Growing Up In Wonderland

Adolescence, An Alice in Wonderland Story Adolescence, something we can all relate to whether we want to admit it or not. It is a period in our lives in which we think we know everything, but in reality we know nothing. It is essentially the crossroads between childhood and adulthood. Throughout Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Alice goes through a series of physical changes and mental realizations that directly correlate with the transformation that engulfs adolescence. As Alice goes through these changes, she never seems to be comfortable with what is happening to her. In Chapter 1, she becomes upset when she keeps finding herself too big or too small to enter the garden. This can also be seen in chapter 5 in which Alice loses control over specific body parts resulting in her neck growing to absurd lengths. These constant fluctuations exemplify the way a child may feel as his or her body develops and changes during puberty. We have all been there: the unfortunate acne, the voice cracks, as well as a handful of other unexpected changes. It is something that we are all forced to endure at some point in our lives. Something a little bit more obscure that encompasses this adolescence is the misconception that physically growing up is the same thing as emotionally maturing. Through Alice, Lewis Carroll demonstrates this misconception that maturity is not necessarily a parallel of physically growing. Throughout Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll constantly emphasizes the conflict between Alice's desire to be sensible and grow up and her natural childish impulses. This conflict is apparent in Alice's conversation with herself while trapped in the white rabbit's house. Alice thinks to herself, “I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up,