1.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, writing for children enjoyed a golden age, founded on
increasing literacy, the growth of commercial publishing, and recognition of the creative potential
of a child’s world. Tom Brown’s School Days (1857), by English author Thomas Hughes, started
the tradition of the school story; another new genre was the coming-of-age-tale, such as Louisa
May Alcott’s Little Women (1868-69) in the USA. Other classics include Johanna Spyri’s Heidi
(1880-81), from Switzerland, and Scotsman JM Barrie’s Peter Pan (1911).
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most influential books of this flowering. Regarded
as the first masterpiece for children in English, its fantastical story is a marked departure from the
prevailing realism of literature at the time. On a July day in 1862, Charles Dodgson, a young
mathematics don, went rowing with a male friend and three young sisters on the Thames near
Oxford and told a story of a girl named Alice – which was also the name of one of his passengers,
Alice Liddell, aged ten. So, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland took shape, appearing as a
handwritten book, and then as a publication under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

2.

Alice
The seven-year-old protagonist of the story. Alice believes that the world is orderly and stable, and
she has an insatiable curiosity about her surroundings. Wonderland challenges and frustrates her
perceptions of the world.

The White Rabbit

The frantic, harried Wonderland creature that originally leads Alice to Wonderland. The White
Rabbit is figure of some importance, but he is manic, timid, and occasionally aggressive.

The Queen of Hearts

The ruler of Wonderland. The Queen is severe and domineering, continually screaming for her
subjects to be beheaded.

The King of Hearts

The coruler of Wonderland. The King is ineffectual and generally unlikeable but lacks the Queen’s
ruthlessness and undoes her orders of execution.

The Cheshire Cat

A perpetually grinning cat who appears and disappears at will. The Cheshire Cat displays a
detached, clearheaded logic and explains Wonderland’s madness to Alice.

The Duchess

The Queen’s uncommonly ugly cousin. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice at first, but later
treats her so affectionately that her advances feel threatening.

The Caterpillar
A Wonderland creature. The Caterpillar sits on a mushroom, smokes a hookah, and treats Alice
with contempt. He directs Alice to the magic mushroom that allows her to shrink and grow.

The Mad Hatter

A small, impolite hatter who lives in perpetual tea-time. The Mad Hatter enjoys frustrating Alice.

The March Hare

The Mad Hatter’s tea-time companion. The March Hare takes great pleasure in frustrating Alice.

The Gryphon

A servant to the Queen who befriends Alice. The Gryphon escorts Alice to see the Mock Turtle.

The Mock Turtle

A turtle with the head of a calf. The Mock Turtle is friendly to Alice but is exceedingly sentimental
and self-absorbed.

Alice’s sister

The only character whom Alice interacts with outside of Wonderland. Alice’s sister daydreams
about Alice’s adventures as the story closes.

The Knave of Hearts

An attendant to the King and Queen. The Knave has been accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts.

The Mouse

The first Wonderland creature that Alice encounters. The Mouse is initially frightened of Alice and
her talk about her pet cat, and eventually tells the story of Fury and the Mouse that foreshadows the
Knave of Heart’s trial.

The Dodo

A Wonderland creature. The Dodo tends to use big words, and others accuse him of not knowing
their meanings. He proposes that the animals participate in a Caucus race.

The Duck, the Lory, and the Eaglet

Wonderland creatures who participate in the Caucus race.

The Cook

The Duchess’s cook, who causes everyone to sneeze with the amount of pepper she uses in her
cooking. The Cook is ill-tempered, throwing objects at the Duchess and refusing to give evidence
at the trial.
The Pigeon

A Wonderland creature who believes Alice is a serpent. The pigeon is sulky and angry and thinks
Alice is after her eggs.

Two, Five, and Seven

The playing-card gardeners. Two, Five, and Seven are fearful and fumbling, especially in the
presence of the Queen.

Bill

A lizard who first appears as a servant of the White Rabbit and later as a juror at the trial. Bill is
stupid and ineffectual.

The Frog-Footman

The Duchess’s footman. The Frog-footman is stupid and accustomed to the fact that nothing makes
sense in Wonderland.

The point of view the narrative follows Alice around on her travels, voicing her thoughts
and feelings. Foreshadowing the Mouse's history about Fury and the Mouse foreshadows the trial
at the end of the story.

