Alice's Immaturity in Alice In Wonderland Essay

A Childlike Heart

Throughout the novel Alice in Wonderland, Alice faces many changes not only growing physically but mentally. The many changes in Alices size, along with her actions (mature vs. immature), can be closely associated with the transition from childhood into adulthood that we all make. Alices many adventures in Wonderland include the many changes she goes through after her fall down the rabbit hole and into a strange world. Alice faces many challenges that test her maturity. As the story progresses Alice grows up.

At the beginning of the book Alice is sitting along a stream bank with her older sister, who, according to Alice, is reading an extremely boring book. Alice is bored with her sisters lack of actions. The young immature Alice ponders making a daisy chain to keep herself entertained when all of the sudden she sees a white rabbit,

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. (Carroll 13)

At first Alice doesnt think much of the rabbit even though it is talking to itself. Like a curious child she is suddenly interested when he takes a watch out of his waist coat pocket. She runs off after the rabbit without a word to her sister.

But when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it. (Carroll 13)

Alice's pursuit after the white rabbit can be viewed as a depiction of childlike inquisitiveness. Alice followed the rabbit without questioning her actions and their consequences like a little kid at an amusement park running away from their family to see and touch what grabs their interest. Her strong curiosity pushed her to follow the rabbit into the rabbit hole leading to Wonderland. The Rabbit appears many times throughout the book and can be looked at as Alices guide through Wonderland. Alice's chase after the white rabbit can be seen as the portrayal of curiosity. How? Alice followed this rabbit without knowing anything about it. Her curiosity led her all the way to Wonderland. (Symbolism Wiki, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass).

At the beginning of the book Alices actions can be viewed as headstrong and like most young people, she has no fear. As Alice follows the white rabbit she doesnt consider the consequences of following him down the hole, In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. (Carroll 14). Her childish curiosity drives her to follow, and even as shes falling she shows no fear about the situation shes fallen into.

When she finally ends up falling down the well she expresses no thought about her own personal safety, but she thinks of the safety of a nonexistent somebody,

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time, as she went down, to look about her. First, she tried to make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed. It was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE," but, to her great disappointment, it was empty; she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it. (Carroll 14)

Again like a young child, as Alice falls she thinks about inconsecquential things like Latitude and Longitude which has no importance underground, it should also be unimportant for someone who is falling down a well that seems to have no end.

But Alice is in Wonderland, where old assumptions that rabbits cannot talk, that long falls result in injuries, that longitude and latitude can always plot position, that size and growth must be fairly regular and progressivehave already proven ridiculously invalid. (Nonsense, Sense, and Meaning, Rackin 40)

She never seems to fear dying, being hurt or crippled when she eventually lands. These are the kind of thoughts a mature person would be feeling.

When Alice finally reaches the bottom she continues to follow the rabbit until she loses him in a long hall. Up until that point Alice has no thought about herself and about how she can manage to get back home. But when the rabbit disappears it finally crosses her mind. There were doors all 'round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again. (Carroll 16). The disappearance of her guide finally concerns her and she begins to search for a way around the locked doors.

As Alice comes across a bottle labeled DRINK ME she demonstrates that she is trying to think maturely since she examines the bottle to see if its marked poison before she tastes it. It was all very well to say Drink me, but wise little Alice wasnt going to do that in a hurry, No Ill look first, she said , and see whether its marked poison or not (Carroll 17). Alice shows her first sign of maturity at this point in the story. Instead of just grabbing the bottle and drinking it she stops and reads and uses her knowledge of the word poison to make a decision. At this point because now she thinks of the consequences of her actions before she actually carries out the action. Alice not only shows internal signs of maturity but also begins to change physically. When Alice drinks the bottle marked DRINK ME she begins to shrink until she is only 10 inches high. "What a curious feeling!" said Alice. "I must be shutting up like a telescope!" And so it was indeed! She was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. (Carroll 17). However, like an immature child, Alice hadnt thought her plan through all the way. Now she was too small to reach the golden key in the table that would allow her to go through the door. Like a scared child Alice begins to cry.

Come, there's no use in crying like that!" said Alice to herself rather sharply. "I advise you to leave off this minute!" She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. But its no use now, thought poor Alice to pretend to be two people! Why, threes hardly enough left of me to make one respectable person! (Carroll 18)

But Alice begins scolding herself like a parent would if their child was acting foolishly. This also demonstrates how Alice knows how to get a hold of herself in a time of panic.

And the first thing that Alice does is to cry, and then to talk to herself in soliloquy. It is that act, not the abrupt alterations in shape, which convinces the little girl that this realm is ruled by a double standard. The solitude of alienation induces a sudden transformation during which Alice becomes unsure whether she exists as subject or object. (Modern Critical Views, The Alice books and the Metaphors of Victorian Childhood, Gordon 23)

Alices dramatic monologue with herself helps her to gain control of the situation. Next she discovers a small cake under the table with the words EAT ME written across it. Alice once again decides it would be a smart idea to sample something mysterious that she finds. At first she takes a small taste to see if anything happens, but when nothing instantly occurs she decides to eat the whole thing, resulting in her growing more than nine feet high making it more impossible for Alice to open the tiny door into the garden.

Again, like a baby, Alice begins to cry and scold herself. But because of her large size, the tears become a problem.