Alices Adventures in Wonderland: Hunger, Dominance, and Undesirability

Hunger, Dominance, and Undesirability Lewis Carrolls fairy tale, Alices Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, fuels the separate of how girls are requi red-faced to be petite, feminine, and submissive to men through Alices take in habits, the contrast betwixt young Alice and older women founts, mannish overlook, and Alices behaviour at the end of the point. This influences the minds of young audience members who film Carrolls work instills the idea that in order to be beautiful, a girl must have her confide to eat and never overpower the men they associate with.In Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland, the indite targets the wideness of a womans size and how feed consumption influences femininity and desirability. During the story, Alice is heart-to-heart to non-homogeneous situations involving food and beverages. Carrolls first introduction on the emphasis on Alices size, is when she is falling subdue the rabbit hole and she sees a jar labelled Orange Marmala de. When she grabs the jar, she finds that there is nothing inside. This is an early reference that unless Alice is instructed to satisfy her hunger,she must not indulge her desires or her level of perfection allow for decrease.Throughout the story, Alice is then exposed to bottles and foods that are labelled Eat Me or Drink Me. Without hesitation, she ingests the products with labels. Alices petiteness, and thus her beauty, come directly from her eating and drinking habits. Only when she is allowed to eat, does her body undergo positive beer maker 2 changes. These positive changes lead her to generate new adventures and improve her education, which is another notice sufficient attribute in the tale.Anna Helle-Valle and Per-Elinar Binder argue that the body is central to self- aim and to Alice, the size of her body determines what she is able to do and how she sees herself (Helle-Valle and Binder 4). The computerized tomography in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, offers perce ptiveness into the holy man of size. The extreme changes in size damages wizards self identity. Alice shares her confusion with the Caterpillar during their first meeting Im not myself, you see-being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing (81).The Caterpillar forces her to say who she is, but be take in of her recent changes in size, she is not able to say who she believes herself to be. Size is critical to ones understanding of the self, and Carrolls Alice struggles with understanding that a teensy size is important. In a societal context, Alice represents what a girl should be petite and feminine. However, she expresses her relate for her minuscular size during a conversation with the Caterpillar. The Caterpillar is the staminate authoritarian figure in the section and is fiery with her concern. He then informs Alice that three inches is, in fact, a good height to be (84).The Caterpillar forces Alice to be comfortable with herself, for being any larger causes he r to be less desirable to her new found possessive potent figure. The Caterpillars statement offers no argument, and Alices perfect and submissive attitude cause her to listen to the dominant with no complaint. In Alices Adventures in Wonderland is the idea that feminine sexuality consists of the importance of curiosity and politeness, and a submissive attitude this is due to Carrolls desires and the Victorian beliefs. In the story, Alices character is that of an ideal girl, and her curiosity often leads to find new and exciting ventures in Wonderland.The reason that Alice is able to experience Wonderland is because of her curious nature that led her to tumble down the rabbit brewer 3 hole. Jennifer Geer contends that Alices manners, as well as the want to impress the creatures in Wonderland, comes from the moral implication of Victorian literature (Geer 2). The literature in the 1800s centers on politeness and manners, which Alice offers to all of the creatures and people in Wo nderland. One of the most positive attributes that female sexuality should possess is a submissive female attitude.Through the fairy tale, mature female sexuality is visualised as frightening and destructive (Garland 2). This is evident through the magnate of Hearts and her influence on the force of Hearts behaviour. The fagot in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, is in direct opposition of Alices character. Where Alice is the ideal, polite and petite, the Queen is aggressive and large in stature. The suit of hearts, that the Queen has cloaked herself in, is in no coincidence the colour red, for this is often associated with a tumultuous and confident sexuality.In Alices Adventures in Wonderland, the colour red is given a negative connotation by the Queens negative attitude. She often thunders the formula off