Reading Notes
The Mad Tea Party
This first part of one of my favorite portions of Alice in Wonderland marks the charm of two iconic characters: the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Probably more so than Alice herself, the Mad Hatter is a cultural icon and his charming nonsensical sense has a level of escapism that I think, no matter the age, all people tend to seek out. Adversely, you have the March Hare overly concerned with time keeping the groundedness of reality well and alive.
The Mad Tea Party (Part II)
This portion of the Mad Tea Party is truly a lesson in what fun dialogue can bring to a story. More often than not, it is easier to just write out a story not concerning one's self with any dialogue just making the character come alive based solely on description. But the charm of dialogue is that by writing in the character's voice the cadence of the character's words can do more for character building than a two paragraph long description. This rings true for the Dormouse in this scene, no real character description but the dialogue is enough to hold it up.
The Mad Tea Party (Part III)
This ending always struck me as a lovely unfinished piece. There is no real conclusion with the Dormouse and his additions to Alice's adventures but it does nothing to dull the charm of the stories. As a reader I am not sure what Carroll did to pull this off. Was it his diligent world-building that let me accept this as a proper ending? Was it the character already being introduced fleetingly? Just goes to showcase Lewis Carroll's genius in writing.
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All reading notes are based off of excerpts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).
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