Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Author: Lewis Carroll (British)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: A middle-length fairy tale by British fairy tale writer Lewis Carroll. The story tells of a girl named Alice who, while dozing off, suddenly sees a dressed-up white rabbit run past. Alice follows the rabbit and tumbles into a black hole, falling for a long time before landing on a pile of dry leaves. She walks into a hall with many doors around. In the center of the hall, on a glass table, lies a of golden keys. She uses one of them to open a small door, which leads to a beautiful garden. The door is too small for her to fit through, so later, after drinking a bottle of drink on the table, she shrinks into a tiny person only 10 inches tall. She eats a cake under the table and grows to 9 feet tall, making the door unenterable again. Desperate, she starts crying, and her tears form a river. The white rabbit appears, drops a fan, and she uses it to fan herself, shrinking back into a tiny person. She accidentally falls into her tear pool and barely manages to swim to the shore. Alice arrives at the white rabbit's house, sees a bottle of drink on a cabinet, and after drinking half of it, her body grows so large that her head touches the ceiling and her arms extend out the window, leaving her unable to move. The rabbit picks up stones and throws them at her, but all the stones turn into cakes upon landing. After eating them, she shrinks again. She grabs the door and escapes, running into the forest, where she eats some mushrooms and regains her original form. Alice enters the garden of a Duchess, where she meets the Hatter King K and Queen Q. The Queen is extremely temperamental and often cuts off people's heads. The Cheshire Cat angers the Queen and is sentenced to be beheaded. However, the cat's body disappears, leaving the executioner unsure how to behead a head without a body. In the end, the Queen orders that Alice's head be cut off for refusing to testify against the absurdity. Alice wakes up in self-defense. This fairy tale is considered a peak of 19th-century British absurd literature.