Human and Animal Interrelationships in Alices Adventures - Book Report/Review Example

Human and Animal Interrelationships in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ Introduction The ‘rights of animals’ has been a bone of contention among thinkers for centuries. Today, the issue has gained wider appreciation as environmentalists across the globe intently discuss the preservation of animals and their habitats. Undoubtedly, most of the animals are not hostile in nature and all human beings basically have an affinity for some of them. This theory is well applied by Lewis Carroll in her ‘Alices Adventures in Wonderland’. Most of the animals in the story are the kinds one may find in homes and pet shops. Alice, the protagonist however views them as adults, and each animal in the story is personalized to a great extent. The author has brilliantly utilized this scope of human animal interaction throughout the story. These are the reasons why I chose the book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ for this particular assignment. Chapter 1 Alice is gets tired of sitting by her sister who has been reading a book. Alice cannot comprehend the fun of reading a book which does not have images or conversation in it. Suddenly a white rabbit runs past by her as if he will be late to reach the destination. Although there was nothing remarkable about the rabbit, Alice gets wondered when he takes a watch out of his waistcoat. Alice runs after the animal and thoughtlessly follows it down the tunnel-like rabbit hole. The tunnel immediately turns to be a well that she cannot prevent herself from falling. She keeps falling slowly for a long time and on her way down she sees that the sides of the well are covered with shelves. She believes that she would reach a different world. She confronts strange experiences underneath. She drinks the content of the bottle she finds and shrinks immediately. Although the animal ‘rabbit’ in the chapter has some symbolic significance, from the view point of animal-human interaction, the two characters play vital roles. Alice, though she does not converse with the rabbit, is highly influenced by its appearance and mannerism, for she thoughtlessly follows it down the rabbit hole. It clearly indicates the natural relationship between human beings and animals. Chapter 2 Alice eats a cake that says “EAT ME” and grows to nine feet tall that she cannot even mange to see the doorway. She weeps and strangely her gigantic tears form a pool at her feet (Carroll 18). Although the rabbit reappears he leaves immediately before Alice could speak something. She makes herself believe that she is not Alice but her friend Mabel. She shrinks again as she begins to fan herself and eventually falls into sea of her own tears. Alice tries to convince a mouse by saying about her cat and dogs. The mouse offers Alice that he would tell her why he hates cats and dogs once they reach the shore. They both swim to shore accompanied by a Duck, a Dodo, a Lory, and an Eaglet all which had fallen into the sea of tears. This chapter gives a much more vivid picture of human-animal relationship. It speaks the idea that human being is not the supreme living thing. Instead, all animals have their own stories to tell and hence they have every reason to sustain in this world. Chapter 3 Alice and her companions reach the shore wet. Now they all want to get dry. Alice argues with the Lory regarding how to get dry easily. Mouse suggests that the story of William the Conqueror would make them dry as it is the driest one it knows. But the Dodo suggests a Caucus race once the story also fails to make them dry. All participate in the race and all are declared to be winners. Alice is elected to confer prizes. She does this leaving no prize for herself. The mouse begins telling its tale, but soon leaves the place as Alice and the mouse misunderstand each other. When other animals lament the mouse’ absence, Alice wishes if her cat Dinah was there to bring the mouse back. All of the animals scatter in fear when Alice says that Dinah eats birds. She is alone once again and begins crying. The chapter depicts a child’s affinity for animals. It clearly speaks that without the company of other creatures man cannot make a happy world. An innocent child cans easily imagine interacting with animals in its own language. The child seldom thinks that animals are inferior to it for any reason. Chapter 4 The White Rabbit appears again in search of his gloves and fan. He orders Alice to fetch them from his house. Alice obeys and wonders how strange it is taking orders from animals. She thinks that she will have to obey her cat Dinah also once she is back home. Inside the house Alice finds the gloves and fan and a small bottle labeled “DRINK ME” (40). She tries it and grows so rapidly that she cannot get out of the house. Although the rabbit tries to enter the house, Alice’s gigantic hands prevent him. He gets angry and deploys other animals to attack Alice but all in vain. They throw stones at her which turn cakes for