Human and Animal Interrelationships - Book Report/Review Example

Human and Animal Interrelationships Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll portrays Alice relating to animals in a fantasy world. This book was chosen because it offers more than 10 animals through which the relationship between humans and animals can be perceived. Human-animal interrelationship is apparent from the start when Alice runs away from her sister and after the rabbit because she feels the Victorian world is empty. It is also appropriate because in this time and age where debates abound among philosophers on animal rights, children’s affinity for animals cannot be overlooked. This paper will give a chapter by chapter summary of the book and briefly discuss the aspect of human-animal interrelationships as portrayed in the chapters. Chapter One Down the Rabbit Hole Alice is by her sister who is reading her a book on the bank of the river and feels bored. A white rabbit in a waistcoat appears and pulls out a watch. She runs after it into a hole where she falls into a hole, noticing doors of different sizes (Carroll 3). She speaks to herself and daydreams about her cat, then sees a bottle with the label “drink me”, the contents of which shrink her. As she cries, she sees a cake labelled “eat me”, and she eats it. This chapter shows that animals fill a void in human life. Alice was with her sister, yet bored. It is her inquisitive nature upon seeing a speaking rabbit that took her to wonderland. She followed the rabbit hoping to find more excitement than her sister’s book her. Further, while she “glides” down the hole, she thinks of her cat. These two examples use animals to symbolize excitement in human life and influence the chapters that follow. Chapter Two The Pool of Tears Alice grows huge because of the cake and hits the ceiling, causing her to cry, flooding the hallway. She picks up a fan dropped by the white rabbit, shrinks again and swims in her tears, where she meets a mouse. Upon Alice’s asking about her cat and then a dog, the frightened mouse swims away but returns when she apologizes. Together with other animals that fell in the pool of tears, the mouse leads Alice to the shore (Carroll 27). Here, Alice’s relationship with the mouse is positive and it is the mouse that becomes friendly even after being scared by the enquiry about a cat and a dog. Alice feels lost and instinctively asks about her cat (from a mouse). She suddenly gets detached from her situation and thinks of how she will address the mouse. This depicts the nature of companionship in the human-animal interrelationship. While Alice is lost in her own tears with emotion, it is a mouse that leads her to dry land. Chapter Three The Caucus Race and a Long Tale The mouse gives a lecture and decides on the shore that running around in circles without a winner (the Caucus) would be the best way to dry up (Carroll 30). The dodo then announces everyone a winner and Alice hands out mints as prizes. Left without one herself, she gives a thimble to the dodo who then hands it back to her representing a prize. When she starts talking about her cat, she frightens the animals away and is left alone until she hears footsteps in the distance. The race provides an analysis of the absurdity of human-animal interrelationships. It can be understood to mean that even in times of competition or conflict between the two, there is no clear winner; they both need each other. After all, all they wanted from the race was to dry up, which they achieved. Their relationship, therefore, is depicted as one that offers companionship. Chapter Four The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill The white rabbit mistakes Alice for Mary Ann, his maidservant, and orders her to look for the Duchess’s fan and glove in the house (Carroll 42). But Alice drinks from a little bottle and grows big again, her arm getting outside the window. When Bill the lizard tries to get in, she hurls it away. When she threatens them with her cat, the animals staring at her arm throw pebbles at her. However, they turn into cakes and she shrinks after eating them. As the rabbit orders Alice into the house, its status is portrayed as that of an authority figure. Perceived from the human-animal interrelationship angle, this shows that humans are not always at the top of the hierarchy. Forced to adjust her perception, Alice makes the reader wonder whether she will later take orders from her cat. However, the most important part is that although the animals throw pebbles at Alice, they become cakes and shrink her, enabling her to get out of the house she is trapped in. This is a positive relationship even though preceded by negative intentions. Chapter Five Advice from a Caterpillar Alice encounters a pipe-smoking caterpillar and, unable to explain who she is, she starts walking away but is called back and asked to recite a poem, which the caterpillar notes is wrongly recited. Saying she cannot do anything correctly because of her size insults the caterpillar, which walks away but tell her to eat a side of the mushroom to get her size back (Carroll 60). One side makes her grow and her neck confuses a pigeon who thinks she is a serpent, but she manages to eat the correct side and shrinks back to size. From this, we learn that animals also get offended by seemingly innocent and unwitting human actions, even when they are in a position to get humans out of difficult situations. Alice is confused, but the caterpillar corrects her poem and tells her what do. On the other hand, the pigeon confuses her further into losing her identity, showing both the positivity and negativity of human-animal interrelationships. Chapter Six Pig and Pepper Alice sees a fish footman handing the Duchess’s invitation to a frog footman. After talking to the frog, she gets into the house and sees a cook tossing utensils while dumping pepper into a pot of soup, a Cheshire cat on the hearth and a duchess nursing a baby (Carroll 81). Everyone, apart from the cook and the cat, which just grins, sneezes incessantly. The