Alice in Wonderland

I think Alice in Wonderland is a good children’s book because it helps prepare children for the cruel people of the world. Children are impressionable, there are many things that teach them what shouldn’t be taught to them.  Kids need stories with a message that can mold their mind for the best. It’s interesting to think, if I was a children’s author what would I want children to know? I think back on my life and think an important lesson is that you can’t trust everyone and not all people are nice. There are many good children’s authors that use ugly characters to show children harsh lessons such as this. One that comes to mind is author Roald Dahl he uses fearful characters such as in “The Witches”, to show that people can be cruel and evil.  Out of all the stories ever written some of the most significant are the Hans Christen Anderson and Brothers Grimm fairy tales and they don’t always end happily ever after. Both of them have incredible dark stories that involve murder and treachery. They’re a success because they are honest and children want honesty. Children are simple and innocent and want guidance. Children books have strong characters that teach children about the cruelty of the world. In Alice in Wonderland the Queen, the rabbit and the caterpillar are all aggressive. The Queen wants to chop off people’s heads. The rabbit is always in a panic and tends to get aggressive with Alice. Interestingly the caterpillar, tells her keep your temper, even though its clear he cannot.

Sometimes we look back on life and think ‘I wish I could be a kid again everything was simple’. Alice is simple, innocent and naïve. She is the only likeable character in the story. The other characters are strong and we are interested in them but there no one we would want to be with. She’s childlike and always wants to do the right thing. One of my favorite things about Alice in Wonderland is the stream of consciousness style of writing. I love how genuine Alice is. She’s very innocent and says what she thinks. I like that things that happen and spur her to think of other things that lead to her tangents. Kids minds wander from one thing to the next.

I think Alice is a good example of our self in a dream. In my dreams my feelings are heightened. I feel like crying at things I normally wouldn’t. I read once that you cannot hide your conscious in dreams. Your ideas and thoughts and feelings just come out. In life we can push certain memories or feelings about things we wish to forget aside. In dreams we can’t hide from our self. When we are children we are open. We don’t know how to not say what we are thinking. It’s when we grow up that we stifle ourselves. In our dreams we are like children, we are like Alice.