I magine waking up one day to find that everything you believe in is gone — the world has become topsy-turvy and your own world of imagination has become your reality. And now, can you imagine this from the shoes of a seven-year-old? Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is described in Alice on Stage — an article he wrote — as: “Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic simile, but I know no earthy love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn; then courteous — courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King’s daughter, and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious — wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names — empty words signifying nothing!” Based on Caroll’s childhood friend, Alice is a prim and proper daughter of an English family. She is a young lady in the making who is well-mannered and knowledgeable, yet full of imagination.
True to the Victorian age, Alice is rational at the young age of seven. She is also a bit of a show-off and manages to offend the inhabitants of the fantastical world of Wonderland. Her fateful jump into the rabbit hole begins her journey into a world full of metaphors that represent the journey into adulthood. Throughout her journey, Alice manages to maintain her trite sense of self and decorum but tension emerges when the mad, illogical world of Wonderland tests her knowledge that she is so proud of. The White Rabbit tests her perceptions of class by mistaking her for a servant, while the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Pigeon teach her the ability to break out of a specific mould by teaching her to make sense of the nonsense in Wonderland.
And the best lesson for stiff-mannered Alice is when she constantly meets with rude, dismissive creatures in Wonderland and she is forced to take it in her stride. Suddenly, Alice fits no form, no order; there are no rules to conform to and she must learn how to make sense of things as she goes. Everything is not black and white after all, much like in the real world. Though the entire journey is a coming of age of sorts for the seven-year-old, we also catch glimpses of Alice’s sense of responsibility and morals, especially during the trial scene. Alice manages to persist as she assimilates the wonders of the world beyond her knowledge and retains her virtues of kindness, intelligence and, most importantly, her sense of wonder that ensures she remains a child and ends with the hope to keep her childlike curiosity alive even when she grows up.
(The writer is a freelance journalist who spends her time eating, reading and sleeping, when not tackling deadlines)