Alice in Wonderland Essay

Alice in Wonderland is a very imaginative book written mainly for children, but adults can also enjoy it. The big theme through the whole book is growth and how people change from being a kid to eventually growing into an adult. The whole mystery of not knowing who you are and being confused about your position in life. The biggest example of growing is when Alice eats the cake and that makes her grow larger, and when she drinks the liquid that makes her shrink. The point when she starts to wonder about her identity is when she starts to think about home and where she really is. Another point is when people ask her who she is and she is not able to explain herself. Growth is definitely one of the biggest themes in Alice in Wonderland. The book tells about how Alice goes through many different experiences with all the different characters. The first sign of growth is when Alice needs to shrink down because she wants to go through the little door into the garden. She realizes that she left the key on the big table so she eats the cake to grow bigger again to get it. She then grows too big which foreshadows that there will be more confusion when it comes to size and how big Alice is supposed to be throughout the story. â€Å"Well, I’ll eat it, and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I’ll get into to the garden† (p. 19). This shows that she’s not very sure about which size she should be while she’s in Wonderland and that she doesn’t understand what is happening around her as she only focuses on getting into the garden that looks beautiful from outside the door. The big moment when Alice understands that she doesn’t know who she is anymore is when she meets the Caterpillar. The Caterpillar asks her who she is and she can’t get herself to explain it. â€Å"I-I hardly know, sir, just at present – at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then† (p. 54). Alice explains how she feels like she has lost her identity and doesn’t know if she is still the same person as when she got up the same morning. She says she can’t remember things she used to know so well For example, the rhyme she knew, â€Å"how doth the little bee†. Alice in Wonderland is a well-written story about a little girl going through an exciting experience where she grows, meets different characteristics then what she is used to and it focuses a lot on identity. Alice experiences growing when she eats the cake and drinks the potion. She doesn’t know how to explain who she is to the characters asking her which makes her very frustrated as she is used to being in control of herself. Alice goes through a big experience and learns a lot and I think she might even have got a better view of who she really is by being in Wonderland.