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Friday 19 February 2016

The Wonderful Journey of Reading Classic Book.2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Image Credit: http://www.scifiheaven.net
After gaining unanticipated delight from reading classic Pride and Prejudice, I discovered an unfound courage inside of me to pick another classic. This time, I thought, "Why not give Alice in Wonderland a try! The worst case scenario would be that it would turn out to be a children's book, and I would have nothing to write about this book."However, the first chapter of the book, itself, was capable of showing me the error in my thought process. While falling in the endless depth, Alice talks to herself using various big words, like longitude, latitude, antipathies, and right then -- out of nowhere -- my smile appeared on my face. As the author mentioned that Alice had no idea about these grand words, she was just having fun using them for the first time. I remember how, in my childhood, I used to be happy about using big and difficult words, like cumbersome. Her enthusiasm for throwing these big words around is, something, that most of us did in our childhood; I know, I did! 

If you imagine yourself falling down an endless void, our reaction would be on the similar lines as Alice did. Initially, she was confused and afraid, but later she started talking to herself. Her conversation with herself is hilarious,

'Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes,'Do bats eat cats?'
The fantastic graphic display of a child's innocent mind is absolutely impeccable. Capturing the purity of a child's head is the most splendid quality of the author. Inside the empty room, Alice's curious mind makes her doubt whether she has, somehow, transformed into any of her friends, whom she believe to be not-so-smart, so to solve the mystery, Alice takes a test of herself in various categories. Her first adorable test was of mathematics,

Let me see, four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is-- oh dear! I shall never get to twelve at that rate!
As if, she nailed everything before twelve! This book is more than a little girl's dream, it is a magnificent compilation of humor, stupidity, anecdotes, bravery, and imagination. Throughout the read, I could not stop smiling. This is an extraordinary book with full of phenomenal  characters. Whether the author introduces a rabbit with a watch or a baby pig, every character is depicted with perfect exquisiteness. Can you envision yourself having real feelings for talking animals in a fantasy? Well, you will, once you read this book. 

The conversation between various characters in the book is very clever and side-splitting. I have a heap of my favorite dialogues, but sharing the one between a Mouse and Alice,

'Mine is a long and sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. 'It IS a long tail, certainly,'said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail;'but why do you call it sad?'
You see, what I mean? If you think there is any limit to the hysterical parts in the book, then think again. You know, let me share a lullaby from it, to give you an insight to the unexpected humor,

'Speak roughly to your little boy,And beat him when he sneezes:He only does it to annoy,Because he knows it teases.' 
Just when I thought the plot cannot get any funnier, enters the hatter, the king, and the queen with their weird personalities. The hatter keeps annoying our little Alice with his rude comments, the king gives the readers several remarks to chuckle and the queen of hearts, with her 'off with his head,' makes the readers laugh till they drop. There are many scenes of the courthouse that I found rib-tickling comic; however, I cannot share all of those, therefore, sharing one of my favorite ones, before I publish the post,

'Give your evidence,' said the King: 'and don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed on the spot.'
Ever received these words of motivation? I hope, not!

If you liked this post, you may want to check out the review of the book by clicking here.

4 comments:

  1. I liked your take on that classic book. I read it too - way back - you made me wanna have a look at it again now:-)

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  2. What a lovely post. You made me want to read Alice in Wonderland all over again. By the way, Pride and Prejudice is a personal favourite.

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  3. This made me want to re-read the book again!!! The characters, their conversations are so witty and I'm sure I'll enjoy the book and will takeaway something from it.

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  4. This is on my wish list too. Remember reading it in school. Alice in Wonderland certainly imparts many life lessons and shares about the potential of imagination. Hope to pick it up soon again!

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