From: Aptimber at aol.com <Aptimber>
Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2000 11:24:51 EDT

I agree with you Maia! This is a wonderful portrayal of a little girl. Alice is very in control of her environment. I love it when she takes the pencil away from the lizard and also, when she decides to put the Pig Baby down if it's going to be a pig ( b/c what would be the use of carrying a pig).

Here's a couple of points that are slightly different than yours:

I see part of Alice's control of "wonderland" as part of the dream. At least in my dreams, I'm the captain of the ship and am able to control certain elements.

In addition, I see Alice as a realistic portrayal of a pre?olescent girl. (I believe Alice is around 7 years old? Help?) I know many girls around this age that are very similar to Alice. They know what they want. They ask for it. They try to make things the way they think they should be. I love this about pre?olescent girls! So I think Carroll was an astute observer of little girls.

By the way, I am also re-reading the stories as an adult for the first time. I've been wanting to re-read them since seeing an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland by City-Lit Theatre in Chicago, but I hadn't gotten around to it. Then there was this topic on this listserve, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity.

Thank you for this discussion!

Amy Timberlake
Received on Thu 05 Oct 2000 10:24:51 AM CDT