Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fantasy story involving whimsical charm and feel of absurdity. The unrealistic world in the story attracts the audience though it lacks logic or reality. Creation of likable characters allowsCarroll to persuade the readers thus making the amazing. Several elements contribute towards the success of the book including language, creativity, and symbolism. The purpose of the paper is to analyze Carroll’s book by discussing the theme, symbols, weaknesses, and strengths. Alice plays the main character in the story motivated to find something unusual and appealing. Her dreaming and desire to explore the unknown world motivates her and takes her to the wonderland. Alice believes in the stability of the world and exhibits insatiable curiosity about the surroundings.

 Her intelligence and logical mind help her to solve puzzles. The Queen of Hearts plays the antagonist in the story. She is the reason for conflict that Alice experiences. She dominates the wonderland and holds supreme power. Alice encounter’s true fear only in her presence. Cheshire’s cat is the secondary character who is capable of vanishing. The cat explains to Alice that everyone in the wonderland is insane.

Cat’s grin makes her indifferent from other characters while Alice finds her honest. Alice had an intelligent conversation with the cat,and she always seeks advice from her. The cat represents logic and intelligence that also helps Alice in solving the quest. Caterpillar is another secondary character who acts as a guide and helper. He smokes and sits on the mushroom directing Alice to magical mushroom. The mushroom gives her power of shrinking and growing. Both characters move the plot forward by showing Alice further direction.

 Alice finds a new and unknown world when she falls into the rabbit hole. Conflict in the story appears when the absurdity of the wonderland challenges the firm and stable beliefs of Alice. The appearance of the white rabbit threatens her class perceptions when he takes her as a servant. Mad Hatter and March Hare also challenge her urban intelligence when she fails to find logic in the existence of wonderland. The wonderland puts her in more conflicting position when she undergoes identity crisis while dismissive rudeness challenges her perceptions of good manners. A highest conflicting pointarrived when Alice had to choose between her notorious order or accepting nonsensical rules of the new world.

 The theme of the story revolves around dual personality and identity crisis. The animals exhibit opposing identities while Alice herself finds difficulty in revealing her true identity. Does she display unfamiliarity, “Who am I, then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else” (Carroll 99). The roles of Alice changes in the wonderland as she switches between the juror and witness. Her role changes form the punisher to the punishes.

After accusing Queen of cheating,she cheats by boxing her ears. The theme has significance in my life as I encounter the identity issue when I need to choose between world’s expectations and my desires. Carroll uses symbolism throughout the story to convey the deeper meaning. Eating symbolizes the sin of the garden as Alice’s desire of eating Queen’s tarts exhibits wrongness.

She mentions, “and vinegar that them sour–and camomile that makes them bitter” (Carroll 93). The quest of Alice represents the reality of life as one needs to overcome obstacles to attain one’s desires. The author of the book uses effective language and symbolism that enhances the efficacy. The author’s writing style shows that he uses a lighter mood by creating fictional events. I think Carroll’s personal life influenced his story as he encountered the identity issue, sleeplessness and created his story to resolve the sleeping troubles. The story changed my way of thinking as I thought world is a stable place and nothing could change firm beliefs.