Why Not?

We can obviously tell that Carroll is leading us somewhere. The only question is where? And, does the journey he is taking us on matter more than the actual place he is taking us? Maybe that realization is the destination itself? But, he must have known that when written with such wit and character that this book would gain national recognition and fame. And so he must be trying to give the world something to chew on as subtly as he could. This idea of journey versus destination has already been discussed in a previous blog post.

But, as I think about all this I think of a different question. Does Carroll know where he is taking us?

When you write a story, often the frenzy of a story takes over your mind and the excitement that overtakes you gives the story a life of its own. When a story gets a life of its own then it can overpower even the most determined mind. Because of this, I believe that Carroll originally had a destination in mind, however, the excitement of writing probably “fuzzified” the destination. In a rough draft, we can often get away with letting our original message get distracted, however, after revision it is a blunder. But!, if the new direction and destination is even more powerful than before then often the author will simply adopt the new path. This is most likely what happened here.

Why do authors do that?

They have weaved a fantastical world and imaginary rules that govern this place, and then at the point where we are finally beginning to question and perceive, end it? The ending of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland irritates me to no end. Why even begin a book if it is just going to end in, “Oh and she/he woke up, it was all just a dream.” Why?! Are they trying to protect themselves from the criticism that may arrive if they kept the world that they created alive by using the shield of, “its just a dream,”? This type of ending protects and reasserts our rather straightforward and rational minds. The minds of true genius have been rather off, don’t you agree? When a masterful solution, or an ingenious new idea is proposed, it often comes from the social recluse, or the psychotic English teacher. These people do not hide behind the shield of, “Oh it was just practice,” or, “I didn’t mean to.”

Why?

When an author does this, it seems to me that they are afraid of what they have created. Often, when we write a story or create a piece of art we start off knowing what we wish to create. However, more often than not, that story, or art piece, gains a life of its own and attains the qualities of our specific personality that is trying to come through at the point where we are in such a frenzy that our conscious mind no longer has control. This thought is often scary. Our conscious mind no longer in control? How is that even possible? In truth, the conscious mind makes up a small fragment of what we, (capital we), really are. For example, have you ever noticed that someone else can point out a specific thing about you or something you do or like that you don’t even realize.

This type of realization brings to the mind the fact that often we don’t even know ourselves. This can easily be rectified however, as discussed in a previous blog post, self-realization. The point is that Carroll was hiding his true genius and ideas behind the pathetic guise of, “Oh it was just a dream.”

While reading the Annotated Alice I noticed several things (and have discussed them), while I noticed even more things through alll of my peer’s blogs and ideas.

What really struck me is that maybe Carroll is simply challenging us. As we read Lord of the Flies in class, we analyzed it thoroughly and at first I questioned whether even the author, Golding, had thought of everything we had come up with and I realized that it was a challenge. Now the same thought is occurring. Maybe when Carroll wrote this book he realized that it would be analyzed through the nose. And, as a result, he put in many many clues that would lead to clues that would lead to clues and make us feel intelligent. The prize is simply the realization that we are being led around. Carroll could not possibly have predicted all the ideas and conclusions that we have thought of. This provides us with a type of victory. However, the major ideas that are “hidden” throughout must have been placed there on purpose as they reappear several times throughout. If these ideas had only showed up once then we could be forgiven for ignoring it but if it is a repetitive idea then we must stand up and acknowledge it.

Why did he do this?

Often throughout history we have seen examples of horrendous crimes or extremely absolute ideas and in hindsight we realize how crazy they are. Sometimes, people realize that something is wrong during that time. These people — Galileo, Gandhi, MLK, Nelson Mandela — are just some examples. To be one of these people, a person must be willing to take extreme risks, as trying to change the mind set of a large group of people is often dangerous. However, there is an easier way. Often, influential people disguise their ideas and ways to change things in rather ingenious ways. A child’s book can be just that. Or it can be more.

During Carroll’s time there was child labor, the times were harsh, maybe there were even things that we are not aware of today. All of these things either consciously or subconsciously affected his writing. And whether subtly or blatantly put throughout, these ideas were a cry for help. The way that they were disguised protected him in the situation that someone accused  him of speaking out against the leader, or of libel.

His lifeline would be, “It’s simply a child’s story.” Who are we to decide what it is?

Who are we, to force our ideas upon the monsensical world of Alice? Who are we, to allow the idea of a nonsensical world to even exist? Who are we, to question whether we have to right to question other people. And of course, who are we to question the right to question? Humans have automatically placed themselves to the forefront of the world and of common day practices and rituals. What happened to the watering hole? To circle of trees the watering hole was in? To the circle of trees around that circle? And overall to the overall forest? Why do we think that we are so much better than our “peers”, our “colleagues”? Sure, the human being possess the ability to reason and be introspective and we can go on and on as we have just continually built ourselves up. The one good thing is the idea of how we are truly the weakest, in size, the elephant, in strength, the lion, in swiftness, the cheetah. The human being is not nearly as physical but in this situation intelligence wins.

So, what Carroll does by bringing the animals into the story and making them instrumental, struck me as very powerful. He may not have meant to, but the conclusion that has been drawn is that Carroll was trying to exemplify the power and might and true equality of our surrounding animals. However, in his story, he makes the dodo bird the one who provides the idea of how to dry off. This elevation of animals above humans may be going to far. Human nature is to always try to increase our self-image and power. The driving force in this world is first of all, the search for true pleasure, the second force is the drive for power and egotistic enhancement. However, an idea that continuously occurs to me and truly frightens me is that it takes a story, a child’s story, that may or may not have had a higher meaning, to bring all of these ideals to the forefront of the human race. There are many examples throughout histroy that exemplify the ideal that if a human speaks out and brings forth an idea that scares the rest of the humans then that human is either jailed, persecuted, or as in many cases, simply killed. The more subtle way to put this idea into the minds of many, and into the minds that matter, is to use literature. Who are we? You tell me.

In the chapter, “Pig and Pepper” (found in my copy of The Annotated Alice), the cook is stirring his pot violently and Alice comments,

“there’s certainly too much pepper in that soup!”

This actually, is very normal. When one of our attributes is weaker than another then we tend to overcompensate in another aspect of our life. Similarily, if the soup had slightly spoiled vegetables or meat than the addition of pepper could mask that weakness. For example, if we are really good at speaking, but not as good at writing then we tend to speak more, and do more things related to speaking than writing. This idea of a mask is very intriguing, if we take that idea and expound then we can say that Carroll is masking his real identity behind the back of Charles Dodgeson.

What is the point of a mask? To hide our identity? Or to free us from the burden of being ourselves? To protect us? Or to free us?

Masks can provide many many things depending on the focus of the person. For example, in the movie the Dark Night the henchmen of the joker used masks to protect their identities. However, in the book Lord of the Flies, the boys use paint to help mask themselves. Not to not get caught, but simply to lose themselves and not be responsible for their actions. In the ancient ballroom tradition of having the mask over your face so you do not know who you are with is an innocent example of masks and rather heartwarming. However, the idea of a mask often has a negative connotation. As an experienced writer, Carroll was most likely aware of this.

The real question now is, what does Carroll have left to hide?