Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass

This was a term paper I wrote a long, long time ago, in high school. For this Medium edition, I removed all direct quotes and added some comments in brackets.

The front cover of Alice’s Adventures Underground, the original version of Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll illustrated it, and his illustrations are charming but not as professional as those of Tenniel.

Though they were extremely imaginative, the works of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (alias Lewis Carroll) were influence by his real life. His life was fulfilling and primarily happy, and he undoubtedly improved the lives of others, particularly of children. Though the Alice books and Sylvie and Bruno appear nonsensical, they have a generous supply of references toward events and people in Dodgson’s life, especially at Oxford.

Here’s an example. During the Mad Tea Party, the Mad Hatter explains why it’s always teatime for him. He was singing in a royal concert, when the Queen of Hearts interrupted, yelling and accusing him of “murdering the time.” And, this being the Queen of Hearts, she added her wish to decapitate him. He talks as though “Time” is an individual he murdered, and he explains to Alice that ever since then, it’s always six o’clock. Later in Victorian England, five o’clock tea was the custom; however, at the time this was written, the Liddells usually had tea at six o’clock.2

Dodgson’s stories were imaginative works of fantasy. He wrote the original dream story, and this style has since been copied until it became a regular literary trope.”3 In Sylvie and…