
This is a narrative which clearly has features that distinguishes it from being a didactic novel. It consists of morals that are personal to certain characters, and Alice’s reaction against these adult morals shows how unrealistic they are. The idea of adult authority is parodied which shows the distinction between this novel and a didactic novel. Alice’s question of knowledge and lack of respect towards the morals of others is a feature which Carroll uses to show the reader the uninformative structure of the story. The overall atmosphere shows the complete unrealism and reaction against the idea of a realistic novel. Carroll combines all of these strategies in the text, to create a novel which clearly proves that Didacticism and Realism are not features in this narrative for children.

Bibliography:
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: Penguin Popular Classics. 1994.
D’ambrosio, Michael A. “”Alice” for Adolescents.” The English Journal 59. (Nov., 1970): 1074-1075 + 1085.
Kincaid, James R. “Alice’s Invasion of Wonderland.” Modern Language Association 88. (Jan., 1973): 92-99
Leach, Elsie. “Alice in Wonderland in Perspective.” Children’s Literature. Ed. Peter Hunt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003. 88-92.

Bibliography: Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. London: Penguin Popular Classics. 1994. D’ambrosio, Michael A. “”Alice” for Adolescents.” The English Journal 59. (Nov., 1970): 1074-1075 + 1085. Kincaid, James R. “Alice’s Invasion of Wonderland.” Modern Language Association 88. (Jan., 1973): 92-99 Leach, Elsie. “Alice in Wonderland in Perspective.” Children’s Literature. Ed. Peter Hunt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003. 88-92.