Alice. She eats one cake and shrinks again. Outside the house she finds a mob of animals ready to chase her. Alice heads to the nearby woods thinking if she could regain her normal size in some ways. In the forest also she encounters strange creatures including an enormous puppy, a smoking blue caterpillar. Unlike the previous ones, this chapter discuss how annoying the life can be if the animal world and the nature itself turn against the human beings. It also argues that if man has the right to give orders to animals, animals also do have the right to exploit the human beings. None is superior to the other. As we find in the chapter, friendly interaction between these two is not possible in such an environment. Chapter 5 Alice finds the Caterpillar smoking a hookah pipe. Alice is unable to answer the Caterpillar’s question “who are you?” (53). She is about to leave the scene but the Caterpillar asks her to recite a poem. Caterpillar understands that she recites it incorrectly. The Caterpillar asks Alice what size she wants to be. The three-inch-tall Caterpillar gets hurt when Alice says that being three inch tall is unfair. Before leaving, the Caterpillar tells her that eating one side of the mushroom will help her grow larger and eating the other side will help her grow smaller. Alice first eats the right hand side and shrinks, and then tries the other side of the mushroom. As a result, her neck grows larger and it reaches the tree tops. A pigeon mistakes Alice for a serpent that is attempting to eat the pigeon’s eggs and attacks her. As Alice convinces the pigeon that she is not a serpent, it allows Alice to eat the two pieces of the mushroom to regain her actual size. She wanders around the forest in her normal size and finds a four-foot -tall house. Once again she decides to reduce her size into nine-inches-tall by eating the mushroom so that she could enter the house. Caterpillar and the pigeon are compassionate enough toward Alice despite the abnormalities they find with her. The nature and the animal world are still tolerating the unwanted human intervention in order to maintain the environmental sustainability. Chapter 6 Alice stands in front of the house wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery comes running out of the wood. As he knocks at the door a similarly dressed frog opens the door. He receives a letter that invites the Duchess to play croquet with the Queen. Alice knocks at the door but the frog footman says that the door would not open as he is out and there is also a lot of noise inside. Alice opens the door and enters the kitchen. There she sees the Duchess, a baby, a grinning cat, and a Cook. As usual, Alice’s questions end up in arguments and confusion. The Duchess orders to “Chop off her head!” Alice discovers that the baby is only a pig. The Cheshire Cat advices Alice to meet Mad Hatter and the March Hare next, and reminds her to be a bit mad once she is in wonderland where all are mad. The interaction between Alice and the creatures looks illogic and meaningless. However, certain points like ‘all are mad’ evoke readers’ attention. It reminds us that disorder can cause confusion and thereby illogic constriction of ideas and a world of chaos. Chapter 7 Alice approaches the Mad Halter and the March Hare at their tea table. Although they tell her that there is no room for at the table, she manages to sit. The March Hare offers her wine but she finds that there is none. She tells the March Hare that he is uncivil and the March Hare replies that sitting with them without being invited was also an uncivil act. There begins an argument as the Mad Halter also enters the conversation. The Mad Halter asks Alice a riddle “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”, a riddle which doesn’t have an answer (81). The Mad Halter and the March Hare also get into disputes regarding the watch and the time. Getting tired of the Mad Halter’s song on time, March Hare decides to hear a story. They wake up the Dormouse who has been sleeping between them. Alice interrupts the story with her incessant questions and the Dormouse and the other friends get her away. In the forest, she finds a tree with a door. As she enters it, she reaches a great hall. She uses the mushroom to grow larger to get the keys from the table and to grow smaller further to fit through the door. The human-animal relationship in this chapter involves some conflicts. It is natural that conflicts of interests occur when there are different outlooks regarding life and nature. And in the absence of cohesiveness, everything seems strange and absurd. Chapter 8 As Alice enters the garden, she finds three gardeners in the shape of ‘playing cards’ trying to paint a white rose red. They tell her that by mistake they planted white rose and now want to make it red before the queen arrives. However, the queen arrives immediately before they could do something. The Queen gets angry with Alice as she finds her indifferent to the queen. The queen orders punishment for the gardeners but Alice saves them. The queen