Alice in Wonderland

 

 

 Is Alice in Wonderland more reality based than fairy tale?

 A story that was invented for the real Alice and her sisters, the children of a friend, while on a boat trip was inspired by many people, places and things out of the environment of the author Charles Dodgson’s (the real name of Lewis Carroll).

The character of Alice was based on a real girl named Alice Pleasance Liddell.

Alice was born on May 4, 1852 and was the forth child and second daughter of the Dean from the Christ Church College in Oxford, Henry George Liddell & Lorina Liddell.

Alice

The White Rabbit may have been a reference to Alice’s father. The Dean was notorious for being late for services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheshire, England being a dairy county is well know for it’s cheese. A popular mold for the cheese was a Cheshire Cat.  The cheese was sliced from tail to head leaving the cat’s grin last before it disappeared.

                                                       

 

The Mad Hatter and phase “mad as a hatter” were common at that time.

The origin is in the fact that hat makers did often go mad due to mercury poisoning from the mercury curing process used to construct the hat.

It would not have been unusual for the hat makers to appear confused or disturbed.

 

 

 

The buildings in Oxford and at Christ Church and specifically the actual stairs in the back of the main hall in Christ Church symbolizing the “Rabbit Hole” certainly influenced the adventures in the book.