Alice in Wonderland – Chapter Two

 

  1. Why is Alice so surprised at the beginning of the extract?

 

She is surprised to find out that, because of the cake she has eaten, she is now growing taller and taller.

 

  1. What does she worry about?

She worries about her feet. Because of her great height they seem almost out of sight.

 

  1. Why does she say she must be ‘kind to them’? In what way can she do it?

 

She is worried, because if they get offended, they won’t walk the way she wants. She decides therefore to give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.

 

  1. What unpleasant accident happens to her as a consequence of her new size?

 

She strikes her head against the roof.

 

  1. Correct the following statements:

 

  1. Alice starts crying and her tears end up forming a small lake. TRUE

b.                 Although Alice hears that somebody is arriving, she cannot stop crying. FALSE

She immediately stops crying and dries her eyes to see who’s coming.

  1. The White Rabbit appears with elegant clothes carrying a pair of socks in one hand and a fan in the other. FALSE

They’re not socks. They are kid gloves.

  1. The Rabbit says that the Queen will probably be angry with him. FALSE

That’s not the Queen. That’s the Duchess.

  1. When Alice tries to talk to the Rabbit he gets frightened and runs away. TRUE

 

  1. What questions does Alice to herself?

She wonders about her identity, thinking of who was she in the morning that same day (‘I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night?’ line 43, ‘Was I the same when I got up this morning?’ line 44, ‘Who in he world am I’’ line 48).

 

Zoom in

 

  1. What kind of narrator does Carroll use? What point of view does the narrator adopt?

It is an external narrator, who describes the situation from Alice’s point of view.

 

  1. Focus on Alice’s way of speaking and reasoning and find examples of grammatical inaccuracies, paradoxical and bizarre ideas, self humour.

The chapter begins with the wrong comparative form of curious (‘curiouser and curiouser’ line1).

At line 10 she starts thinking about her feet and how to send them Christmas presents, presenting a bizarre situation.

 

3.     What effects do these elements introduce in he text?

 

They follow the typical logic of dreams and have a humorous effect on the reader.

 

4.     Now reflect on the figure of the Rabbit. How would you describe his character? Do we understand from the passage what his words refer to exactly?

 

The Rabbit is shy and fearful, as we can understand from his reaction to Alice’s words. He loses his gloves and fan and runs away as fast as he can.

We can’t understand exactly what he’s talking about. We only know that the Duchess is waiting for him.

 

5.     What do the questions Alice asks herself tell us about the situation? And what do they tell us about Alice’s relationship with the logic of Wonderland? Does she accept her new size?

 

Alice is puzzled. She doesn’t know what to do and who she is either. She finds herself in a new dramatic situation that has no apparent logic. All that she knows, doesn’t work in the new World she must face. She tries to use the logic of the up-world but she can’t find the answers to her questions.

 

6.     How would you define the tone of the passage?

 

I think it is ironic and absurd, but also philosophical in some points.

 

7.     Explain in what way Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland parodies 19th-century moral conventions regarding children’s literature and the institutions of Victorian society.

8.     Carroll creates an underground world where the rules of the Victorian code are questioned and turned upside down. Victorian rules don’t work and seem illogic. Everything is relative, everyone does what he/she wants. He creates a world of imagination, fantasy and freedom from common sense.