Alice Adventures In Wonderland
As we read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and
The Island of Dr. Moreau, we
enter into two unique worlds of imagination.
Both Lewis Carroll and H.G. Wells
describe lands of intrigue and mystery. We
follow Alice and Pren*censored* into
two different worlds where animals
speak, evolution is tested, and reality is
bent until it nearly breaks. It is
the masterminds of Lewis Carroll and H.G.
Wells that take these worlds of
fantasy and make them realistic. How do these
two great authors make the
unbelievable believable? Both Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland and The
Island of Dr. Moreau float in between a dream world and
reality, which makes
the real seem unbelievable and the unbelievable seem real.
In H.G.
Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, we see right from the beginning
that
imagination and reality are blended together to create an air of
confusion. In
the introduction we are told that Pren*censored* disappeared
for eleven months.
When he was found, he told a story that no one would
believe. "He gave such a
strange account of himself that he was supposed
demented (pg. 1)." So right
from the beginning we do not know what to
believe. Later in the story, Pren*censored*
is picked up by the Ipecacuanha.
On this ship there are deformed and strange men
riding with Montgomery. "He
was, I could see, a misshappen man, short, broad
and clumsy, with a crooked
back, a hairy neck and a head sunk between his
shoulders (pg. 10)." This is
the first picture we get of the deformities from
the island. During this time
on the Ipecacuanha, Pren*censored* is weak from
exhaustion and in a state of
confusion, which adds to our confusion. It is later
in the story, where
reality really becomes deformed. First, Pren*censored* is
locked out of the
inner rooms of the enclosure, because of their "little
secrets." Second,
Pren*censored* walks out into the woods to get away from the
puma’s crying.
It is hear that he gets a good look at one of the deformities
for the first
time. "Then I saw it was a man, going on all fours like a beast!
(pg. 38)."
It is this sight that sends Pren*censored*"s imagination wild.
"The
thicket about me became altered to my imagination. Every shadow
became
something more than a shadow, became an ambush, every rustle became a
threat.
Invisible things seemed watching me (pg. 39)." It is these
emotions of Pren*censored*’s
that make the unbelievable seem real. He has
gone from a sane man with some
studies in science to a man who fears the
shadows and sees men walk on all
fours. The dream state of everything at this
time keeps us believing that
anything is possible. This is the same technique
that Lewis Carroll uses in
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The story
begins with Alice getting tired,
which implies that she is falling asleep and
going to enter the fantastic world
of dreams. Immediately, she sees a white
rabbit in a waistcoat. This puts the
reader directly into the world of
fantasy and imagination. It is Carroll’s use
of explanations that makes this
unbelievable world seem real. No matter how
strange something appears it has
a meaning and a reason. When the Mock Turtle is
telling his story of school,
he says, "‘the master was an old Turtle—we
used to call him Tortoise--.’ ‘Why
did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t
one?’ asked Alice. ‘We called him
Tortoise because he taught us,’ said the
Mock Turtle angrily. ‘Really you
are very dull.’ (pg. 91)." It is this
type of explanation that helps the
reader to believe the story. Alice is
referred to as dull for not
understanding, so the reader accepts the explanation
in order not to be dull.
Another example of this is when Alice meets the
Cheshire-Cat. The cat
tells her the way to the Hatter and the March Hare, but
adds that "they’re
both mad." Alice replies that "I don’t want to go
among mad people." The Cat
then gives the explanation. "‘Oh, you can’t
help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re
all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be,’ said the Cat,
‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’ (pg. 65)" The
Cat then goes on to
explain why he is mad. "‘To begin with,’ said the Cat, ‘a
dog’s not
mad. You grant that?’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Alice. ‘Well, then,’
the
Cat went on, ‘you see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail
when
it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when
I’m
angry. Therefore I’m mad.’ (pg. 65-66)" This explanation shows how
this
unbelievable world can seem real. Everything has a reason. Everything
has a
purpose. These two books make the real seem unreal and the unreal seem
real
simply by blending the two worlds of reality and imagination. It is this
fuzzy
line between the believable and the unbelievable that Lewis Carroll and
H.G.
Wells exploit to create their unique fantasy worlds.