Interpretive essays

arious interpretations of the books
Although Carroll invented Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the entertainment of children, many scholars have discovered various underlying influences in his work. The books have been explained from all kinds of viewpoints, like drug use, Freudian influences, mathematics, political satire, sex and pedophilia, nonsense, etc.

The books have always been a favourite subject for analysis, as the story lends itself to various interpretations.

What the author says
Carroll himself wrote the following to a friend in America, when being asked about the meaning of his poem 'The Hunting of the Snark':

"I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense. Still, you know, words mean more than we mean to express when we use them; so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means. So, whatever good meanings are in the book, I'm glad to accept as the meaning of the book." (source: Collingwood, "The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll")

This comment is applicable to many books, including Carroll's own 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass'.

Articles with theories from others
On this page you can find some texts that deal about those underlying meanings that Carroll is supposed to have added (consciously or not) in the Alice books. Whatever you believe of it is up to you.

Please mind that these texts were not written by me personally. References to the author and publication details can be found on the page itself.

General discussion of the 'Alice' books

Discussion of Lewis Carroll, the author, in relation to Alice

"Lewis Carroll": A Myth in the Making
- about the tendency to create a myth around the name "Lewis Carroll", in stead on focussing on who Charles Dodgson really was.
The Man Who Loved Little Girls
- should we really frown upon Dodgson's nude photographs of children?
Just good friends?
- was there something wrong about the relationship between Dodgson and Alice Liddell?
The Liddell Riddle
- about the missing pages in Dodgsons diary and his break with the Liddell family

What/who influenced Carroll while writing the story

Illustrations

Tenniel's illustrations
A Case of Mistaken Identity
- About the mix-up between the Knave of Hearts and Knave of Clubs

Poetry

The Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll: Sense within Nonsense
- about a possible meaning behind 'The Walrus and the Carpenter'

Drugs and hallucinations

Politics

The truth about "Alice"
- how Alice in Wonderland can be seen as a political satire about the Wars of the Roses

Freudian interpratations

Tony Goldschmidt and the Freudian Influence

Philosophic reasoning

Lewis Carroll and the Search for Non-Being

Prejudices and discrimination

Social norms

Social factors

Fantasy and reality

Other subjects

"If any one of them can explain it," said Alice, "I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it."