FOR THURSDAY
1) Bring to class AND post on blog (so that I have an idea about who’s focusing on what)
- at least two scenes and/or characters you want to focus on (you will need 3 for the final essay), and how you think they are connected to each other, through their symbolic components. Remember that symbols, in dreams, can be objects, characters, specific qualities of characters, behavior of the dreamer, physical representations of the dreamer, etc. Everything in a dream is substitution, so there isn’t much that doesn’t qualify as symbolic.
I just posted but I think it got deleted so I'm going to try again just in case. For this essay I would like to continue the theme I wrote about in my first paragraph about how Alice was neglected as a child. One scene I would like to talk about is when Alice first gets to Wonderland and she is in the room full of doors. The way she deals with the situation shows how she had to teach her self simple stuff as a child. The second scene I want to talk about is when the Hatter is talking about time as a man. I think this connects to Alice's father and how he never had time for her as she was growing up.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor this essay, I want to expand upon what I wrote about for my paragraph, and improve upon my ideas as well. The basic idea is that Alice was raised by someone who was not fully capable of raising her well, by no fault of their own. I'm thinking I'll focus on Alice's sister. For my 2 scenes, I think I'll focus on the scene with the Duchess and the baby, and the baby turning into a pig. The other scene I'll focus on for now is the beginning, when Alice is surrounded by the animals and she is still very unsure of the whole situation, which reveals some necessary facts about her life and her psyche. These two scenes are related by Alice's conversation about children, and what it means to be a child/ raise a child. This contrast will be highlighted in my essay, and supported by dream theories.
ReplyDeleteWith this essay, I would like to go more in depth about how Alice is neglected by her parents, therefore she tries to find parental guidance through the characters in her dreams. The two characters I would like to focus on besides the White Rabbit which I discussed in my first paragraph, are the duchess and Alice's cat Dinah. Because the White Rabbit is symbolic of Alice's dad and the lack of attention he gives her, the duchess would be symbolic of Alice's mom and how she is afraid of becoming as demanding as her mother is. Since Alice does not receive the proper guidance from her parents, she makes her cat Dinah the parental figure in her life in order to cope with the lack of supervision as a little girl.
ReplyDeleteI plan on exploring the same ideas/theories in my paragraph for my essay. In doing this I would focus on Alice's deep fear of change that has to occur in everyone's life, as she begins to learn more about herself and life she begins to lose the privileges of being a child. Whether its being tended to whenever she desires or even the innocence that comes with not knowing things, she recognizes this change and wants to prepare herself for it. The two scenes I would like to use are the baby turning into a pig and the white roses being painted red; Both instances involve this change which reflects Alice letting letting go of this state of innocence and understanding the need for change. The white roses represent Alice childlike state just as the baby, Alice easily relates to these symbols but the painted roses represent the person she's bound to become while the pig is the person her mother wants her to be, one who's knowledgeable and isn't attached to her childlike tendencies. My hope is to bring more attention to the Queen and her role in Alice's fantasy and how she represents the authoritative figures found in Alice's life.
ReplyDeleteIn my essay, I would like to talk about Alice's lack of confidence when it comes to her intelligence and how she expresses this through different characters in her fantasy, most notably the Mad Hatter and the Duchess. I would also like to talk about how Alice portrays power and aggression throughout the book through the different characters and the ways in which she herself uses them in the courtroom scene towards the end. I think these two connect because the mad hatter and other characters use borderline aggressive comments about her intelligence in an attempt to make her seem inferior, a tactic which she in some ways adopts herself as she gains more confidence.
ReplyDeleteFor the essay, I'd like to revise my paragraph on the scene where Alice takes the baby that turns into a pig from the Duchess, and use the final scene in the courtroom, when Alice stands up for herself and other witnesses by defying the queen. I think that in both scenes Alice represents a parent like figure, and in the earlier scene she feels relieved to see the baby that becomes a pig run away from her. In the courtroom Alice shows that she cares for the knave, and other witnesses by standing up for them, and protecting them from the King and Queen. I think the comparison of these two scenes shows that Alice has become a more confident person, who believes she can stand up to the Queen, and that she also feels more compassion for those who have no one to stand up for them, like the knave who was accused of stealing the tart.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in exploring the Duchess and how she represents Alice's mother by way of how rough and strict she is. I wrote about this in my previous essay paragraph, but I want to delve deeper into the character and how Alice is still scared of her mother even in her dreams. The Hatter is also another character I would like to focus on––he represents Alice's eccentric, wild side that wants to come out to play. However, her mother would most likely discourage the kind of behavior the Hatter portrays––being eccentric, colorful, and unable to answer any sort of question, showing lack of intelligence. Both The Hatter and the Duchess are the antithesis of each other, mirroring how much Alice wants to be the antithesis of her own mother.
