Date of Award
Spring 1987
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
Abstract
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, should not be categorized as literature primarily for children. These stories are works of art whose complex nature demans intellectual interpretation. Such a study is not meant to take joy away from the innocent and pleasurable surface of Alice's adventures. Instead, the usefulness of probing deeply into this literature is to reveal a fundamental lesson that Carroll imparts to his readers. After studying the feelings prevalent in English Victorian society, Carroll's personal feelings as illustrated through his themes, and his devices and techniqu eof writing, I have found a fundamental element which lies behind his thinking. This element is Carroll's realization of the discrepancy between man's social voice and his inner voice. By dissecting Victorian man's social self and celebrating man's inner core, Carroll is in essence setting up a valuable lesson for Victorians who need assuranc eof their position in the world and of their self-worth.
Recommended Citation
Pecora, Pamela F., "Lewis Carroll's dissection and restructure of the social self" (1987). Honors Theses. 225.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/225