{"id":479,"date":"2015-03-21T19:30:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-21T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=479"},"modified":"2016-08-24T15:50:37","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T15:50:37","slug":"reeling-and-writhing-victorian-education-in-wonderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2015\/03\/21\/reeling-and-writhing-victorian-education-in-wonderland\/","title":{"rendered":"“Reeling and Writhing”: Victorian Education in Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland<\/em>, Alice\u2019s intelligence\/knowledge\/ability to learn repeatedly comes under scrutiny\u2014scrutiny from herself as well as from the residents of Wonderland. For example, during her fall down the rabbit hole, Alice talks to herself, speculating as to where the rabbit hole might take her:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if I shall fall right through <\/em>the earth! How funny it\u2019ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards\u2026 I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is\u2026 what an ignorant little girl she\u2019ll think me for asking! No, it\u2019ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.\u201d (3)<\/p>\n

Here, Alice seems self-conscious about her childhood curiosity and lack of worldly knowledge. Concerned that others will perceive this age-appropriate lack of information as ignorance, Alice resolves to not ask questions. Rather than seeking out information from others, Alice leaves her discovery of new information to chance: \u201cperhaps <\/em>I shall see it written up somewhere\u201d (3).[1]<\/a> Furthermore, Alice negatively associates questions and curiosity with childhood\/immaturity: \u201cwhat an ignorant little <\/em>girl she\u2019ll think me for asking!\u201d (3).[2]<\/a> For Alice, education and learning are tiresome tasks one must complete before becoming an adult: \u201c\u2018But then,\u201d thought Alice, \u201cshall I never <\/em>get any older than I am now? That\u2019ll be a comfort, one way\u2014never to be an old woman\u2014but then\u2014always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn\u2019t like that<\/em>!\u201d (26). Alice views adults as possessing full knowledge with no need for \u201clessons\u201d or education.<\/p>\n

Playing on Alice\u2019s initial fear, many of Wonderland\u2019s residents accuse her of being ignorant or stupid: \u2018\u201cYou don\u2019t know much,\u201d said the Duchess; \u201cand that\u2019s a fact\u2019\u201d (45). Alice\u2019s (often misremembered) knowledge from school and understanding of the learning process fail to help her successfully interact with the characters she meets in Wonderland. After calling her \u201cvery dull,\u201d the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle criticize Alice\u2019s education:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve <\/em>been to a day-school, too,\u201d said Alice\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWith extras?\u201d asked the Mock Turtle, a little anxiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said Alice: \u201cwe learned French and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd washing?\u201d said the Mock Turtle.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly not!\u201d said Alice, indignantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh! Then yours wasn\u2019t a really good school!\u201d (79)<\/p>\n

The exchange that follows, full of puns (\u201cReeling and Writhing) and nonsense words (\u201cUglification\u201d), seems to satirize the education system. Comparing the curriculum of their school with that of Alice\u2019s school, the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle equate Alice\u2019s traditional school subjects, French and music, with their foolish-sounding subjects. The utility of education and certain kinds of knowledge appears to be dynamic and subjective rather than standardized and static, like Alice\u2019s view of adult knowledge. In Wonderland, characters like the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle, though not recipients of a formal, British education, often possess more useful knowledge than Alice. Alice\u2019s trepidation about education as well as Wonderland\u2019s satirical conceptions of schooling, suggest Carroll was attentive to, and critical of, issues in Victorian education.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Emphasis added.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Emphasis added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice\u2019s intelligence\/knowledge\/ability to learn repeatedly comes under scrutiny\u2014scrutiny from herself as well as from the residents of Wonderland. For example, during her fall down the rabbit hole, Alice talks to herself, speculating as to where the rabbit hole might take her: \u201cI wonder if I shall fall right … Continue reading “Reeling and Writhing”: Victorian Education in Wonderland<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380,108029],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities","category-spring-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}