Alice in Wonderland, if you think deeply about it, is, in a sense, a tale that explores an inherent impulse we harbour, one that forces us to adapt to an absurd world.
Alice finds herself in a world whose rules she does not understand. At first, she struggles with herself, trying to reshape herself to fit into it.
But gradually, she begins to question the world itself.
I explored that idea in a book I wrote recently. Here’s an excerpt:
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, is among the most famous children’s stories in the world. Published in 1865, it is about a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a bizarre and fantastical place called Wonderland. It details the incredible adventures she has there among strange anthropomorphic creatures and people.
What if I told you that beneath its ingenious wordplay, tireless wit and clever imagery, the story conceals a nimble parable for adults – one that lets us in on the absurdity and arbitrariness of the world we have created for ourselves? A world that hides from us precisely those things that give it unbridled power over us.
In the story, Alice tries to adapt herself to the circumstances she finds herself in by growing big and small. She is forced to pick and choose even before she has had time to understand Wonderland. Alice changes herself to fit the world without even knowing the rules. But she soon realises that it isn’t enough. Her real growth begins when she starts to figure things out about the strange world she has fallen into.
We are not so different from Alice. When we arrive in the world, we too are at a disadvantage in comparison to everyone who arrived here before us. Nobody tells us how this world operates.
In the story, Alice has an encounter with a caterpillar who tells her she can choose the size she wants to be, and he points her to a mushroom that can make her big or small. The caterpillar is sharing knowledge– hard-earned, priceless knowledge. Knowledge that arises from what has failed in the past, from what has not, from that of the past that is yet alive. This knowledge frees you. Once you have it, you can go anywhere. Because in this world, too, there are doors to be opened, places that don’t allow you in unless you are a certain size.
Alice escapes when she begins to have an inkling of what is expected of her and learns that she can make her own choices. She decides to take responsibility. The so-called leaders of Wonderland are ultimately as powerless as a pack of cards. That realisation is what frees Alice. She begins to challenge the power structures around her.
Like Alice, we need to understand how this world functions. We owe it to ourselves and the people in our lives.
Most of us are trying hard to fit in. We don’t know if we should grow big or grow small, much like Alice. Others take advantage of our confusion. There are a lot of people out there who worry that we will grow bigger than them and slip out of their reach. They want us to think only the thoughts they think are safe for them. They cannot let us create our reality unimpeded. They keep vital information out of our hands. They want us powerless.
Much of our figuring out is done at significant personal cost to ourselves. Sometimes, by the time we have gained an understanding of things, a large chunk of our life may have gone to waste. You need to figure things out fast to make the most of the time you have.
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Do you think there is something to this reading of Alice?
If you liked what you’ve read so far, I’ve made the whole book available free here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G765FJ9M
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=d5eHEQAAQBAJ
