How Does Lewis Carroll Use Symbolism To Portray Alice's Coming Of Age In Alice In Wonderland?
Alice in wonderland is one of the most talked about books of all time. Children are always looking upon Alice. Many wants to be just like her. Through her life, she goes through many absurd changes which makes her feel very uncomfortable. Her story represents the stories of millions of young people who undergo many challenges during their puberty period. To Alice, these changes are absurd and make her feel very bad about herself. She gets stressed and enters a stage of emotional torture. In the first chapter, Alice feels very bad about herself because she cannot fit in the garden. Later, in chapter 5, she no longer has the control of her body. In this chapter, her neck grows to a very uncommon length. This story, which has even been made a movie, depicts the changes that young people undergo in their puberty years.
Through her adventures, she encounters many puzzles that she wishes she had the power to change. These challenges don’t seem to have a real solution. At some point in her life, she hates herself. At times she tries to understand things that her peers are doing but she finds that she is on another level. For instance, she tries to understand the caucus race and the mad hatter’s mind. Every time these riddles are presented to her, she is unable to answer them. She tries her level best to fit in where she was and live as a kid but she was unable to do so. Carroll tries to explain to Alice that life presents challenges that a person faces in life. She explains to Alice that everything happens for a reason.
At times, Alice finds herself in tough positions where she even risks death. These positions that she takes never materializes into something strong. The threats seems to suggest that Alice is not even wanted in death. In the story, death appears in the first chapter where the writer says that Alice would say nothing when she fell from her own house because it could kill her. Alice tries very many things just to die but death does not seem to ‘like’ her. Now that death is not there for her when she needs it, Alice realizes that her experiences in wonderland are very much threatening than they seem to be. At one time, the queen screamed, “Off with its head”. After she did this, Alice starts to understand that Wonderland might not be a ridiculous dominion where expectations are frustrated repeatedly. She later understands the risks that she is in and starts to love herself back.
