Banned Book: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


                Alice is bored waiting for her sister and the book that is near holds no interest. The white rabbit is running past and talking about the time, discussing to himself about being late. But what could a rabbit possibly be late for and since when did white rabbits keep the time? Young and curious Alice follows the white rabbit and falls slowly through the rabbit hole into a land of wonder. A land where consuming different foods or drinks can make you grow or cause you to shrink. A land where riddles are made with no answer in sight and everyone can be considered mad. A land where gardeners paint flowers and babies can turn into pigs and the Cheshire cat disappears. It’s a land of fantasy, a land of dreams, a land of wonders.
                Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fantasy novel full of clever quips, beautiful imagery and whimsy. This is the well-known story of a little girl’s dream and her trip into a wonderland. Alice’s young mind originally tries to process all of the ridiculous things she sees and experiences but realizes eventually that there is no way to make sense of anything. She must simply exist in this world and make her way through to whatever end she may find. Her young mind is open to this new and very strange land that she has come to.
                Carroll captured the beauty of a child’s imagination with this novel. I found it extremely enjoyable and funny. It felt like a dream. It was completely unrealistic and yet fantastically vivid. What is the world? What are these creatures? It was a complete sensory experience and I found it to be lovely and refreshing. This novel was released in 1865 and has been considered controversial for quite some time. It has been banned in the United States in the 1960’s for its supposed promotion of drug use. Objectors pointed out a passage where a hookah smoking caterpillar offers Alice a shape altering mushroom after giving her helpful advice about her journey. It was also challenged because of the animals throughout the book could talk, which many religious cultures believe to be an abomination. This was actually the reason why the government in the Hunan province of China banned the book in the 1931. I honestly don’t know what to say except that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fantasy fiction book. It’s supposed to outside of the normal realm of society, isn’t it? I thought that’s why people read fantasy novels! To ban a novel that simply fills the requirements of its genre is ridiculous and foolish.

“Banned books: Alice in Wonderland” Rosenthal, Kristen

http://orgs.utulsa.edu/spcol/?p=3192

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