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Childhood in wonderland

Segrén, Unn LU (2015) ENGK01 20151
English Studies
Abstract
Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) are both set in the young girl Alice’s dream worlds. For more than a hundred years, adults as well as children have enjoyed losing themselves in the nonsensical stories. But is there more to the stories than mere nonsense? Using Anna Freud’s theory on child development to delve deeper into the protagonist and her worlds, a fascinating journey through the experiences of growing up is unravelled. Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole can indeed be interpreted as a fall back into the first years of childhood, a child experimenting with regression. And the young girl’s discovery of looking-glass land can be seen as an... (More)
Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) are both set in the young girl Alice’s dream worlds. For more than a hundred years, adults as well as children have enjoyed losing themselves in the nonsensical stories. But is there more to the stories than mere nonsense? Using Anna Freud’s theory on child development to delve deeper into the protagonist and her worlds, a fascinating journey through the experiences of growing up is unravelled. Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole can indeed be interpreted as a fall back into the first years of childhood, a child experimenting with regression. And the young girl’s discovery of looking-glass land can be seen as an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Segrén, Unn LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Child development in Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s adventures in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass
course
ENGK01 20151
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Alice in Wonderland, children’s literature, fantasy fiction, child development, child psychology.
language
English
id
7767096
date added to LUP
2015-08-27 09:32:17
date last changed
2015-08-31 04:08:27
@misc{7767096,
  abstract     = {{Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) are both set in the young girl Alice’s dream worlds. For more than a hundred years, adults as well as children have enjoyed losing themselves in the nonsensical stories. But is there more to the stories than mere nonsense? Using Anna Freud’s theory on child development to delve deeper into the protagonist and her worlds, a fascinating journey through the experiences of growing up is unravelled. Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole can indeed be interpreted as a fall back into the first years of childhood, a child experimenting with regression. And the young girl’s discovery of looking-glass land can be seen as an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up.}},
  author       = {{Segrén, Unn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Childhood in wonderland}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}