ReplyDeleteFor the upcoming essay I would like to revise and elaborate on my paragraph regarding Alice’s fear of the strict and expressionless structure in adulthood. This fear could possibly be derived from her parent’s excessive discipline and the societal pressures Alice receives as she grows older. I would like to focus on the Hatter’s characteristics (his repetitiveness, speaking in riddles, and criticisms) and connect his habits to the scene in which the baby transforms into a pig and arguably avoids growing up in doing so.
ReplyDelete1. Using my paragraph, I want to talk about how she has become this self-doubting person, and how she grows from it. I’ll use it to emphasize the story I want to tell, which is that she has been criticized by many people she is close to, but specifically her mom, which makes her doubt whether she is doing anything right, but her brain somehow obsesses over this idea where she ends up questioning who she is, and loses herself in the process.
ReplyDelete2. I’ll use the White Rabbit to symbolize this anxiety/self-doubting problem that her psyche makes her face from the beginning (when she chases the rabbit to the hole).
3. I’ll use the March Hare to show the other extreme of the White Rabbit, like what would happen if she didn’t take care of herself mentally and physically.
4. I’ll use the Mad Hatter to symbolize the balance of both caring about yourself and not constantly being confused about herself and the world around her while also having a bit of that craziness to be who she is and have fun.
In my essay I want to expand on what I previously wrote on the blog. I want to use the Caterpillar/ Mushroom Scene. Specifically in the scene I want to you the quote "Who are you?", the Caterpillar, and the Mushroom. Basically, with this information I want to prove that Alice is not getting enough attention from her parents so she seeks someone to depend on, but this forces her to depend on herself because the caterpillar does not allow her to depend on him. I want to talk about the caterpillar being her inner conscious forcing her to overcome her problems. After, I want to show that the mushroom is a warning that if she tries to mature too quickly that there might be danger. I also would like to focus a little on her confidence growth and the transition from how she speaks to the Queen in the beginning and at the end.
ReplyDeleteI would like to focus on the Caterpillar and the Queen because I feel believe that both of these characters show the progression in Alice's development as a child to somewhat a more mature young lady at the end of the book. I think it is important to analyze Alice's encounters with both the Caterpillar and the Queen and the conversations she has with them and compare/contrast the way they look at Alice and her response to each criticism or small piece of advice they give her.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I previously discussed Alice's dark past of how she was possibly neglected and abused as a child, I wish to expand on this idea through further analyzing the Duchess, and how she can represent Alice's mother through her mistreatment of the baby. Then again, I could also be looking at the cook as well, since she was totally ignoring the fact that the Duchess was abusing her child, either representing how Alice's mother did not realize the significance of her abuse, or a possible family member, who stood back and watched the abuse happen. Another character I could also look at could be the Red Queen, as she seems to be Alice's rage personified, as Alice most likely represses her emotions of her past trauma.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to continue on the theme I focused on in my paragraph, which was neglect from Alice's family. I would use the Duchess and pig scene because the Duchess represents how her family doesn't accept her, and instead force her to do things she doesn't want to do. The pig represents Alice and the imperfections her family sees in her. I would also like to use the Mad tea party scene where the March Hare and Hatter reject Alice's presence and criticize her on her imperfections as well. With these characters and scenes I will be able to analyze Alice using one or more dream theories.
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to continue looking at the Duchess as I did in my previous paragraph. I also would like to look at the red queen, especially in the scene where she is arguing with Alice. I want to look at those scenes because I think that these characters play a central role in detailing how Alice views the older women in her life. For example, the Duchess could represent her abusive mother, who most likely abused her as a child (hence the screaming baby pig) and the red queen could symbolize her older sister who she finds to be unreasonable at times.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay I think I want to continue talking about Alice's inner issues with her parents abandoning her as she got older, only really focusing on her as she was an infant. I would edit upon my idea of the abandonment of the pig from the Duchess, where in real life the Duchess emulated Alice's mother. I could possibly elaborate on this idea more by connecting the "eat me" cakes and "drink me" potions, and say that her family does not accept the person she is, and therefore tries to tell her what to do, and when to do it. This connects to the Duchess and the pig because she refused to take care of the infant because it was different than she was. Alice is neglected by her family, but in the end is able to grow to a size that is comfortable for her and did not need anyone to tell her otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay, I plan on focusing on how the dream reflects on how Alice has further developed her hatred towards other people. Most of the animals in her dream have an attitude towards her and are easily provoked by what she says. She often struggles to interact with these animals making her realize that they are all irrational individuals. She feels the most comfortable talking to the Cheshire Cat since he seems more understanding and level head. The two scenes I plan on using are the tea party and the end of the courtroom scene. It neither begins nor ends well for Alice in the tea party because both the Mad Hatter and the March Hare keep undermining her. She cannot bare with their attitudes towards her. Similarly, in the courtroom scene, Alice begins to realize that the whole issue was nonsense. While others may argue that her psyche has changed in a positive way because of her defiance towards the queen, my argument is that her defiance shows her hatred worsening. Of course I do plan on using more scenes for my essay, but I think these scenes relate well to each other.
ReplyDeleteIn this essay I want to expand on what I wrote in the first paragraph and focus on how as Alice gets older her mother begins to neglect her more and more, but her sister continues to treat her like a child. I would like to write about how this causes Alice to feel confused about her exact level of maturity, and her need to prove that she is becoming a different person, to her sister, who is portrayed as the red queen in her dream. I want to focus on Alice's behavior at the jury, because it is where Alice's changes are most evident. I also want to focus on her behavior before the court scene where she makes small attempts to prove herself and stand up for herself. I think these sections show the unstableness of Alice's confidence and character before the court scene.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay I would like to expand my idea from my paragraph on how Alice's neglect from her family as she grew older led to her having this fear of being neglected in the future and not having any attention from anyone in her life (i.e. how the animals barely pay any mind to who she is and what she is saying). I would also like to include the caterpillar scene and how Alice not only fails to try and distinguish where she wants to be (age wise i.e. the multiple transitions from being short to being tall) in life currently and in the future, but also how she doesn't know who she is. The connection between the two is that as a child we are raised with certain standards and rules to help us form our superego and in a sense help us "find ourselves"; Alice on the other hand has difficulty with this because her parents neglected her, leaving her with no guidance in life, therefore forcing her to depend on herself, thus emphasizing the idea on the caterpillar being her inner self trying to unravel the riddle of Who Alice Is.
ReplyDeleteThe two scenes that I am focusing on are the caterpillar scene and the tea party scene. I think that Alice biting the mushroom represents the importance of making her own decisions(since she isn’t sure of which side to bite) and the caterpillar disappearing shows the wrongness of offending people to their faces. In the tea party scene, Alice seems oddly mature and responsible since she takes an interest in eating, drinking, and time and instead of talking back every time, she stays silent sometimes. She’s revealing the lessons she learned from the caterpillar in her behavior during the tea party. Even her starting the tea party a little grumpy does not mean that her behavior is bad. It is just an extension of the caterpillar’s poor humor. Alice needs to put herself in the authoritative position of the caterpillar in the beginning of the party before she can put the lessons she learned to use, just like children need to be allowed to be openly grumpy. She must have lacked this freedom outside of the dream, which is why she keeps on getting into difficult situations in the dream.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay I would like to use some of the ideas in my paragraph and expand on them by using the duchess as a symbol for the society women in Alice’s reality. When the duchess leaves to get ready to play croquet with the queen she passes her baby to Alice this could be symbolic of the way women in her real world eaglet there children. In my paragraph I mentioned Alice liking to pretend to be two different people I want to take that idea further by using the red queen as a symbol for the other side of Alice. The red queen could be symbolic of the childish side of her she tries to ignore.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay I would like to revise the idea in my original paragraph, which was that Alice desires to grow up. Originally, I wrote that this desire stemmed from Alice’s need to compare herself to her sister. However, in this essay I plan on discussing Alice’s anxiety about the lack of control she has in her life, which is a result of the fact that her parents perceive her as nothing more than a child. I will be using the “DRINK ME” liquid/”EAT ME” cake and the Queen as representations of this anxiety. Alice initially relies on the food and drink to grow and shrink whenever she pleases, which represents her need for control. The Queen symbolizes Alice because no one really follows through with the Queen’s orders to chop off the heads of the characters that upset her, despite the fact that she is supposed to have control of the kingdom. This represents Alice’s fear that she will not have control of her own life because no one will take her seriously.
