Reactions to Alice in Wonderland
For this week I would like you to pick one of the two questions on Alice in Wonderland below to write a complete response to in the community blog.
1) Is Alice in Wonderland really about drugs? We discussed this somewhat in class but I want you answer more completely here. Tell me the reason why you do or do not think the story includes drug references. Were these references in the original text or were they added in the film version?
2) Find at least two examples of word play, puns, double entendre, or a riddle included in the text of Alice in Wonderland (the example we discussed in class was the riddle "Why is a Raven like a writing desk?")---you can not use this example. In your post explain how the puns or riddles you find manipulate the language. Why are they funny or clever? Why did Lewis Carol include them? etc.
You only need to answer one of these questions. A complete answer for this exercise must be three (3) paragraphs long with each paragraph consisting of a minimum of 4-5 sentences each.
Alice in Wonderland can be viewed as having drug references, as a story about ones experience with drugs and seen as drug induced “trips”. The story of Alice was about a girl and her incredible dream however many say the story has drugs and the center of its theme.
ReplyDeleteThere are many scenarios through out the story that can be viewed as drug related. The white rabbit is late and therefore going extremely fast and talking at a fast pace, therefore he is looked at as being on the drug speed, which is a stimulant that would mimic exactly how the rabbit was acting. Through out the book Alice drinks and eats various items to alter her physical state, this too can be viewed as a reference to drugs. The caterpillar smoked a hookah, which many say was used for opium, but others claim was just used for Tabaco. I feel the story can be taken both ways it just matters which side of the fence you are on.
I do not feel the author’s intention was to write a story about drugs, Lewis Carroll was known for his word play, logic and fantasy writings; I feel Alice in Wonderland is a story of just that. When Alice’s story was made into a movie in 1951, I’m sure the creators had a lot to do with how the story was perceived and how it was portrayed on the big screen. I definitely feel the drug references came into play in the film version and not in the original text.
I believe Alice in Wonderland referenced drugs in the film and text. She was clearly hallucinating from believing she was seeing the cat and the rabbit to drinking and eating things to make her taller and smaller. Even a caliper smoking hookah which is odd for children’s book and movie in my opinion. I strongly believe this story was about drugs and defiantly referenced drugs.
ReplyDeleteAlice experienced was from a drug induced state of mind. The ' drugs ' being eating the piece of cake, the mushroom, and the ‘special’ drink etc., these clearly referenced drugs. Even the part when Alice follows the white rabbit down the hole, in the movie as she’s falling it's all distorted and colorful as if she had taken drugs. Speaking of the white rabbit he was also under the influence, the way he was speed walking and talking and in the movie his eyes are extremely red. This to me seems like someone had one bad “trip “so many different drugs took place in this movie and book.
However, I do not believe this was the author’s intent, but he used people’s experiences on drugs as inspiration and reference for the book. This was a little girl who had a dream and her imagination was running wild. I mean we all had crazy dreams from nightmares and dreams that are just so crazy and weird we are unable to explain and make sense of them. In all after revisiting this book now I have a new point of view for The Alice in Wonderland story, she was clearly under the influence if this was the authors vision or not.
For those of you answering Q1 "Is Alice in Wonderland really about drugs?" Think about the contrast between the book and the film. We know Walt Disney would not have wanted drug references in his film...yet there are more overt references in the film than in the book? Why? Did his animators sneak them in without Disney realizing it?
DeleteAlice in wonderland is a story made for children. Every child have a big imagination, and when they watch a fantasy movie like Alice in wonderland. They just see a new world made of dreams and fantasies. However, we are adults and have different perspectives and thoughts more analytic. We can see how movies and children books have a different reference like drugs on Alice in wonderland.
ReplyDeleteWhile we grow up, we can see how drugs are affecting our society, our friends and families. We know all the consequences and effect the drugs have in people. That is why we can see how Alice in wonderland film version and the original text includes drugs references. Alice every time she drink, and eat something she have extremes physical and emotional changes. She created a variety of hallucinations like talking animals and the cat that disappear and appear magically.
In conclusion, I really think Alice in Wonderland is about drugs. All the surrealistic world she is in, are hallucinations. The hallucinations are a common side effect of several drugs. The physical and emotional changes that she have in both versions of the story (film and text) are other effect that are may related with drugs. This references may be not notable for kids but it are there. Alice in wonderland is a really good example of drugs and its effects.
In the book of Alice in wonderland, Lewis Carrol uses simple puns in his writing to give the reader amusement in his story. One of the pun that Lewis wrote is an example of Mock Turtle quoted " when we were little we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle we used to call him Tortoise-why did you call him tortoise if he wasn't One? Alice asked. We called him Tortoise because he taught us." I thought the joke to be funny because of the answer. I thought it to be so simple of what was expected of the word Tortoise- A turtle or very slow.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of a pun is when the mouse was speaking to Alice about a story he wants to share. "Mine is a long and sad tale."said the mouse, turning to Alice and sighing.
