Viewing Alice in Wonderland as Psychoanalyst or a Marxist

Child sexuality is frowned upon. It is the taboo of the modern world. One would be inappropriately labeled as "pervert" or "pedophile" for discussing such topic. However, Lewis Caroll introduces the budding sexuality of a child in his novel, Alice in Wonderland. When Alice enters Wonderland by "falling down a hole", a female genital-suggesting description, she is free to explore herself. That behavior would be challenged fiercely in the world above. However, when social constraints are removed, child sexuality will emerge, according to psychologist Freud.

"Now I'm opening like the largest telescope that ever was." Alice's neck stands for a penis, erecting longer and longer. This reflects the concept of "penis envy", which means that a girl wants to have a penis. Alice's frustration of her lack of male genitalia compels her to babble on about her feet and stockings, which also suggest the wearing of condoms. "I wonder who will put on shoes and stocking for you now." The illustrating picture depicts Alice's upper body in the shape of a penis. Her head is drawn slightly larger than her neck, suggesting the mushroom head.

Her erection is short lived, however. The fan causes her neck to shrink. The fanning action resembles the act of masturbation. After shrinking to about four inches, Alice starts to cry. She is "chin deep in her own tears." She is, however, literally chin deep in semen.

The distorted nursery rhyme of the crocodile further discusses Alice's yearn for sexual freedom. The crocodile "welcome little fishes in/ with gently smiling jaws," signifying the act of accepting semen from a male. Alice even wishes to do this willingly with a "cheerful" grin. This passage shows the end of penis envy and the start of Alice's sexual maturation.

When Alice has shrunk down enough to go through the door, "it was shut again." This door leads to the garden, a symbol of female sexual maturation. The door has been close for Alice. It is too late for her to become the woman that she is intended to be. Alice then considers exploring the other side of sexuality. She wonders whether she could "go back by railway." The railway is a phallic symbol for penis, just like a train is the symbol for male genitalia. When failing at maturing to be a woman, Alice turns that inhibited desire into the desire to be male. In order for that to happen, Alice introduces the mother and father figures to complete the Oedipal triangle. Dinah, the cat, serves as the mother and the dog is the father. Dinah "sits purring by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face," all indicative of the nurture of a mother. The dog will "fetch things when you throw them"; this is a phallic symbol of activity, of agility and energy. The Oedipal triangle is complete and Alice can then experience her sexual transformation.

Lewis Caroll puts a child in an unknown world and let her sexuality buds into a mature flower. Removed from all the restraints and criticism of modern society, the sexuality of human will develop without oppose. Caroll is criticizing the overzealous obsession to repress the sexual nature of a human being, especially of a young person, which stops them from ever reaching maturation. Sexual development is as essential to physical and mental growth that it shouldn't be overlooked; instead it should be encouraged and welcomed as nothing more than a natural process of the human body.

Marxist:

Imagine yourself as the Mouse in Alice in Wonderland. For generations your species has been hunted by humans, cats, dogs and different other animals. When you find a human being in need of help, you'd gladly offer assistance if they would just ask. Instead, you find yourself being intimidated by the rude topics that this human is bringing up. The human, Alice, is an egotistical and arrogant bully who possesses and consumes everything that she sees.

Alice is clearly an aristocrat. She must equip her feet with shoes and stockings. She even "buys them a new pair of boots every Christmas." She likes to have control. When her neck is extended, she wonders to herself whether or not she can control her own feet; "I must be kind to them or perhaps they won't walk the way I want them to." She refers to herself as "a great girl like you," displaying her arrogance and hubristic nature. She thinks lowly of other people. When she compares herself with Mabel, who "knows so little" and Alice who "knows all sort of things," she projects herself as someone that has more knowledge and intellect than others. She even shows disgust with Mabel's economic status, who lives in a "poky little house", has "next to no toys to play with" and "oh, so many lessons to learn." According to Alice, she is better than everybody else on every aspects of her life.

Alice is possessive and has no concept of rights of ownership. When she finds the door which leads to the garden, she automatically assumes that she has the right to enter. She grabs the key as if it belongs to her; Alice figures that someone must have left the key there for her to use and not because they have forgotten it. When the White Rabbit passes by and drops his gloves and fan, Alice just naturally takes the items onto her own hands. The fan that shrinks her statue does not belong to her nor does the gloves.

These characteristics of hegemony qualify Alice as the antagonist in this story. She believes that she has power over everyone and everything else. Even the little mouse is intimidated by her. She mentions of the cats and dogs, which are the mortal enemies of mice everywhere, to oppress the mouse's freedom of speech. How could it say anything if the mouse is so frightened by the cat and dog story? Even these hunters are pets to humans; Alice wants to assert her power over the mouse by talking about them. If cats and dogs are so horribly scary, then perhaps the creatures that hold them captives are even more evil. The cat is "purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face." The pawns of an aristocrat sure have a nice lifestyle while the innocent lower class suffers from poverty. The dog, signifying the henchmen of upper class, the ones that offers public service and protection to the citizens, "fetches things when you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner." What a corrupt society to be in when the very infrastructure is infested with dogs that will do tricks to get their dinners. A corrupt infrastructure would lead to diminishing economic base, worsening the society even more, especially with such a ruthless oppressor like Alice.