![]() ![]() In the wacky realm of rival theories, we all become as confounded as Alice. Alice is a parable of eating disorders, a cautionary tale about the then new-fangled symbolic algebra, a satire of the Wars of the Roses. Our heroine feels uncomfortable in her body, which undergoes a series of extreme changes her sense of her self becomes destabilised, leaving her uncertain of her own identity she butts heads with authority and strives to understand seemingly arbitrary rules, the games that people around her play, and even death.Īnd on the debate rages. More nuanced readings have viewed Alice’s journey as being less about sex per se and more about a girl’s progress through childhood and puberty into adulthood. And then there’s the fanning that she does before she starts to shrink, and the salt water that laps her chin once she’s mere inches tall – both acquire a decidedly masturbatory glossing. ![]() Locks and keys were seen as symbolic of coitus, and the caterpillar – well, wasn’t he just a bit… phallic? Inevitably, some saw penis envy in the text, rendering Alice’s extending neck a kind of copycat erection. Re-examining the text, critics found plenty of gynaecological imagery, from the rabbit hole itself to the curtain that she must push aside. With the waning of Victorian prudery and the birth of psychoanalytical theory, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland seemed a good deal less innocent. ![]()
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