ReplyDeleteI would like to focus on Alice's self-consciousness and insecurities surrounding her intelligence and other aspects of her personality. Throughout the book she is questioning her knowledge and she seems very unsure of herself until the end. I think the scene with the caucus race is really symbolic of Alice's fear of judgment, when the animals all abandon her at the mention of Dinah. I think the scene with the caterpillar is also important to examine, as her uncertainty is brought about and tested by the caterpillar. When Alice has to choose a "side" of the mushroom to eat, it symbolizes her inability to make decisions for herself.
ReplyDeleteFor this essay I would like to focus on the scene in the court room, specifically the kings actions and the scene in the beginning of the book with the Caucus race. These are connected because they both seem to be using a judicial system to resolve problems but quickly devolve into anarchy and childish behavior. This is an interesting parallel to Alice's very strict and lawful ideas and her immature actions. I wrote about the Caucus race in my original paragraph and i would like to expand on it. In this paragraph I speculated that Alice's dream was a reflection of the absurdity of the adult world around her. Although things seem just and fair when she is a child, Alice is learning that everything is not so and adults too act immaturely.
ReplyDeleteI want to continue with what my paragraph addressed and write my essay about Alice's trouble coping with new responsibilities in her life. I will use the scene when she is too big for the house because it shows that she might be ready to move to the next stage of her life, but it is just an uncomfortable process. I will also use the scene where Alice meets the Queen and expresses she is not afraid of her because it demonstrates that she wants to be able to deal with tougher situations. Ultimately, I believe Alice's dreams helps allow her to deal with the new responsibilities in her life witch which she was previously uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like to focus on the Tea Time scene, as well as the trials scene. I think both scenes are indicative of Alice's apparent regression to a childish state, who then attempts to embrace the adult task she is faced with in order to cope with the fact that she was left to mature on her own without the assistance of her parents. However, the tea time scene she is much more childish and by the trial scene she is indeed much more of an adult. Whereas the trial scene, Alice becomes able to face the recreations of herself and is able to come to terms with reality. I'd like to continue analyzing the connection between the Queen, the hatter, and Alice, all as recreations of herself.
ReplyDeleteI would like to explore Alice's insecurities and difficulties interacting with the various characters in her dream. In my paragraph, I focused on her interactions with the Duchess and specifically Alice's desire to be perceived as intelligent. This type of behavior occurs many times throughout the novel; two instances I would like to focus on are: her interaction with the blue caterpillar and Alice's rambling to herself in the second chapter. Both instances begin with Alice saying something which demonstrates some amount of factual knowledge which is then followed by self doubt and questioning of her identity. I take this to show massive insecurity in Alice which extends beyond the dream world into her real life.
ReplyDeleteI would like to focus on Alice's difficulty in dealing with her body transformation as she is facing coming of age. Alice isn't able to control her body which frustrates her because she is either too large or too small, and she is not able to reach HER perfect size. Her inability to control her size has to do with the fact society have imposed beauty standards and maybe she is often compared to her sister's physical appearance. I would talk about the "eat me" or "drink me" scene, the scene when the caterpillar and her talk about her size (two sides of the mushroom) and the scene in the ending of the book where she is finally able to control her size without eating or drinking nothing . This all resembles her struggle to have control of herself and facing the ideals of the beauty standard society.
ReplyDeleteI would love to continue focusing on the ideas in my first paragraph, which included aimlessness, self-punishment and dissatisfaction. I want to further look into the beginning scene with the queen, as well as the hatter during tea time. The Queen shows Alice's discomfort with others not agreeing with how they (the Queen and Alice) want things to be, therefore i believe the Queen is a representation of Alice. Alice learns to see that the Queen's way of handling her issues are plain and ineffective. For Alice, the disagreement would be her intelligence, which she shows to question throughout the novel and especially in chapter 2. The hatter points out Alice's flaws, and teaches Alice another valuable lesson, as Alice continuously tells him to mind his personal remarks. I believe the hatter also symbolizes Alice, as Alice teaches herself to ignore societal standards in real life.
ReplyDelete