In Alice in Wonderland, unlike other fairy tales, the story represents a child's true
progression through life. In real life, in the industrialized world, a child has to figure things out on
her own. In sociology, there is a stage called transitional adulthood.
When precocious Alice enters her kingdom, the Queen gets guillotines and rolling heads in her
eyes, just like bullies the world over. But one of the most important lessons for any young person
to learn is not to let bullies get you down and always stand up for yourself.
Throughout the course of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice goes through a variety of
absurd physical changes. The discomfort she feels at never being the right size acts as a symbol for
the changes that occur during puberty.
6.
Stories are told in every culture and often teach a moral lesson to young children. Fables are
similar, but often set an example for people to live by or describe what to do when in a dangerous
situation. They can also be a part of traditions, help to preserve ways of life, or explain mysteries.
Storytelling takes many different forms such as tall tales and folktales. These are for entertainment
or to discuss problems encountered in life. Both are also a form of cultural preservation, a way to
communicate morals or values to the next generation. Stories can also be a form of social control
over certain activities or customs that are not allowed in a society.

7. Alice in Wonderland Summary

Alice is sitting with her sister outdoors when she spies a White Rabbit with a pocket watch.
Fascinated by the sight, she follows the rabbit down the hole. She falls for a long time and finds
herself in a long hallway full of doors. There is also a key on the table, which unlocks a tiny door;
through this door, she spies a beautiful garden. She longs to get there, but the door is too small.
Soon, she finds a drink with a note that asks her to drink it. There is later a cake with a note that
tells her to eat; Alice uses both, but she cannot seem to get a handle on things and is always either
too large to get through the door or too small to reach the key.

While she is tiny, she slips and falls into a pool of water. She realizes that this little sea is made of
tears she cried while a giant. She swims to shore with a number of animals, most notably a
sensitive mouse, but manages to offend everyone by talking about her cat's ability to catch birds
and mice. Left alone, she goes on through the wood and runs into the White Rabbit. He mistakes
her for his maid and sends her to fetch some things from his house. While in the White Rabbit's
home, she drinks another potion and becomes too huge to get out through the door. She eventually
finds a little cake which, when eaten, makes her small again.

In the wood again, she comes across a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom. He gives her some
valuable advice, as well as a valuable tool: the two sides of the mushroom, which can make Alice
grow larger and smaller as she wishes. The first time she uses them, she stretches her body out
tremendously. While stretched out, she pokes her head into the branches of a tree and meets a
Pigeon. The Pigeon is convinced that Alice is a serpent, and though Alice tries to reason with her
the Pigeon tells her to be off.

Alice gets herself down to normal proportions and continues her trek through the woods. In a
clearing she comes across a little house and shrinks herself down enough to get inside. It is the
house of the Duchess; the Duchess and the Cook are battling fiercely, and they seem unconcerned
about the safety of the baby that the Duchess is nursing. Alice takes the baby with her, but the child
turns into a pig and trots off into the woods. Alice next meets the Cheshire cat (who was sitting in
the Duchess's house, but
said nothing). The Cheshire cat helps her to find her way through the woods, but he warns her that
everyone she meets will be mad.
Alice goes to the March Hare's house, where she is treated to a Mad Tea Party. Present are the
March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse. Ever since Time stopped working for the Hatter, it has
always been six o'clock; it is therefore always teatime. The creatures of the Mad Tea Party are
some of the must argumentative in all of Wonderland. Alice leaves them and finds a tree with a
door in it: when she looks through the door, she spies the door-lined hallway from the beginning of
her adventures. This time, she is prepared, and she manages to get to the lovely garden that she saw
earlier. She walks on through, and finds herself in the garden of the Queen of Hearts. There, three
gardeners (with bodies shaped like playing cards) are painting the roses red. If the Queen finds out
that they planted white roses, she'll have them beheaded. The Queen herself soon arrives, and she
does order their execution; Alice helps to hide them in a large flowerpot.
The Queen invites Alice to play croquet, which is a very difficult game in Wonderland, as the balls
and mallets are live animals. The game is interrupted by the appearance of the Cheshire cat, whom
the King of Hearts immediately dislikes.

The Queen takes Alice to the Gryphon, who in turn takes Alice to the Mock Turtle. The Gryphon
and the Mock Turtle tell Alice bizarre stories about their school under the sea. The Mock Turtles
sings a melancholy song about turtle soup, and soon afterward the Gryphon drags Alice off to see
the trial of the Knave of Hearts.
The Knave of Hearts has been accused of stealing the tarts of the Queen of Hearts, but the evidence
against him is very bad. Alice is appalled by the ridiculous proceedings. She also begins to grow
larger. She is soon called to the witness stand; by this time, she has grown to giant size. She refuses
to be intimidated by the bad logic of the court and the bluster of the King and Queen of Hearts.
Suddenly, the cards all rise and attack her, at which point she wakes up. Her adventures in
Wonderland have all been a fantastic dream.