Alice in Wonderland and through the looking glass wouldn’t be the same without the animals. The animals in both books have personalities and feelings. I believe that Lewis Carroll wanted to stress this in both books because we often overlook animals. Many people don’t show sympathy or empathy for animals because they think that animals don’t have feelings or personalities because they don’t speak our language.
It is obvious that “… in Carroll’s eyes, pain is in no way justifiable. The seemingly never-ending torture of a creature is the true crime.” (Unknown author) I think that Carroll had the animals talk in both books because he wanted people to see what animals would be like if they could talk. This was possible because Carroll made it realistic by assigning the animals personalities that determined how they acted towards Alice. This also allowed the readers to understand that animals have feelings too and that they don’t like being mistreated. In chapter two when Alice is talking to the mouse about cats he says, “As if I would talk on such subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don’t let me hear the name again.”(26)
I don’t think that Carroll ever thought that his book would become so famous that it would be read all over the world and he didn’t think of how the views of animals differ in many cultures. In some cultures it’s okay to eat cows; in others it isn’t and so on. After reading the Alice books I have learned to think of animals from a different perspective because the only thing that differentiates us from them is our rationality and our language.
It is obvious that “… in Carroll’s eyes, pain is in no way justifiable. The seemingly never-ending torture of a creature is the true crime.” (Unknown author) I think that Carroll had the animals talk in both books because he wanted people to see what animals would be like if they could talk. This was possible because Carroll made it realistic by assigning the animals personalities that determined how they acted towards Alice. This also allowed the readers to understand that animals have feelings too and that they don’t like being mistreated. In chapter two when Alice is talking to the mouse about cats he says, “As if I would talk on such subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don’t let me hear the name again.”(26)
“From the very beginning of the book, Alice’s journey is typified by movement away from the ordered world of human society, and into the chaotic world of nature. “ (Daniel) The Alice book is a good example because of the different personalities that the animals have and the ways in which they respond to Alice. We all know people who are always in a hurry like the rabbit, people who shouldn’t be in power like the queens, victims of society like the mouse, etc. I think that it was very clever of Carroll to give realistic personalities to these animals because after reading this, hopefully people can begin to see animals as living individuals who need to be treated fairly and with care.
Even though Carroll focuses on the animals in the Alice in Wonderland book, he talks about plants in Through the Looking Glass. In chapter two of Through the Looking Glass Alice shows her concern about the plants by asking, “Aren’t you sometimes frightened at being planted out here, with nobody to take care of you?”(158) This shows that Carroll also cared about nature and thought that people also had to take care of it.
I don’t think that Carroll ever thought that his book would become so famous that it would be read all over the world and he didn’t think of how the views of animals differ in many cultures. In some cultures it’s okay to eat cows; in others it isn’t and so on. After reading the Alice books I have learned to think of animals from a different perspective because the only thing that differentiates us from them is our rationality and our language.Links?
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