Who is Alice?: Parody, Education, and Identity in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Room 135
Start Date
15-5-2014
End Date
15-5-2014
Keywords
Menippean satire, Bakhtinian parody, Victorian education
Abstract
This essay frames Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a Menippean satire, according to Mikhail Bakhtin's theories regarding parody, and describes the extent that this text parodies the Victorian education system. This parody responds directly to specific tendencies and laws of the Victorian education system and is reflected in what many modern scholars have described as an empowering children’s novel. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland relies heavily on language, specifically on the difference between knowledge and understanding, and characterization, through caricature and stereotype, to develop a parody of the adult world in nineteenth century England while at the same time providing a means for a young girl, Alice, to create her own identity.
Recommended Citation
Sedlacek, Cameron, "Who is Alice?: Parody, Education, and Identity in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland " (2014). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 67.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2014/oralpresentations/67
Additional Mentoring Department
World Languages
Who is Alice?: Parody, Education, and Identity in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
SURC Room 135
This essay frames Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a Menippean satire, according to Mikhail Bakhtin's theories regarding parody, and describes the extent that this text parodies the Victorian education system. This parody responds directly to specific tendencies and laws of the Victorian education system and is reflected in what many modern scholars have described as an empowering children’s novel. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland relies heavily on language, specifically on the difference between knowledge and understanding, and characterization, through caricature and stereotype, to develop a parody of the adult world in nineteenth century England while at the same time providing a means for a young girl, Alice, to create her own identity.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Abdalla, Laila