Reading Report of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has obtained the reputation and honor in children's world for over one hundred years. For many years, people are fond of digging out the profound significance behind this simple story.
As we all know, Lewis Carroll is famous for his master piece-- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which is certainly a classical, immortal representative work of child literature. Actually, Lewis was not a professional writer but a professor teaching Mathmatics in University of Oxford in the 19th century. He never got married in his whole life. Nevertheless, he loved children from the bottom of his heart. Even though he always stammered when talking with the adults, children were always appealed to the intriguing stories that shot off from him casually.
The essential reason why this novel is always popular in children from generation to gerneration and became the classical work in child literature is that this is definitely a pure and pute playing novel instead of aiming at education while most of the children’s story were since the birthday of child literature on account of that children were considered imperfect people and they should be strictly disciplined and guided.
People always consider "Significance" as one of the standard when judging the child literature's novel or story. In fact, "Significance" means whether the story can offer children the edification and inspiration from the experience of adults' world. Then, my question is that: is these adventures meaningful for the reader, especially children?
Throughout this story, humorous sentences can be seen everywhere. Humorous expression can be accomplished by some phonetic methods. Lewis Carroll often exerted homophones and homographs subtly so that it can arise reader's laugh spontaneously.
`If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about wasting IT. It's HIM.'
`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'
`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.'
`Ah! that accounts for it,' said the Hatter. `He won't stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o'clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons: you'd only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!' ( from chapter seven, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland )
The chaos of the communication between Alice and the little animals and people in the wonderland is one of the biggest humorous points in this book."Beat time" here is a music term. But the Hatter comprehends "beat time" as "punch the time", so he said "He won't stand beating." in the following text.
He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare moved into the Dormouse's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate.
Alice did not wish to offend the Dormouse again, so she began very cautiously: `But I don't understand. Where did they draw the treacle from?'
`You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; `so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?'
`But they were IN the well,' Alice said to the Dormouse, not choosing to notice this last remark.
`Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in.'
This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Dormouse go on for some time without interrupting it.
`They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; `and they drew all manner of things--everything that begins with an M--' ( from chapter seven, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland )
Here is also a kind of confusion. "Draw" means "painting pictures" here, but it can be also understood as "bring", "take" or "fetch".
"Well" in "in the well" means "A deep hole or shaft sunk into the earth to obtain water" while "well" in "well in" means "very". Therefore, Alice feels confused.
`Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said; `there's a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours."' ( from chapter nine, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
Here, "mine" is a pun. It can be understood as "an excavation in the earth from which ore or minerals can be extracted", the same as "mustard-mine " in the preceding text, or can be interpreted as "used to indicate the one or ones belonging to me", contrasting with "yours" hereinafter.
`When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, `we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--'
`Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.
`We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily: `really you are very dull!'
......
`I've been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; `you needn't be so proud as all that.'
`With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously.
`Yes,' said Alice, `we learned French and music.'
`And washing?' said the Mock Turtle.
`Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly.
`Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in a tone of great relief. `Now at OURS they had at the end of the bill, "French, music, AND WASHING--extra."'
`You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; `living at the bottom of the sea.'
`I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. `I only took the regular course.'
"Taught us" is the homophonic word of "tortoise". There is an example of homograph again. Alice understood "with extra" as "other selective classes" when the Mock Turtle meant "subject to an additional charge". So the Mock Turtle said that "I couldn't afford to learn it".
`What was that?' inquired Alice.
`Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle replied; `and then the different branches of Arithmetic-- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'
`I never heard of "Uglification,"' Alice ventured to say. `What is it?'
`Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, `--Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old conger-eel, that used to come once a week: HE taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.'
`What was THAT like?' said Alice.
`Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: `I'm too stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt it.'
`Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: `I went to the Classics master, though. He was an old crab, HE was.'
`I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: `he taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say.'
`So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both creatures hid their faces in their paws.
`And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
`Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: `nine the next, and so on.'
`What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.
`That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: `because they lessen from day to day.'
We can find more examples in chapter 9, the Mock Turtle's Story. In fact, the words that have been highlighted refer other meaning. The explanation is as following:
Reeling(shaking)--reading, writhing(twist or squirm)--writing, ambition--addition, distraction(the act of distracting or the condition of being distracted)--subtraction, uglification--multiplication, derision(mocking)--division, mystery--history, seaography--geography, drawling(to speak with lengthened or drawn-out vowels)-drawing, stretching(to lengthen, widen, or distend)--sketching, fainting in coils--painting in oils, laughing--Latin, grief--Greek, lessen--lesson.
Lewis depicted the turtle's courses in a very humorous and funny way. Some courses here are the common movement in common turtle's life, like "streching" and "reeling". And some are the vivid personifications, like "distraction", "laughing", "grief", "derision" and "drawling" which is the typical image of turtle--slowness. Most humorously, he teased the education courses in people's lives. All courses here actually referred to the courses that children had to learn that time. With high pressure, children might be inclined to "reel", "writhe", "distract" and "stretch" when they were having classes. Furthermore, children may "uglify" or "laugh" at the classes or teachers after class. It was a great gift for the children if the "lessons" could "lessen from day to day". The phenomenon of homophones and homographs can be seen everywhere in this book. I think Lewis's talent for playing on words was gifted by his stammer.
Lewis didn't not aim at educating the children through this book. Alice does not seem to become mature after her adventures in the wonderland. In the end of the story, in her sister's dream, this little girl maintains innocence and pureness even after she grows up. Lewis just made the children believed that they could fly, dare to dream and imagine, become anyone that they want to be. Instead of attaching "significance" to the story, on the contrast, Lewis utilized homophones or homographs to create the names of the tortoise's courses, producing a kind of joyful, humourous atmosphere. Obviously, these names vividly describe the tortoise's movement but also mock the children's education at that time.
Bibliography
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Signet Classics Press, 2000
