The Caterpillar seemed to be a mellow creature doing whatever it wants. It is as if it doesn't mind helping Alice, but it could have better things to do than help a little girl attain her goals. The Caterpillar does not seem that friendly or kind to Alice, but rather wise in such a way that it helps her by making her think critically about who she really is and brings her back to normal size by telling her what to do. The caterpillar smoking a "hookah" allows the reader to infer that the author is using personification. Personification is also shown when Alice arrives at a house and the footmen had the faces of a frog and a fish, and the bodies of men.
Irony is also portrayed when Alice is talking about the geographic term "axis" and the Duchess mistakes the term for "axes", which is an instrument used for chopping things. It seems as if the Duchess wasn't really listening to what Alice was saying.
So far, the story is confusing when one "dream" leads to the next and Alice's subconscious mind allows the dreams to not make sense. My favorite part was when I read about the Cheshire Cat disappearing and reappearing because that is the only part I remember from the Disney movie version of Alice in Wonderland.
Dear Joyce :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the irony situation. Lewis Caroll also shows this irony when Alice is telling the mouse to tell her about his tale of why he hates cats and dogs. But Alice thinks the mouse is talking about his actual tail, back in chapter 3. Which ties into puns in this story. A lot of the characters miscommunicate with each other.
And I remember that part too in the movie :) the Cheshire Cat actually use to scare me as a child when I watched the movie :P
Love,
Quinci :)
One thing I learned that made me understand the story better was when Alice talk to the Caterpillar, met the Pigeon, visited a house in the Duchess, and had the nice conversation with the Cheshire Cat. These dreams that Alice has are not connected in anyway. The author's spontaneous writing makes the story unpredictablr.
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