A book to read once in a lifetime

Alice’s adventures in wonderland

We follow Alice a young girl who is in her garden with her sister she finds the book that her sister is reading very boring because it does not have any images, She will then see a white rabbit wearing clothes and who knows how to speak and who checks his watch she will then follow him in his rabbit hole and make an endless fall she will then find herself in a wonderful and very disturbing world. She will also be surrounded by very strange people who all seem crazy according to the definition in her world these people call themselves crazy but in their definition madness is a form of normality, Alice will have to travel through this wonderful new world and will try to find her way back home however she will be facing with many hardships and will have to trust people she does not know while trying to understand them.

The other side of the mirror

The main theme is normality in opposition to madness, indeed since the beginning we can see that alice does not fit into the norms of the society with strict morals in which she lived she is bored with what should normally amuse a girl of her age, she prefers to follow a rabbit and fall into a fantastic world in which she is also seen as strange and crazy even though for her it’s the people in front of her that are crazy, even if these characters describe themselves as crazy the madness is for them a norm and they even want to try to explain it to alice who doesn’t want to listen to them because she considers herself normal, However, she will learn to accept the “madness of her new friends” and even accept the fact that she does nothing like other girls her age. The book tells us about the acceptance of your own madness and not to be afraid to speak about your differences, many characters allowed her to arrive to this acceptance like the cheshire cat or the mad hatter. The cat is there to guide Alice to show her the way and to understand the people.

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

An inspired author

Carroll Lewis from his real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is a novelist, photographer and a math teacher born on January 27, 1832 and he died on January 14, 1898, he studied and taught at the Christ church in Oxford and he is known for writing the bestselling novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in 1865 and the continuation of the novel “Through the looking glass” in 1871.

Here is an example of short film made by Castle films:

Madness a form of normality

“Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.

“Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat,

“if you only walk long enough.” Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question.

“What sort of people live about here?”

“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round,

“lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw,

“lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Alice didn’t think that proved it at all; however, she went on “And how do you know that you’re mad?”

“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”

“I suppose so,” said Alice.

“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”

“I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice.

“Call it what you like,” said the Cat. “Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?”

“I should like it very much,” said Alice, “but I haven’t been invited yet.”

“You’ll see me there,” said the Cat, and vanished.

Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again. “By-the-bye, what became of the baby?” said the Cat.

“I’d nearly forgotten to ask.”

“It turned into a pig,” Alice quietly said, just as if it had come back in a natural way.

“I thought it would,” said the Cat, and vanished again.

This extract shows us the interaction between Alice and the cheshire cat who tries to explain to Alice that he is crazy and that everyone including her is crazy and that it is normal he will try to convince her, His speech tells us that to them madness seems to be the norm and that everyone is welcome.