Is Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland an Allegory?  a Metaphor?


Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland has confounded scholars through the years as they try to invent a systematic interpretation of symbols and themes in the book.  Their failure to do so has become a large part of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’s success.  No one really knows what to make of it.  The bottom line is:  Carroll wrote the story as a labor of love to entertain his child-friend, Alice Liddell.

Of course, allegory and metaphor abound in Carroll’s book, used to make fun of the Victorian Age.  He had the unique perspective of observing it from outside the mainstream. Carroll pokes fun at royalty, the justice system, social mores, misuse of logic and language, but he does it all in a light-hearted manner.

The obvious theme of Carroll’s story is the maturing of the child Alice as a person through her experiences with the animals of Wonderland.  She is confronted many times about her identity, and even asks of herself “Who am I?”  At the end of the book, we see Alice saving the lives of three gardeners from execution, and also standing up to the domineering Queen of Hearts.

Victorian childhood was beset with many dangers, such as child labor being used in the factories.  Carroll deals often in his story with dark themes such as injustice and death.  He also enjoys mocking the children’s books of his day for being so moralistic, especially through the account of the Duchess who loves to quote clichés and who finds a moral in everything to the point of absurdity.

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is the first children’s book which portrays a real life child struggling to adapt to a world around her that seems to have gone mad.  At first she is presented as a spoiled child with an imperious manner who is used to getting her own way, yet goes on to learn the  most important lesson of all, that she is not the center of the universe.  In the beginning of the story Alice yearns for a “book of rules” so everything would be in order, but learns to adapt to the diversity of life and its myriad expressions.  We see Alice showing off, throwing temper tantrums, acting like a snob, yet also being very innocent, likeable, and considerate of others.

Carroll concludes Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland with Alice’s older sister imagining what Alice will be like as an adult; a strong woman who still retains “the simple and loving heart of her childhood”.

A story for young and old, filled with the depths of anguish and the heights of hilarity, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is truly a story for all-time.