duchess hands the baby to Alice, in whose arms it turns into a pig. Appearing in a tree, the cat directs Alice to March hare and disappears, leaving behind his grin floating in the air. This chapter highlights the differences between human and animals, especially when the baby turns into a pig, which might denote an ugly creature, basically denoting how differently beauty is perceived. The chapter might not have an explicit account of human-animal interrelationships but, as exhibited by the cat, not all that fills the air affects everyone around. However, the chapter influences all that remaining ones in the way the elusive cat frustrates orders from the king and queen to cut off his head. Since it only his head that it makes visible, there is actually no body to cut off the head from. Chapter Seven A Mad Tea-Party Alice and a sleepy dormouse, the hatter and March hare are guests at a tea party. Although there is no wine, the hare offers Alice some anyway, and she tells him that he is uncivil (Carroll 96). The hare retorts, telling Alice she had no invitation to the party. She is then given many riddles, and the hatter explains that it is as a result of punishment from time, which stood still at six in the evening, that they take tea throughout. Feeling insulted, she leaves the tea party, which she describes as stupid. This chapter portrays the respect (or probably, the lack of it) between humans and animals. First, Alice is told there is no space for her, but goes ahead and sits, causing the hare to sarcastically offer her wine that is not there. Then, it also shows how humans can become too proud and not acknowledge they can learn from animals. For instance, Alice feels insulted when the hatter insinuates that she does not understand the concept of time, depicting a conflicting relationship. Chapter Eight The Queen's Croquet Ground Alice meets three gardeners in the form of living playing cards as they paint the white roses red because the queen does not like white roses (Carroll 114). As more cards enter the garden, including the king and queen, Alice realizes it is not easy to please the queen. In a game of croquet, they use live hedgehogs and flamingos as balls and hammers respectively. Orders to behead the cat cannot be fulfilled again as only its head appears. In a negative way, this chapter shows the relationship between humans and animals to be one in which humans use hapless animals for recreational activities. However, this relationship does not influence the story in the chapter. Chapter Nine The Mock Turtle's Story Alice requests the duchess to be brought to the croquet field and she strives to find morals in her surroundings. Threatening to execute her, the queen dismisses Alice, who then meets the mock turtle through Gryphon. Ironically, the turtle is sad but without sorrow and as it tries to explain how he once was real turtle, he is interrupted by Gryphon who wants to play a game (Carroll 144). This chapter does not really depict human-animal interrelationships and does not influence the story, although the turtle and gryphon are not hostile to Alice. Chapter 10 Lobster Quadrille As Alice incorrectly recites a poem, the turtle and gryphon are dancing to Quadrille the lobster. When the turtle finishes singing Alice’s request, the beginning of the trial is announced and the gryphon takes Alice away (Carroll 161). This chapter shows that although humans and animals may sympathize with each other under certain circumstances, they still do not fully understand each other. This relationship is important because it contributes to the story especially through the use of words such as confusing, curious and nonsense. Chapter 11 Who Stole the Tarts? There is a court proceeding against the knave for stealing the tarts belonging to the queen and the lizard is among the animals in the jury and the court’s herald is the white rabbit. As the court proceeds, Alice grows bigger and is scolded by the dormouse for taking up all the air. The hatter, who is a witness, does not remember what the dormouse said when he is asked by the king (Carroll 167). Later, when the cook witnesses that tarts are made from pepper, the dormouse shouts out “treacle”, throwing the court into chaos. Portraying animals as witnesses and officials in a court proceeding, this chapter conveys the message that the relationship between humans and animals can lead to animals determining the fate of humans. It appears to give animals an authoritative edge, but is important because it also brings out the actual balance between who controls who under what situations in human-animal interrelationships. Chapter 12 Alice's Evidence Alice is called in to witness but knocks the jury box over unintentionally because of her size. For the trial to continue, the animals are put back into their seats, and Alice claims to know nothing about the tarts. A rule of the court demands that persons larger than a mile be removed from the court, but Alice, who has grown, refuses to leave and argues with the king, saying he and the queen are just cards (Carroll 180). At that moment, Alice’s sister is waking up for tea and brushes leaves across Alice’s face, and not the cards she was seeing in her dream. This chapter also does not bring out much about the human-animal interrelationship, but only leads to the waking up of Alice as she realizes that her adventures were simply a fantasy. In conclusion, it can be seen that humans still consider animals as part of their day to day lives. This is especially confirmed by the fact that, the Gryphon aside, the rest of the animals are not exactly hostile and do not really seem intent to cause Alice any harm. Even though their behavior might suggest otherwise, the animals are essentially pets, which is the key reason Alice naturally identifies herself with them. The story is a fantasy, but even in fantasy, humans are still portrayed as relating to animals, where they seem to personify them. Works Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (digital ed. v.1.2). Chicago: Volume One Publishing, 2000. Print. Read More