enters a croquet match in which croquet balls are live hedgehogs, and the mallets are live flamingos. As Alice tries to escape the scene, The Cheshire Cat notices her. The king gets angry and asks the queen to get rid of the Cheshire Cat. Although the queen orders its decapitation, the executioner and the King disagree on how to execute the Cheshire Cat, because by then the Cheshire Cat is only a head floating in the midair. Alice suggests them that they should get the advice of the Duchess. However, the Cheshire Cat fully vanishes by when the Duchess arrives. It seems that in this chapter, the author has not attempted to say anything about the human animal relationship other than some strange events and experiences that Alice undergoes. Chapter 9 Duchess takes Alice’s arm as the croquet game resumes. The Duchess holds Alice so close to her and attempts to put her hand around Alice’s waist. But Alice convinces her not to do so. The queen sends the Duchess and other players off narrowing the game down to the King, Alice, and herself. When the game is concluded, the queen decides that Alice should visit the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle explains his sea school story which Alice cannot comprehend well. When Alice asks the Mock Turtle regarding the length of the lessons, the Mock Turtle says that they became shorter as days passed; and hence they were called “lessen” (118). The animals in the chapter interact well with Alice but she cannot understand their language, and many of the narrations seem illogic and absurd. This is what happens often when man fails to listen to the nature and tries to understand the meaning of its changes. Chapter 10 Alice is still with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon. The Mock Turtle asks Alice if she has ever been to a lobster, and sings a song about a Whiting and a snail. They again say strange things about lobster and Whiting that confuses Alice a lot. They further ask her to reflect on her adventures but interrupt her in between. They ask her to recite the poem “‘Tis the voice of the sluggard” which Alice fails to do well. Now upon her request, Mock Turtle sings the song “Turtle Soup.” Later Gryphon whisks Alice away as he hears the cry “The trial’s beginning!” (124). As it was the same in the previous chapter, the conversation between the animals and Alice seems too complex for one to understand. Not sure if the author intends to convey anything to the readers regarding human animal relationship in this chapter. Chapter 11 The chapter begins with the scene of a court room where Alice finds the King and Queen of Hearts on their thrones. They are surrounded by the deck of cards and a large number of animals. Strange things repeat in the court. Alice calls the jurors “stupid things,” and to her surprise, they write it down. She snatches the pencil from juror Bill, the servant of the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit reads the accusation against the Knave of Hearts that it stole the Queen’s tart. Alice grows larger again and that upsets the Dormouse. There begins a conversation and testimony which do not relate to each other in anyway. The Mad Hatter and the Cook are the two witnesses. Finally Alice is called by the White Rabbit to be the next witness. The entire communication between the characters breaks up and hence no one is able to understand what the other one is saying about. This must have a meaning that when the natural harmony and relationship beak up, the world of both animals and humans begins to mess up things. Chapter 12 When the White Rabbit calls her to be the third witness, Alice jumps to the stand forgetting that she has grown to be a gigantic figure, and knocks over the jury stand. Alice claims she knows “nothing whatever” and the king mistake it for “very important” (140). The white Rabbit corrects the king that it should be “unimportant”. The king enforces the Rule 42, which states, “All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.” (140). All accuse the King now of fabricating the rule in favor of Alice. The arguments and trial go on until the queen calls for Alice’s beheading. However, Alice has grown to her full size by then and she bats away the playing cards violently. Now Alice wakes up from her sister’s lap and understands that everything was a dream. She tells the dream to her sister. The animals especially the White Rabbit in this chapter takes the prominent role. The intensity of Alice’s relationship with the animal is uncertain for it does not show any compassion toward her. Conclusion The book as a whole deals with child fantasy and children’s affinity for animals. The author is skeptical about the ethical parameters of human beings regarding their involvement in the environment. A true environmentalist cannot admit the human supremacy over other creatures. He would always be cautious about the mutual relationship so as to ensure the preservation of all creatures. Works Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Branden Books, 1948. Print. Read More