Alice by Rev Glynn Cardy

I picked up Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” off my bookshelf and had a read. Written in 1865 it still has the capacity to create a smile, evoke a memory, and make one think.

It is brimming with oft-quotable and notable quotes. Like “We're all mad here.” And “curiouser and curiouser.”  And “I don't think…” “Then you shouldn't talk!” All of which are still widely used, usually for the fun of it, despite what Carroll might have meant. Indeed Alice is the most quoted book (save the Bible) in the Western world.

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, a Cambridge Don who taught mathematics. His next publication after “Alice” was his substantial “An Elementary Treatise on Determinants with their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Geometry.” Dodgson’s interests were geometry, algebra, logic, voting systems and recreational mathematics. Or, in short, he loved puzzles!  

Carroll homed his nonsense fantasy skills by amusing his siblings (he was the 3rd of 11), and then the children of friends. He made up stories to tell and to entertain.

The best children’s books often carry multiple meanings. On the one hand they are addressed to children – offering humour, intrigue, and adventure. On the other hand they are addressed to adults (who are often doing the reading aloud) – also offering humour, alongside the promotion of values that might be contentious. The best children’s books are enjoyed by children and adults and leave both thinking a little more deeply about the world.

So, this is a children’s book, defying the then conventions of children’s literature and understandings of the proper role for young people in Victorian England, and giving the main character, Alice, independence and rationality far beyond that usually bestowed on, or thought possible of, a female child. There is in Alice a mental maturity and ability to see things that adults didn’t. Similarly, contrary to the times, Alice is a female who is not docile, discreet, and domestic, but a risk-taker, out-spoken, and adventurous.

Carroll’s lead character also shows a remarkable compassion towards the “mad” characters – the March Hare, the Hatter, and even the Cheshire Cat - a stance quite at odds with the Victorian treatment of the mentally ill.  “We’re all mad here” is a radical statement questioning who is sane, who is not, and who decides.

This is also of course, a book for adults, offering a wonderful political satire filled with scenes that ridiculed the authorities. The queen, the king, the army, and the governors were depicted as playing cards and pawns of chess, each with their own role in this game and part of a larger scheme of rules and laws. All quite nutty. Politicians and parliaments were no more than prestigious and highly eloquent animals.

Alice represented the common person looking for an end to the political and moral hole society has fallen into. It is not common people who peddle in nonsense, but the political and legal authorities. It is not the authorities who are responsible ones, but common people who are reliable, rational, and responsible.

`No, no!' said the Queen. `Sentence first - verdict afterwards.'

`Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. `The idea of having the sentence first!'

`Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.

`I won't!' said Alice.

`Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. (Chapter 12)

I’m left thinking we could do with more Alices in our time and place: calling out nonsense, refusing to hold their tongue, and prepared to risk losing their head.

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