“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a novel written by Lewis Carrol in 1865. It is a famous children’s book that tells a fictional story of a young girl who got into a new dimension, a new and totally different world. Martin Gardner, an American writer, interested in mathematics and science, said that “life viewed rationally, and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale”, which is also the main theme in the book, because of the use of the elements in the novel, such as the setting and the plot, that play a major part of it.
All the story is focused on the adventure of a young girl named Alice who felt in a rabbit hole and got into a fantastic world, populated by unique creatures. The target audience of this book can fluctuate from children to even adults, since the story creates twists on logic. Following the rabbit who made her get in the hole from the first time, she decides to follow him. In the Wonderland, Alice meets a diversity of characters, from the magic cat, to the Mad Hatter. After the party Alice went to with Mad Hatter, she runs away and gets to a garden where guardians are painting the white roses red, as ordered by the Queen of Hearts. Later in the story, Alice is taken by the guards and forced to recognize against a thief. When she admits she knows nothing about the crime, the Queen orders the guards to kill Alice. Afterall, Alice wakes up and realizes that it was only a dream.
Furthermore, from the beginning of this novel, the unique trait of the story is noted. In the first chapter, “Down The Rabbit Hole”, it is presented a scene where Alice fells down slow, for a very long time. This scene emphasizes the fantastic aspect of this novel. Also, when she finally gets down, she goes to a big room with lots of doors. Because all the doors where locked, she managed to get a drink that would make herself smaller. After drinking the potion, she manages to get the key of one of the doors and unlocks it. Also, shortly after this episode, she finds a piece of cake which reverses the effect of the drink by enlarging her. This way, this chapter makes a link to the real life by representing the changes of maturation.
In addition, another aspect which emphasizes the nonsense conformation of this novel are the personages, which are very unique and important. Mainly, in the Wonderland there are humans, such as Alice, and fictional characters, such as the cat, the guards and the Mad Hatter. Alice, on one hand, is a very intelligent, polite and curious girl who is fascinated by the magic world, which is full of creatures. Even though she can get very fast annoyed, she is ready to do whatever she needs to do. On the other hand, there is the Mad Hatter, one of the strangest characters in this book. He is a very unpolite character and sometimes makes Alice can’t stand him. In the seventh chapter, he is described by the Cheshire Cat as mad: when Alice asks the cat “what sort of people live about here?”, he responses: “in that direction lives a Hatter, and in that direction, lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad!”
In conclusion, the novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, by Lewis Carroll, is a novel in which is presented a 7 years old girl in a fantastic world, who had to face serious problems. Also, the main theme is well summarized by Martin Gardner, who said that “life viewed rationally, and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale”.