(So far I am mostly done with Alice in Wonderland, but not into Through the Looking Glass, although they are out together in one book.)
Imagine, for a moment, that you grew overnight, and when you came back to school so much taller, all your friends ran away, scared of your height. That's pretty much what happens to Alice in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and is an example of one of the several social issues found in the book. This judgment based only on appearance, and is actually a pretty big problem.
One example from Alice of judgment by appearance is when Alice takes a bite of the Caterpillar's mushroom that causes her to grow a very long neck, so that her head is above the trees. While she's up there, a Pigeon attacks her, thinking she's a "serpent " and trying to eat it's eggs. Why does the Pigeon think this? Because Alice has a long neck. The Pigeon judges Alice by the way she looks, and decides that she is a serpent. Alice then gets confused for a bit, wondering if she actually is a serpent, as she does have a very long neck. Because of the Pigeon's judgment, Alice gets confused about her own identity. That's just one example of how Alice is judged throughout the book based on her appearance (and size).
Another time when Alice gets judged by her appearance is a lot closer to the end of the book. While sitting in the King's court, Alice begins to grow again. Without meaning to, she knocks over furniture and some of the creatures gathered there to see the case that's in trial. The King doesn't really seem to like Alice, and he reads from his rulebook that anyone a mile high must leave the courtroom. Because Alice is pretty tall by that point, the King assumes she is a mile high, and demands that she leave the court. Alice defends herself against the King's demands, and claims that she isn't a mile high. (I haven't read enough to know whether Alice actually leaves the courtroom, or if she stays.) The King assumes that if Alice is tall, then she must be a mile tall, so he judged her on her height and tries to get her thrown out of the court because of it.
Most of the times Alice gets judged, its a negative judgment. Sometimes there are positive effects of being judge by appearances, but not usually. It's just like that saying, "don't judge a book by its cover". Don't judge people just on the way they look, either, because you never really know what the other person is going through.
Interesting Response. I am very familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland but I have never looked at it that way.
ReplyDeletethat's a very interesting perspective that i never thought of. sadly, i was always judged by others and it never feels good. that's why i sometimes feel don't feel bad or anything when i judge others, which i try to keep to a minimum. but that is hard, sometimes even impossible to do because it's the human nature and life and there nothing to do about it.
ReplyDeleteLike shamia, i agree that this is a interesting but also very true perspective that someone could take from Alice in Wonderland. The truth is that it's very sad to realize that these examples from a fiction book are common occurrences in real life.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. Like shamia said, it's difficult not to judge people based on their appearance. It's human nature- I think that Alice in Wonderland has a lot of metaphors for human nature, if you can see past the fictioniness.
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