Its a long tail, certainly,'said Alicie, looking down with wonder at the mouse's tail . But why do you call it sad? And she kept on puzzling." I thought this pun to be so funny because the mouse was actually giving his story about his curly tail.
Another example of a pun used is "Knock knock
Who's there!
Cereal
Cereal who
Cereal pleasure to meet you."
This pun remind me of the funny little jokes we use to make has children with some of the words being altered to comprehend the joke.
"You see the earth takes twenty four hours to turn around the axis, when the Duchess interrupts Alice and said, talking of axis chop off her head. This was funny to where Alice is speaking about something to give knowledge when the Duchess abruptly say "chop off her head. Its sudden and direct.
Another example of a pun in Alice and wonderland is when the queen asked" Alice if she had seen Mock Turtle and Alice responded I dont even know what a Mock turtle is." The queen responded Mock Turtle is a name of a soup.
" I thought to myself she is looking for him to cook him. This made me chuckle because in real life Mock Turtle is a name of a soup but in wonderland Mock Turtle was an existant in the soup.
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ReplyDeleteWhen reading Alice in Wonderland I thought to myself How in the world can a child understand this story, But I guess if its read by an adult it can be interpreted. In chapter 9 I found a lot of double entendre and I actually found them to be hilarious and clever.
ReplyDelete"The Mock Turtle"...."When we were little...we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle we used to call him Tortoise,Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked. We called him Tortoise because he taught us." The Mock Turtle named the subjects he was taught.... "Reeling and Writhing. ( Reeling means, winding up or letting out, Writhing means to squirm, as in pain, violent effort). I thought this was clever because the Mock Turtle went to school in the Sea, Maybe he was learning how to catch fish or something, then he proceeded to say that he also learned "Arithmetic, Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision." This is a double entendre a person listening to this story probably would've thought that the Mock Turtle was talking about Reading, Writing, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. I also thought that the author was trying to teach a lesson himself, that in life you have to achieve (Ambition), you will come across many things that will make you lose focus (Distraction) , people will call you names like ugly or everyone wont be appealing (Uglification) and people aren't always what they appear to be (Derision).
I also found this double entendre interesting, "How many hours a day did you do lessons?' asked Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
'Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: 'nine the next, and so on.'
'What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: 'because they lessen from day to day." The word Lessons and Lessen Sound the same but have two completely different meaning. Lessons meaning learning and teaching, Lessen meaning to make or become less.
The Author uses several wordplay in this story and it was a bit confusing when I read it the first time, but when I read it again I started to understand.
Antasha...some great examples of how Carol uses puns, word play and double entendre to play with the reader and make the story interesting for both children and adults. Remember that children like to read the same story over and over again.. the complexity of Alice means that new things are discovered each time the story is read.
DeleteIn my opinion, when Alice in the wonderland was written everyone that read the book probably didn't think too much about the drug related references in the book at the time. when most people read a book for the very first time you might not notice these subliminal messages that the author uses, but after reading the book a second or third time then you might notice something new. In the case of Alice in the wonderland the author probably used these drug references to show the effects that drugs have on a persons mind. For example: Alice drank and ate a variety of items throughout the book such as mushrooms, strange bottles that said drink me on it, etc.. in the story these things made Alice change sizes from small to large, but in reality when a person eats a certain type of mushroom it makes you high and the strange bottles that she drank could be represented as alcohol in real life.
ReplyDeleteEven though most people probably watched the film instead of reading the book the film gave views a better understanding of the affects of the stuff Alice drank and ate through out her adventure like when she drank the bottle that says drink me on it, showed how small she got from drinking that liquid and when she ate the stuff that made her increase in size it showed how big she got etc.. Furthermore, i think film gave a more detailed version of what was read in the book.
Adrian...If the drug references were much more obvious in the film version of Alice...especially the Disney version...do you think Walt Disney wanted them there or was Disney oblivious to what they meant?
DeleteI honestly don't think that Alice in Wonderland was meant to be about drugs, despite the many similarities. I feel that the time frame this story was written in makes a difference because it wasn't considered taboo or a big deal or a serious issue the way it is portrayed today. Had this story been written in today's day and age I think that it would have been different. There would have been less emphasis on smoking and the hallucinations since this is a story that was meant to be for children and for it to be imaginative. Throughout the story, Alice was eating and drinking things that had both a physical and mental effect on her. Normally a person is not meant to experience these things just from eating food unless they're on drugs. These could have been symptoms from being on drugs because of the "cravings" for food she had. She was also feeling different sizes such as tall one moment and short the next moment which can be an effect from being on drugs. The way it was portrayed in the actual story is different from the movie because the movie emphasizes it and shows it in more detail than in the book.
ReplyDeleteDespite the drug references, I think that it was coincidental. It doesn't make sense that a children's story will purposely influence a child to do these types of things that are harmful to one's health.
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