Reading Diary B: Alice in Wonderland

I really enjoyed the second half of Alice in Wonderland, just as much as the first. The dialogue and the voice of the author is really shown through the writing, and it makes it so much more fun to read!

(Alice, March Hare, Mad Hatter at the Tea Party)

My favorite part of this second half was A Mad Tea-Party (along with part 2 & part 3). I loved the entire tea party scene in both the animated movie as well as the Tim Burton live-action movie, so I knew I'd probably like the written form. I love the chaos of the whole scene and how truly crazy the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and Dormouse are. They all interact with each other in such a hilarious way, and it makes the story that much more entertaining. The Mad Hatter's riddles are, to me, what make the entire situation humorous. My favorite quote of his was "You mean you can't take LESS; it's very easy to take MORE than nothing." It just such a backwards way of thinking, and it shows his personality very well. When you first read the statement, you think "huh, that doesn't really make sense". But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I finally thought about it enough. I realized in the literal sense, you can take more than nothing because if you're taking anything at all, that's more than nothing!

Reading Diary A: Alice in Wonderland

Okay, I'm not going to lie, this is definitely the unit I have been waiting to read since we started the class. So needless to say, my choice for this week was really easy! I love every movie version of Alice in Wonderland, so I was really excited to be able to read Carroll's original. It's funny because I usually am one to read the novels before I see the movie, but I suppose I was so young when I saw the animated one for the first time, that just wasn't possible!

(Alice entering the rabbit-hole)

The first few episodes Down the Rabbit-Hole (part 2 & part 3) were probably my favorite episodes to read, mainly because I think it sets up the story so nicely. There is so much description about Alice as she first enters Wonderland. I think it's rather interesting that Alice is so trusting of everything she encounters, from the white rabbit all the way to the drinks sitting on the table. I thought it was funny that Carroll mentions that in the beginning of his story by saying "(when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural)", and it's even funnier that it is written in parenthesis. Although I have never read the original novel, I think the places where the story was trimmed (chapters 2 and 3) was a perfect transition. Alice has officially made it inside the Wonderland grounds and the last little tid bit on part 3 of the Rabbit-Hole portion sets up the Advice from a Caterpillar quite nicely.