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Writer's pictureKathia Marie

Within the Heart of Wonder

There was a little blond (sometimes brunette) girl who fell down a rabbit hole and found herself in an entirely different world than the we know of today. Many of us may have heard of this girl and her adventurous tale of all the queer happenings in Wonderland. The history of this little girl has been so mixed up since Lewis Carroll first reported it that we cannot differ the facts from fiction at this point. It does not help that this little girl’s story sounds so unbelievably false. However, weather she was attacked by singing flowers or belittled by a hookah-smoking caterpillar, the lovable characteristics of this little girl named Alice remains the same. She’s hard-headed, rude, doesn’t listen to her own reason, and above all is infected with a malicious disease called curiosity. Despite these childish traits Alice carries she can be a very positively influential character due to her lack of fear, undying integrity, the strength to stand up for herself and her friends, and (though it can also be her biggest fault) curiosity for her surroundings. Alice is an amazing young woman who has strengths and weaknesses, like any female who has had to fight and stand up for what they believe in, who should most definitely and unquestionably be written into history.

All of Alice’s traits contribute to the amazing influence she has become throughout the many years since Lewis Carroll told the tale of her adventures in Wonderland. She has only grown as character as I am sure she will continue to do as the years progress. Her lack of fear is one of the most loveable things about her. Even in Lewis Carroll’s version she never once missed the chance to speak her mind to Tweedle Dee and Dum, the Mad Hatter, or even the most malicious Queen of Hearts, also known as the Red Queen. No matter what version of Alice you read or watch she is always seen as the one character within all of Wonderland who is Courageous enough to stand up to the Red Queen. Of course, the Queen of Hearts is not the only enemy that Alice has had to face. Throughout the years as many different versions of her tale emerge she has been seen fearlessly battling a bandersnatch, a jabberwocky, the Queen’s faithful deck of cards, and several other creatures.

Alice’s lack of fear does not come without reason. It may seem as if it is almost stupid how fearless this little girl is being that many people find fear to keep us safe. However, Alice does not reject fear for sake of stupidity, but rather because she is intent on standing up for what she believes in no matter the cost. She is filled with integrity and a need to protect her friends, weird as they may be. She stays true to herself and her friends no matter what it is they have done against her or others in the past. Alice does not judge the creatures of Wonderland, though some can be completely incompetent and filled to the brim with nonsense. As much as they annoy her she continues to befriend them through the different versions of her story as seen in Disney’s latest version of Alice in Wonderland when she is speaking to the Mad Hatter and tells him “I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”(Alice). Her first visit to Wonderland in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, she barely gets to know these people, but as different tales of her life branched off since this first report of her being, she has been seen to be very close with the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter. In Disney’s latest version of tale she is seen to go through many lengths to protect the Mad Hatter. She even goes so far as to pretend to be the Queen’s friend to rescue him. She is also seen standing up for her friends in other versions of her tale such as ABC’s new series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland when she says “Finding Cyrus is 99% of the battle. The rest will take care of itself.” (“Bad”). Alice willingly goes into Wonderland fully aware of the risks so that she can save her love Cyrus. She also saves the White Rabbit’s family and puts her life on the line for her dear deceptive friend, the Knave of Hearts. Her Commitment to herself and her friends cannot be matched.

Of course, she would have never fell down the rabbit’s hole if she had not been such a curious little girl. However, the young child’s curiosity might just be her best trait. All of her traits aid in giving her great Character, but her curiosity is what drives her to continue finding out about new things. She followed the White Rabbit out of curiosity and found herself befriending a community of unreasonable people she learns to adore. Though, again this is not seen in Carroll’s first report of her (he left out a lot of important details it seems). But in the several tales told about this young girl, both old and recent, have shown us that curiosity is not always a bad thing. Curiosity is what drives and encourages us to take risks and try out things we would never think we could do. Her curiosity encourages all ages to find their own curiosity within themselves so that they may question and then go in search for answers to expand their knowledge. One never knows what she may find if she follows the rabbit into his hole. In Alice’s case she found a whole new batch of friends she may never have had.

Of course, her curiosity was not all that came good of her. Alice’s imagination is absolutely the strongest things she could possible hold. “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” (Carroll). Her ability to come up the most amazingly random ideas encourages people to think a little more creatively. In the book the Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor, the idea that imagination is the strongest weapon a person can hold is reinforced in how anything Alice (rather Alyss in this version) imagines may come true in her world. Alice in every version comes back home telling tales of this amazing Wonderland, fake or real, with the most inventive ideas giving all of her readers a spark of their own imagination, one of the most powerful weapons in the world, even in our modern day times, though it may seem society tends to lose touch of that now and then.

As each tale arrives we find out more and more about this little girl who had the courage to embrace her curiosity and look beyond the reasonable to find something even more amazing. For all we know she could have been on something when she fell down that rabbit hole with what she discovered, none the less the discovery was made and through it was found incomparable tales that are retold time and time again whether it may be through novels, movies, TV shows, or even video games like Kingdom Hearts and American McGee’s Alice. With each tale that is recounted of Alice she grows more and more. Not only is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland an amazing work of literature, but the Character of Alice herself is a strong loyal, and imaginative woman who has every right to be written into history. If she had not been so important an influence in many lives than she would have been long forgotten by now. The fact that she is still around influencing many lives worldwide with each adventurous tale, which are still being reported, is proof that she should be written in history.


 

Works Cited

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, New York:MacMillan.

Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2010. Film.

“Bad Blood.” Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. ABC. 5 Dec 2013. Television.

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