Alice, the Heroine of the World
The following quotes are taken from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll.
1. “...[To] me it looked like this natural action of a lover, who, even while his heart was singing “She is Mine!”, would fear to paint his happiness in the cold phrases of a written letter, but would wait to tell it by word of mouth.” (431)
If Charles Dogdson indeed had interest in Alice, then his hidden emotions were definitely displayed well through Arthur and Lady Muriel as Alice. Arthur had great affections for Lady Muriel in the text. As we all know through many researchers, Charles would write about his entire life through letters, but there is a time span where no one can find any letters. This passage from the text brings us back to letters. “...fear to paint his happiness in the cold phrases of a written letter...” so Dogdson did not put his feelings in letters. “...would wait to tell it by word of mouth” so there are clues he might have told Alice, or another love, his true feelings, but just didn’t put it down on paper in case someone were to discover it.
2. “The first rule is, that it must be a very hot day -- that we may consider as settled: and you must be just a little sleepy -- but not too sleepy to keep your eyes open, mind. Well, and you ought to feel a little -- what one may call “fairyish”...” (432).
I enjoy Carroll’s description of how people can enter a world of fantasy and fairies. This description could refer back to his discovery of the Alice world on a hot summer day when going on adventures with the Liddell sisters. Perhaps if everyone uses their imagination on a hot summer day, we could see fairies, and also enter magical worlds that will bring us back to how we were as children, playful and not worried about the many things we shouldn’t have to worry about, but instead, just search for fairies and strange little creature of the woods.
3. ‘”A hare is a sweet, gentle, timid animal -- almost as gentle as a lamb.” (441)
The comparison of a hare to a lamb makes the hare seem such innocent angelic creatures. Lambs are baby sheep, requiring special attention from their parents. Without help, they can not survive. Such dear creatures, you can not help but feel even more sorry for the deceased hare through the comparison.
This is the picture of the dead hare in Sylvie and Bruno. I was curious of the image as it is not in the course anthology. Such a sad picture.
The following quotes are taken from The Clandestine Adventures of Alice in Saudi Land by Jasmine Bager, which can be found here. The article portrays how the Alice books have a huge impact on different cultures of the world and has changed lives for the better.
4. “I do not know any of them, but as soon as I hug them, we are sisters, brought together by a love of reading.”
I envy this close-knit relationship people develop through reading. Many times I have tried to convince my close friends of guys to read, inevitably failing. But it doesn’t prevent me from constantly annoying them to read books I enjoy.
5. “We had only one daily English class; all of our other courses were taught in Arabic, though we socially spoke accent-less English to each other. We knew better than to reveal our Western books to our Arabic teachers who considered what we were reading to be blasphemous because the stories depicted “unsavory” characters.”
My interest in science fiction, futuristic technology, and fantasy, such as dragons and sphinx, pushes me to use my imagination when I read many books. Sadly, this does not apply to my science classes; so i must block that part of my mind while attending lecture. The quote reminds me of science classes and how my interest does not apply to real life, though i wished it did.
6. ‘“Do you think that Alice seems Saudi to you?” asks book club president, Haifa AlOwain with a mischievous smile. A few hushed moments later, answers morph from a definite “No, she is not at all!” to “Maybe she could be, in certain ways.”
Whimsical and curious, Alice is a heroine who is in charge of her own destiny. The story drifts from dreams to reality. Many Saudi girls are daydreamers, escaping into books or the world wide web to cope with our social and cultural restrictions.’
The second half of this article reminds me of Emma Watson. I follow her on Twitter and can’t help but admire her push towards sexual equality. To me, Emma might just be the closest thing to Alice in real life. She went on a great adventure through Harry Potter, and now achieving her goals day by day, helping people through it all. She’s inspirational, just like Alice.
An image of Emma Watson.
7. “Those across the pond — or the desert, rather — can identify with Alice, just as little American girls can, to this day, 150 years after her tale was first told.”
The perfect quote to explain the greatness of the Alice books, changing lives for the better.
