Alice's adventures in Wonderland symbolism

The White Rabbit

(Time)

"There was not a moment lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, 'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!'"

• By stating how late it's getting, the rabbit is actually noticing how old Alice is growing. Since the rabbit is once again speeding along it insinuates that Alice doesn't have much time left before she grows into an adult

Alice is never able to catch up to the rabbit(time) as it is often running away from her. Alice is unprepared for adulthood because she is frantically chasing after more time.

The Caucus Animals

(Adult Life)

The caucus animals symbolize adult life. Alice, still being a child, doesn't understand the things that adults do.

"'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, 'was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.'"

"However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!"

"Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh"

The caucus race makes no sense to Alice. She doesn't understand why they would need to run a race in order to dry themselves. This is an example of how adult logic escapes Alice.

"'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing"

"'It IS a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?'"

• Alice misunderstands and views the mouse's tale in a literal, childish way. Once again, Alice fails to grasp an adult's concept.
• Also, the way in which Alice constantly brings up Dinah in conversation with the mouse shows that she doesn't know what is appropriate.

Alice is a child that will soon mature and be thrust into the adult world. The caucus animals represent Alice's struggle to make sense of adult actions and logic.

The Blue Caterpillar

(Sexuality)

Both the caterpillar's slender body and the mushroom that it sits upon have a phallic structure. These images help to emphazise the theme of a sexual threat.

• As another thought, the caterpillar somewhat mirrors Alice. Alice is a young girl that is on the cusp of sexual maturity(as defined in victorian times) while the caterpillar will also soon reach sexual maturity through it's transformation into a butterfly.

"'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'"

• This displays how sexually confused Alice is. She is having trouble understanding puberty and what she is going through. She doesn't know where she doubts what she knew about herself/her body and she feels confused and awkward.

"Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, 'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'"

• In order to understand her sexual role and what her body is going through Alice must consume the mushroom(remember the symbolism).

Alice's experiences with the caterpillar symbolizes her struggle with the threat of sexuality. Alice finds herself in an awkward state and must overcome sexual expieriences/situations in order to find her place.

The Cheshire Cat

(Guidance)

The Cheshire cat represents the guidance that Alice recieves during her adolescence. The cat acts a role model to Alice, offering her the advice that helps her understand Wonderland.

"'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'"

Once the Cheshire cat informs Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, Alice begins to grasp the concept of wonderland and the strange things that she has encountered. The cat, acting as a role model(teacher/relative), helps Alice understand her journey(growing up) a little more.

The Mad Hatter and March Hare

(Challenges to intelligence)

Both characters challenge Alice's intelligence with riddles a statements that cause Alice to question what she really knows.

"'I do,' Alice hastily replied; 'at least—at least I mean what I say—that's the same thing, you know.'

'Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. 'You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'"

"'and they drew all manner of things—everything that begins with an M—'

'Why with an M?' said Alice.

'Why not?' said the March Hare.

Alice was silent"

Over the course of the conversations Alice realizes that she doesn't know quite as much as she thought that she did. The Hatter/Hare consistently convey to her that she is wrong.

• This resembles how an adolescent feels after they enter the adult world. They find that the knowledge that they had as a child is either incorrect, or no longer applicable. The Hatter/Hare help exemplify the frustration theat Alice feels as her intelligence is challenged as she ages.

The Queen of Hearts

(Victorian Expectations)

The queen of hearts is the ruler of Wonderland and can be seen as the heart of Alice's struggles growing up. She is a singular force of fear and is ymbolic of the victorian expectations of women.

Under victorian times women were expected to marry by 25, restrain their emotions, and accept their duties as housekeepers and property.

These expectations would certainly frighten a young girl thhat would soon have to meet them. Alice is initially frightened by the Queen's(expectations) overbearing prescence in wonderland(her life).

After the Gryphon informs Alice that the Queen doesn't actually behead anyone, Alice learns that the Queen's only threat is in her rhetoric. This gives Alice the courage to stand up to the queen and the expectations demanded of her.

The Duchess

(Life Lessons)

"'You're thinking about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk. I can't tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember it in a bit.'

'Perhaps it hasn't one,' Alice ventured to remark.

'Tut, tut, child!' said the Duchess. 'Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.'"

• The duchess's symbolism is fairly straightforward. She represents the life lessons/morals that Alice will learn as she ages.

Many lessons that a person learns over the course of their life are first encountered when they are young. Only after growing older and gaining maturity can a person look back and recognize what the lessons actually meant.

• Over the course of chapter IX the Duchess tells Alice about several different morals. The morals sound absurd and pointless to Alice, but that is because she is a child and can't comprehend their meaning. As Alice continues to grow she will be able to make sense out of the events around her and discern their associated morals.

The Mock Turtle and Gryphon

(Sources of Strength)

Both animals are the only characters in the book that Alice feels that she can relate to. The creatures have had lives that bear similarities to Alice's. For example, Alice is able to relate to and understand the Mock Turtle's schooling.

"The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till she was out of sight: then it chuckled. 'What fun!' said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.

'What IS the fun?' said Alice.

'Why, SHE,' said the Gryphon. 'It's all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know. Come on!'"

The Gryphon scoffs at and deflates the Queen's authority, whom is the enemy of Alice. Through this defamation the Gryphon displays his support for Alice.

In the end, Alice is able to converse with them on peaceable terms and they become the closest thing that Alice has to friends in Wonderland. They also form a base of support for Alice in the hazardous and strange Wonderland. They represent the friends and support in Alice's life as she matures into adulthood.

After the gryphon informs Alice that the queen never actually beheads anyone, Alice realizes that the Queen's only threat is in her rhetoric. Later in the book we see Alice standing up to the Queen and the expectations demanded of her.

The white rabbit symbolizes the passage of time. Just as the rabbit is hurried, time moves at a fast pace.

The characters in the novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" are symbolic, and each represents a different aspect of Alice's coming of age.

"The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till she was out of sight: then it chuckled. 'What fun!' said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.

'What IS the fun?' said Alice.

'Why, SHE,' said the Gryphon. 'It's all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know. Come on!'"