Alice In Wonderland Term Paper

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Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-1898, was not only a writer, but a mathematician as well, which is probably why he loved riddles and puns (Lewis pp). His facility at word play, logic and fantasy has delighted and captivated audiences for more than a century (Lewis pp). His work appeals to both the naive and the most sophisticated, and has been a source of influence of many major twentieth century writers, such as James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges (Lewis pp).

From Chapter IX in "Alice in Wonderland," Alice asked, "Why did you call him Tortoise if he wasn't one" ... To which the Mock Turtle angrily replies, "We called him Tortoise because he taught us" (Carroll 127). Carroll's love for math is apparent in Chapter IX in "Through the Looking Glass," when the White Queen asked Alice, "Can you do Addition ... What's one and one and one and one and one and one" (Carroll 320)? Then again asked, "Can you do Subtraction ... Take nine from eight" (Carroll 320). The Red Queen said, "What do you suppose is the use of a child without any meaning. Even a joke should have some meaning and a child's more important than a joke, I hope" (Carroll 319). In Chapter XII of "Alice in Wonderland," the King said, "Then the words don't fit you ... It's a pun" (Carroll 160).

The essence of "Wonderland" lies in nonsense, and Carroll uses it both to create humor and pleasure, as also to make points about language, logic, and identity (L pp).

Language and reality become one, and "by showing the arbitrary nature of one through artful word-play and puns, Carroll makes a strong implicit statement about the value of the other" (L pp).

Work Cited

Carroll, Lewis. The Annotated Alice.The new American Library Inc. 1968; pp.127, 160,

319, 320.

L in Wonderland. Retrieved October 18, 2005 from:

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:0QCvfIRwJRUJ:www.vu.union.edu / ~srivastn/l-in-wonderland.pdf+Lewis+Carroll%27s+use+of+puns+and+analogies+& hl=en

Lewis Carroll Biography. Retrieved October 18, 2005 from:

http://www.insite.com.br/rodrigo/text/lewis_carroll.html

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