Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Summarize videos instantly with our Course Assistant plugin, and enjoy AI-generated quizzes: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland explained with chapter summaries in just a few minutes! Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole of Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland. Download the free study guide and infographic for Alice in Wonderland here: Lewis Carroll’s iconic fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland concerns the journey of a practical young girl into a nonsensical fantasy world, in which many of the customs of real-life Victorian England are mocked or heightened. When a talking white rabbit rushes past a girl named Alice one day, she follows him down a rabbit hole into an enchanted land. There, she meets a cast of ever-stranger characters who present her with a series of extraordinary tests. The Cheshire Cat can disappear at will. A talking caterpillar instructs her on the use of a mushroom to change her size. Bursting with wordplay, the novel describes Alice’s strange experiences as she traverses a world populated by bizarre creatures. The absurdity of the story reveals a massive change in children’s literature, which up to that point had been largely moralistic and instructive. Carroll’s wry inversions of traditional tales bucked the rigid orderliness of Victorian society and helped to usher in the notion of books for children as entertainment. English author Lewis Carroll’s Alice and Wonderland was first published in 1865. Valuing his privacy, math professor and clergyman Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland first came to life as a story he told to three young sisters—one of whom was named Alice. Iconic fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland contains many enduring themes, including self-reliance, as Alice learns to assert herself; rules, as Wonderland is full of rules, but they are often nonsensical or cruel and have little to do with good behavior; and growing up, as not only does Alice get bigger and smaller physically, but she learns to cope effectively with the strangeness of Wonderland. Important motifs include wordplay, dreams, and inversion and reversal. Explore Course Hero’s collection of free literature study guides, Q&A pairs, and infographics here: About Course Hero: Course Hero helps empower students and educators to succeed! We’re fueled by a passionate community of students and educators who share their course-specific knowledge and resources to help others learn. Learn more at Master Your Classes™ with Course Hero! Get the latest updates: Facebook: Twitter: