«Alice in Wonderland» and «Alice through the Looking-Glass» by Lewis Carroll belong to the genre of so-called nonsense. We all know that «Alice» rose to fame and nowadays is considered world literature. Many of the quotes in Carroll’s books found their way into everyday language.
In spite of the fantastic, unrealistic, yet entertaining characters, the books contain a lot of wisdom. Wisdom that may not have been considered as such in the 19th century when society followed different rules and held different beliefs. Most parents probably did not agree with the idea that a little girl could fall down a rabbit hole and, to make matters worse, find a complete world down there.
Alice was not merely a product of the author’s imagination, but he wrote the story for Alice Liddell. He was a frequent guest at the Liddell family home.
It seems as if Carroll attributed to his audience, which at the beginning comprised Alice and her sisters, a great deal of philosophical understanding and the ability to think for themselves.
Time
Soon after her arrival in Wonderland, Alice ran into the White Rabbit with whom she would eventually have an astounding conversation: Alice: «How long is forever?» White Rabbit: «Sometimes just one second.»
While this was certainly a crazy idea at the time, it is sometimes what we feel. And, since Einstein, we are taught that time and space correlate. The Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit had some more curious ideas about time, as you can see below.
Beliefs
SOMETIMES I HAVE BELIEVED AS MANY AS SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS BEFORE BREAKFAST. – The White Queen, Alice in Wonderland
Carroll makes Alice and the other characters in the story say things that must not only have been unbelievable but downright rebellious to other people. However, if one takes the time to think about them, some of them run really deep. Believing also means having faith. For example, one can believe in their own ability to create something completely new, which is unbelievable for all others until it is done.
Alice herself noticed that she cannot go back in time, although her justification is quite philosophical.
I CAN’T GO BACK TO YESTERDAY, BECAUSE I WAS A DIFFERENT PERSON THEN.
Alice, Alice In Wonderland
Little is known about the writer’s relationship to Alice but as it seems, she and her sisters were eventually forbidden to see Carroll. We know nothing about the circumstances, since Alice’s parents destroyed all of Carroll’s letters and the respective pages in his journal were removed by the writer’s heirs.
But we do know, that most parents would not support their children’s belief in the existence of unicorns, even today. Nevertheless, «unicorn» is the new term for businesses with unique products and models. Modern times, modern myths.
