“Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days” (Carroll, 104).
The last few paragraphs of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland interestingly do not center Alice herself, but her presumably adult sister, who dreams of Wonderland as a concept and reminisces on Alice’s adventures. This is interesting for starters because how is she to know what Alice dreamed of, emphasizing the other-worldly almost magical nature of Wonderland. But even more interesting and relevant are her musings on Alice’s future as a consequence of her time in Wonderland. The closing sentence of the novel encompasses the sister’s expectations for womanhood, commenting on the childhood innocence that remains for girls as they grow.
The expectation that Alice “keep… the simple and loving heart of her childhood” implicate a mindset of feminine innocence for the Victorian woman. While Alice partakes in adventures throughout her dream and has a sense of independence that allows her to go through Wonderland by herself, having some level of personal influence and power, Carroll makes it very clear in this last sentence that her adventures are imagination. They are only meant to be dreams, and stories, and fairy tales, that as she becomes a woman, shouldn’t aspire to follow but rather pass on to her own children.
Furthermore, the idea that Alice as an adult woman should “find pleasure in all [her children’s] simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days” influences the expectation that women stay in the realm of childhood their whole lives. They are not only relegated to taking care of children, but they should be like these children, as they were children themselves. Therefore, a Victorian woman never really becomes a woman- she is meant to remain childlike all her life.
Your idea about Victorian women maintaining a child-ish ness made me think of The Woman in White and the way Laura was the “ideal” woman to Hartright even though we were kind of disturbed by the way he and Marion treated her like a child. It also makes me wonder about the role of the older/less childish sister/caretaker. Alice’s older sister isn’t thinking about what she made up when she was younger, she’s thinking about Alice as an adult thinking about what she made up when she was younger.
I found your analysis of the ending really fascinating since it takes such a sharp turn away from the rest of the novel! I wonder how this ending is interpreted through the lens of Through the Looking-Glass, as it picks up relatively soon after the first story ends. How do the differing trials Alice experiences in her second journey to Wonderland change the reading of her first journey? Has she really remained the same like her sister predicted?
I really liked your interpretation of the endings. I had not thought about the fact that the only time that Alice would have her full autonomy to explore would be in these dreams. I also was interested in the expectation that Alice should look back and think fondly of her own childhood in terms of her children. While she is expected to pass it on to her children, she is also forced to keep a part of it for herself, as you mention womanhood still having an aspect of childhood.