The conversation we had on Monday about whether we could or should classify Alice’s adventures as children’s literature really got me thinking. Before starting this story, I personally hadn’t had any exposure to Carroll’s Alice — I had never read any of the stories (or had them read to me), nor had I seen any movie adaptations. The reason? My mom thought the stories were inspired by/indicative of a drug trip, sort of like how The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” gives a nod to LSD. It’s interesting, though, because as I read, I certainly do see the imaginative, quirky, and dreamlike elements that could give off this idea, but at the same time, the story doesn’t feel random. Sure, the pace is abrupt (perhaps to help keep hold of a child’s imagination), but the concepts are complex and thought-provoking, not just tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Reading this as an adult, it’s hard for me to imagine how I would have reacted to this story had I been previously exposed to it — it would certainly feel more familiar, but I think the backwards world of the looking glass would still throw me off a bit. I’d agree that the story is one that both kids and adults can enjoy, each bringing different insights to the text. We often underestimate kids’ abilities to understand complex concepts, but we forget that their imaginations allow for Alice’s world to feel truly real.
2 thoughts on “Alice as Children’s Lit”
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This is something that I have also been thinking about while reading Through the Looking Glass. I also had never read or seen Alice in Wonderland as a child, and now reading it I wonder if I would have been able to appreciate it if I had been exposed to it when I was a child. These books occupy an odd space in Children’s Literature (if they do indeed belong there) as they qualify as chapter books but do not seem at first glance to have as advanced/complex a plot as early chapter books do. Instead, I find TtLG as being much more reminiscent of picture books I used to read, starting with a child’s curiosity about something and going on to show more of a list of different experiences than a full “story”, one with developed conflict, climax, and resolution. I feel that in a class like this we are able to appreciate the things Alice’s story does give us, namely the take on virtual reality for children that is different than other books and stories we’ve read. But I’m not sure I agree that a child would be able to understand those complex concepts.
My only exposure to Alice as a child was the animated Disney adaptation, and I distinctly remember thinking it was the weirdest movie I’d ever watched, and I lost interest halfway through. However, as an adult reading the literature the movie is based on (I read Wonderland last year and Looking Glass now), I find that I am starting to appreciate the quirkiness. I do wonder what I would’ve thought had I read the book as a child instead of watching the movie, but I think Alice offers two levels of reading. The level that Alice Liddell probably would’ve been more privy to reading and enjoying, as well as the level that Carroll was writing. There are moments in both books that I feel were intended for adults reading to their children, and those are the moments I find myself picking up on reading it now.