Great Paper: "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carrol ~ Falling into the Dream ~

Alice in Wonderland By Lewis Carrol

~ Falling into The Dream ~

Almost the entire first chapter, Alice lies comfortably under a tree in a meadow and wonders about

flowers. The Short but sweet chapters of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" always manage to

capture some sort of greater element in them. In this piece elements common to that of the first

dream stages of REM sleep, seem to ring throughout Carroll’s sentences. Woven together with odd

ball witty speech, awkward encounters with funny characters, and plenty of commentation from the

proud tenderfooted Alice. From the very first chapter, it can be seen that Alice in wonderland is sure

to be a great read.

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“So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the day made her feel very

sleepy 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!” 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 before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a

pocket watch to take out of it, and with burning 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. In another moment, down Alice went

after it!

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then dipped suddenly down, so

suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling

down what seemed to be a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time, as she went down,

to look about her. First, she tried to make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see

anything;then she looked at the sides of the well and noticed they were filled with cupboards and

bookshelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures upon pegs. She took down a jar from one

of the shelves as she passed. It was labeled “Orange Marmalade,” but, to her great disappointment,

it was empty; she did not like to drop the jar, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell

past it. Down, down, down! Would the fall never come to an end? There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking to herself. “Dinah’ll miss me very much tonight, I should think!”(Dinah was her cat.)

“I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea time. Dinah my dear, how i wish you were down here with me!” Alice felt that she was dozing off, when suddenly, thump! thump! Down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up in a moment. She looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it.“

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Feeling sleepy, Wondering about sweet nothings, Oh! something odd thing

over there! Run to catch it! falls down a hole and it seems like she is drifting downwards softly,

instead of falling. Taking enough time for her to stop and wonder about her life outside of the outcome

she has fallen into. The clear picture of a common dream, and i wouldn't be surprised to

hear people having dreams similar, if not completely identical to this factual fictional tale spun by Lewis

Carrol.