Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865)

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865)

Quote

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"

So she was considering in her own mind, (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleep and stupid,) whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she though it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never seen a rabbit with either a waist-coat-pocket or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. (Chapter 1)

At the beginning of Carroll's famous tale, Alice follows a strange little rabbit into its rabbit hole.

Thematic Analysis

From the very first paragraph, Carroll focuses our attention on the perspective of a child: Alice isn't interested in the book her sister is reading because it has no pictures. Who would want to read a book without any pictures? Not Alice, and not most kids.

Alice's curiosity is also characteristic of children. If a talking rabbit in a waistcoat passed by, we'd probably run the other way, right? But Alice, as a child, is immediately interested in the rabbit, and decides to follow it…right down a rabbit hole.

Stylistic Analysis

The focus on Alice's perspective is plain and simple: we get to hear her thoughts from beginning to end.