with their head, and Garland explains that this is the Queens desire of male castration (Garland 8). The dislike for female domination is evident in the literature of the t ime, as well as the ideas of Sigmund Freud. The Queens concern with castration would be comparable to the worry of female authority in society. The Queen, once again, expresses undesirability by her fleshy weight and yearning for tarts.It affects her personality, and makes her become evil and arrogant, thus making her unwanted and a threat to male competence. Her desire for male subordination and ugly nature, is the authors way to sway female readers to accompaniment their aggressiveness at bay. An aggressive female not only creates shame for manhood, but does not hold still for with the ideologies of those living in Mid-Victorian times when Carroll wrote Alices Adventures in Wonderland. The effect of a dominant female is shown in the King of Hearts. The Queen of Brewer 4Hearts husband is constantly being forced to carry out her will and listen to her often violent demands. The King of Hearts, because of his treatment by the Queen, is weak and submissive and thus, has nothing to offer. The ideal for male dominance is expressed by the male superiors that control Alice. When she is instructed to take food or beverages, it is any done by no director or a male authoritarian figure. The King would never offer instruction to a female and simply just follows demands made by the Queen. In Mid-Victorian times, the last mentioned was not acceptable behaviour.Geer claims that in the Victorian era, the adult world belongs to the male whereas a womans world should be entirely dedicated to motherhood (Geer 14). In Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll chooses the Duchess to be the opposer to this position. The Duchess is characterized as a mother who continually causes harm to her child due to her aggressive nature and desire to eat. She often brings food into situations where it is not applicable, and in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, it is directly linked to why she is a neglectful mother and horrible woman.The ideas that women lose their desirability and femin inity when they are not submissive to their male counterparts and when their lives are not dedicated to the raising of a family are shown through the aggressive nature of the Queen and the Duchess, and ultimately Alices fall into barbaric womanhood. Throughout Carrolls story, Alice is everything that a mature woman should be. She is polite, kind, submissive, and has control over her desire to eat. She would take direction from the Mouse, the Caterpillar, the Queen and the Duchess without hesitation.However, during the trial scene of the tale, her fate of womanhood is foreshadowed. During the trial, Alice begins to Brewer 5 take notice of the food that was in the jury room. She immediately begins to feel herself becoming larger. When her pay heed was called to take the stand during the trial, the King politely informs Alice that she will not be able to take her posture due to her enlarged size. However, she refuses to entertain the meek Kings instruction. Alice continues to grow an d becomes more arrogant and the Queen is forced to order her execution.In the beginning of the fairy tale, Alice is a petite and beautiful girl, but the desire for food turned her into a rude and undesirable woman. Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland not only is influenced by the beliefs of the people living in the Mid-Victorian era, but also by the belief that eating causes inferiority. In the 21st century, the image of beauty is causing women of all ages to be concerned with becoming large and undesirable, and Carrolls story only encourages the overwhelming concern by idealizing petite Alice, creating a grotesque image of large women, and how male authoritarianism should control womanhood.Alices fall from grace as she grows larger reinstates that belief and influences readers that to be feminine, one must never become too large and forget the role that Carroll had wanted for women in society. Brewer 6 Work Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Saml Gabriel S ons and Company spic-and-span York, 1916. Electronic. 02. Nov. 2012 Garland, Carina. Curious Appetites Food, Desire, sexuality and Subjectivity in Lewis Carrolls Alice Texts. Lion and the Unicorn 32. 1 (2008) 22-39.Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Geer, Jennifer. All Sorts of Pitfalls and Surprises Competing Views of Idealized girlhood in Lewis Carrolls Alice Books. Childrens Literature 31 (2003) 1-24. Professional Development Collection. Web. 30. Oct. 2012. Helle-Valle, Anna and Per-Elinar Binder. In Wonderland A Phenomenological, developmental and Self Psychological Analysis of a Childs Playful Encounter with a New Reality. Nordic Psychology 61. 2 (2009) 16-28. PsycARTICLES. Web. 30. Oct. 2012.