Influential Story

This past year I had the pleasure of reading Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for the first time. I had never read the novel before but I had heard several shortened interpretations from friends and family through the years and remembered bits and pieces from the Disney interpretation. As I read the book several scenes and images stuck in my mind; the most memorable being the mouse’s tale after he, Alice, and several other creatures nearly drown in her salt-water tears, eat comfits, and present Alice with the thimble from her own pocket. The mouse explains why he does not like Cats and Dogs. I really enjoyed this novel thanks to the creative ideas and the witty wordplay on words such as “tale” and “tail” and the multiple uses of words such as “dry.” Lewis Carroll stunned me with such vivid images such as the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar smoking the hookah, the Red Queen, and the Cheshire Cat.

Though I could not find any earlier versions of the story, Alice in Wonderland was published in 1865 by Lutwidge Dodgson under the pen name Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). This story was later adapted into movies by Walt Disney and Tim Burton. I believe that Lewis Carroll wrote the novel to inspire creative thinking and original thought in those around him with the use of nonsense and whimsical, waters that had not before been tread through. Through the years, such creative thought has dwindled with society “norms” and what was deemed socially acceptable. However, filmmakers such as Walt Disney and Tim Burton have once again inspired this nonsensical pondering through films that captivate the young and the old with stunning adaptations of Carroll’s novel. The message of this story has stuck with me through my aging (the adaptations and re-tellings from family and friends had, anyway). To this day I find myself often re-evaluating the things I see day to day and wonder what indeed they could be like if this were Alice's world.