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COMPARE AND CONTRAST

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Lewis Carroll's publications have garnered a lot of acclaim worldwide. His two. In

particular, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, two publications

have become children's literature classics being enjoyed by both adults and children. The two

tales focus on a young girl named Alice, who ventures into a fantasy world full of strange

characters and surroundings. Alice, in both instances, is subjected to unusual challenges in her

newly discovered world. As she explores these strange places, she is presented with unique

situations that require her to be creative and innovative to maneuver the challenges. Despite

Alice being the main character in both stories, each story is distinct in style, purpose, and

characters.

Three years after Carroll first narrated the tale to a young girl named Alice Liddell,

together with her sisters, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865. This

was after the young girl requested him to narrate a magical story unlike the first story, which was

spontaneous. Through the Looking Glass was published during Alice's teenage years. By

analyzing and studying both tales, the differences in direction and style are realized. The second

tale is more logical and has a clear direction, unlike the first tale. The events that result in Alice

finding herself in the new world are different in the two tales. In the first tale, experiencing

boredom and curiosity leads Alice to stumble and fall down a rabbit hole as she follows a white

rabbit.

The new world is full of unique characters and occurrences. In following Alice in the new

world, readers are immersed in a supernatural and magical world full of wonders. Alice, while

venturing into the new world, meets characters who prove difficult and stubborn. At times, she is

frustrated and angry due to the lack of cooperation and help she encounters as she explores the

magical world. In this world, Alice grows and shrinks multiple times after consuming various
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items (Carroll, 2015, p. 25). This experience is unique to the first story only. In Through the

Looking Glass tale, Alice's curiosity also leads her to the fantasy world. While exploring this

world, Alice and the readers are subjected to more logical and less supernatural occurrences than

Alice's Adventures in the Wonderland world. After walking through the glass, everything

experienced by Alice in the newfound world is in reversal. The authors employ these phenomena

throughout the story, indicated by instances such as Alice having to pass the cake around before

she could cut it, the white queen first shrieks and later picks herself, and in jabberwocky's poem.

The use of reversal style by Carroll in Through the Looking Glass is unique since he doesn't

employ the same style in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By analyzing these events, readers

can observe the structural differences in both stories.

From the Looking Glass tale, readers have a sense of direction as depicted by the series

of events as arranged by the author. From the onset of the story, the events occur in a series of

well-organized and orchestrated manner. The image of a chess game that Alice and readers

encounter from the story's onset plays a key in understanding the story. It also indicates a sense

of order and logic to the reader as they progress with the tale. Carroll's chronological narration of

events offers the leader a clear understanding of direction throughout the story. Readers have to

follow the chapters as arranged by the author to understand the tale's events perfectly. Carroll

uses the chessboard to show Alice's transformation process from the onset to the game to the

end. Alice arrives in the new world as a young person and ends up becoming a queen. The

chessboard offers a unique experience to the readers as they follow Alice's journey in the story.

From being a pawn, she makes well thought and strategic moves to become a queen by the end

of the story. This style symbolizes the transformation of Alice from a young person into an adult.

Through queens and kings in the story, the author can show the distinct disparities between
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adults and children (Szpakowska, p. 33). The queen is always a step ahead in Alice's play, just

like adults are still well informed and wise compared to children. Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland, on the other hand, offers no sense of direction. To the readers. One can arrange and

read the chapters randomly, and the tale would still make sense to the reader. The growth into

adulthood is only present in the Looking Glass tale. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the

author offers readers an adulthood perspective from a child's perspective. This is why in the tale,

Alice is continuously instructed by the characters on what she should do. Carroll, through this

book, provides readers with a glimpse into the thinking of children. Alice continues to think and

act logically despite being in an illogical world. To her, the two worlds remain in harmony

despite the huge and clear differences when readers compare the two worlds.

Word games and playing with Language is another feature employed by Carroll in

Through the Looking Glass as a humor mechanism. The author demonstrates his ability to

incorporate language and world play when Alice ventures into a garden with talking flowers.

During the encounter, readers are subjected to a satirical exchange of words between the flowers

and Alice. The use of wordplay is also found in the encounter that happens between Humpty

Dumpty, who is a well-known rhyming figure in the tale, and Alice. Unlike in the first story full

of magical occurrences, the second story takes a more logical approach that necessitates readers

to be more keen and serious while studying the work. In the second tale, Carroll incorporates a

tone of pessimism and negativity through the main character. Alice in Through the Looking

Glass continuously complains whenever she is faced with a difficult situation and hardships that

she encounters. Other characters, such as the king, are accorded a futile and disappointing tone

during their interactions with Alice. The differences in the structural, contextual, and style in

both pieces of work can be attributed to several factors, including circumstances that surrounded
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the author's writing, the difference in time in which each publication was made, and the author's

intentions during each publication (Hart, 2015, p. 425).

The main similarities between the two stories are the main character and the setting in

which the events take place. The author utilizes the same character in both of his works. The

occurrence of events takes place in a fantasy world. The world has very distinct characters that

possess supernatural abilities. The use of an imaginary world is meant to allow readers to use

their creativity in creating a virtual reality as they read and explore the events. This is an

effective way of ensuring that readers remain intrigued throughout their reading process. The

author also has similar beginnings and endings in both of the stories. At the start, curiosity is the

main driving factor that results in the main characters venturing into the fantasy world. At the

beginning of the story, the character in each of the stories is idle and bored; however, their

curiosity is triggered by an event that marks the tale's start. Although the ending of each story is

unique, both possess the same emotion. Carroll also ends each of the stories with curious

questions. Readers have to decide the answer to the questions based on how they each

understand the books. By completing the tales with curious questions, the author intends to

prompt discussions between the readers. Since the ending can be interpreted in various ways,

readers will debate and therefore enhance their understanding of each tale.

Carroll employs a very creative and articulate way of telling stories. His mastery use of

Language is evident throughout both works. Through an imaginative way, he can create a new

world where readers can follow the main character in their endeavors. This helps the readers,

especially kids, remain engaged during their reading process. Setting a play in a magical place

evokes curiosity in readers, allowing them to be wholly immersed in the events as they unfold in

the stories. The use of fiction also helps readers break from the usual forms of literature styles,
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which can become monotonous. In both cases, he has carefully selected each character's

character trait to resemble people in Alice Liddell's life. The characters, although fictional, have

real-life traits representing real people in society. Readers can relate and draw a comparison from

the fictional characters to people in real life. Carroll has painted a clear picture of Alice's

transition from a young person to a responsible adult. Through Alice, he has been able to depict

the relationship and challenges between adults and children. The smooth transitioning,

articulation, and mastery of Language in both works is the reason why they remain relevant and

loved by many people despite being published a long time ago. Carroll's creative style and

approach to literature in both sets of books continue to receive accord globally. His works have

become an inspiration to many other writers who work in similar literary works.
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References

Carroll, L. (2015). Alice's adventures in wonderland. Princeton University Press.

Szpakowska, Kasia. "Through the Looking Glass." Dreams. Palgrave Macmillan, New York,

2001. 29-43.

Hart, A. (2015). Alice in Wonderland & Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll: Do

Words Have Meaning? Lacanian Theory on Carroll's Writing. International Journal of Arts &

Sciences, 8(3), 425.