Alice in my land..

My initial opinion after my superficial first read of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll was crazy. Well, either crazy, or on drugs.

On the other hand, the footnotes convinced me that the man was pretty darn brilliant. The connections and references he made are unparalleled: footnote one of chapter two says “when Alice addressed her right foot as ‘Esquire,’ Carroll may have intended a subtle English/French joke. The French word for ‘foot’ is pied. Its gender is masculine regardless of the owner’s sex.” But, because the connections are so far-fetched, I wonder if those were truly what Carroll intended, or if they’re really just a bunch of Alice-enthusiasts just reading into the story way too deeply. However, all tangential questions aside, the crazy-brilliant Lewis Carroll created a story that very sharply parallels the journey into and through college.

Of course, the parallel begins right in the beginning when Alice first spots the White Rabbit in her dream-like state and makes the rashly adventurous decision to follow him. She very much reflects our own decisions about making the choice to attend college. Just like her, I think most of us lived our lives so far with a general sense of security (dream-like state), knowing that college was in our future. So without really thinking about it, I know that I jumped on the bandwagon and decided to chase after my White Rabbit dream of attending college, knowing little as to what I was up for. Continuing on that parallel, the Rabbit Hole is obviously our actual matriculation into college. It is after this point, when almost every single thing that happens can viably be compared to our lives, which makes me really respect Carroll. He was particularly good at capturing human emotions and reactions to situations.

In my mind, I see Alice’s fall down the Rabbit Hole as equivalent to our first week of living here, with all of the club fairs like Party at the Plaza, and opening weekend
parties: we had “plenty of time as [we] went down to look about [us]…here and there [we] saw maps and pictures..”(pg 13). There was so much to do, all the clubs were recruiting; it felt like we could see all the choices and snapshots of fun as we were falling down the College Hole. On a more negative note, while we were falling down the hole, it also felt like we had to impress everybody, just as Alice cannot control the impulse to take advantage of the “ very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge” (pg 13).

Then, just as Alice thuds to a halt at the bottom of the Rabbit Hole, we are hit with the reality and confusion that personifies college. Frantically we try to find our place in the new world, trying to open all the locked doors with the keys of ourselves. We use what knowledge we’re already accumulated, “the simple rules [our] friends had taught” (pg 17) as we keep trying adjust our persona (Alice’s growing and shrinking) all in attempts to fit through the proper door which leads to the garden of friends, the right organizations and good grades. Sometimes, we get a little overwhelmed by all the new situations and frustrations we keep coming upon. Just like Alice, we become disoriented with who we are and cry ourselves into an ocean. After she goes through all the absurdities of the Caucus race, fetching the Rabbit’s gloves, and dealing with the Duchess and the Pig does she eventually get a hang on how to act in the crazy world of Wonderland.

I could go on and on about how Alice’s story is so richly related to our lives right now, but I’ll spare you the pain. There are a few underlying themes which are significant in our lives that have also been portrayed as such in Alice’s journey.

One of the most memorable moments in the Alice novels is when she encounters the Caterpillar on the mushroom who interrogates her, asking “Who are you?” (pg 48). At this moment, begins Alice’s quest to figure out and create her new self. Just like Alice, this sudden responsibility has been thrust upon us: we need to figure out our majors, our morals, our passions. This is the first time we have had to independently think about these topics and be free from influence at home. But also, we now bear the burden of acting wisely, or otherwise living with the consequences. Thus, we truly start this wonderful journey of college – a time of plenty of self-discovery.

In Through the Looking Glass, we encounter an Alice who has matured significantly – a maturing that is anticipated from us as well. Instead of abruptly assuming her own conclusions, Alice questions out of pure curiosity, so she can genuinely know. She asks Humpty Dumpty, “Would you tell me, please, what that means?” (pg 213). This questioning captures the very essence of what is expected from us – Plan II “will make learning an essential part of [our] life plans” (X343I). In a few years, that will hopefully be us. Learning for the sake of learning. Learning without any fear of making a Humpty Dumpty angry.

Thus by reading about Alice’s seemingly nonsensical journey, we’ve gained a role model who has already been through all the chaos. We are reassured that there is meaning behind all the craziness we are going through, and that soon enough, the results will shine through.