revised reading response

"Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

Imagine what would happen if you grew really tall overnight, and all your friends run away at school because of how tall you look. That's pretty much what happens to Alice, and throughout the book, other characters judge her based mostly on her physical appearance, mostly her size.

One of several examples in Alice in Wonderland of Alice's judgment by appearance is when Alice takes a bite of a certain half of the Caterpillar's mushroom. That bite 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 its eggs. Why does the Pigeon think this? Because Alice has such a long neck, and is above the treetops. The Pigeon judges Alice by what it can see of how Alice looks, and decides that she is a serpent. This confuses Alice, and she wonders if she might really be a serpent, because she does have a very long neck. Because of the Pigeon's judgment, Alice gets confused about her own identity, although she figures out that's she's just Alice and not a serpent.That's just one example of how Alice is judged throughout the book based on her appearance.

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 trial. The King doesn't seem to particularly 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. (She isn't.) 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. That's a second example of how Alice is judged on her appearance, especially her size.

 Most of the times Alice gets judged, it is a negative judgment. Sometimes there are positive effects of being judged by appearance, 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. Just because a person wears glasses doesn't mean they're smart, just because a person is fashionable doesn't men they're vain. And there's so many more. Imagine you saw a person with a bright blue nose. Think how much that person would have to go through, being constantly judged for their appearance when it might be something they can't even control. Judgment like this is one of those issues that most people are aware of, even though they simply ignore them. It ties in neatly with stereotypes and bullying, and just like them it needs to be stopped before it can cause any more damage.