Week Eleven: Storytelling

Amanda was 17 and bored. It was the summer after her junior year in high school and while all her friends were camp counselors or snow cone operators she had no job and no plans. Her parents spent their days at work and she sat by the pool in the backyard imagining her day away. All she wanted was some excitement and adventure. She wanted something different and new.

One day, after hours by herself, she thought she was half dreaming when she thought she saw a cat scamper across her yard. Now this was no ordinary cat. He looked like he was wearing a long yellow coat, complete with gold buttons and a red collar. He was hurrying through the yard, his tail moving high above grass. Squinting and looking closely at him, Amanda swore that she saw him check a pocket watch from his coat. But in a flash he disappeared through a hole in the ground and he was gone.

Curious, Amanda stood up and inspected where the cat had disappeared. She bent over and stuck her head near the hole in the ground, peering into the darkness. Then she fell over, tumbling into the hole and into a large tunnel that seemed to never end. It was dark and long and Amanda fell further and further. She wondered where in the world she was going and how she got there. There is a tunnel beneath my backyard? Maybe it's sewage? Oh that would be gross… She thought to herself as the tunnel kept going.

Finally she fell with a heavy thump on the ground of a dark room. Around her were several doors of all shapes, sizes and colors. She stood up, brushed herself off and tried all the doors. To her disappointment they were all locked. Even more confused, she looked again to the center of the room only to see a glass table (which she was sure hadn't been there before). She carefully walked to the table and found a large golden key. She excitedly tried the key on every door in the room but found it didn't fit any of the key holes. Hmmm… She thought. How interesting. Then she noticed a curtain near one of the doors and beneath it another door, much smaller than the rest.

The door was blue and about a foot and a half high. Bending over she found that the key fit into the door perfectly. She slowly opened the door and inside it, to her delight, was a beautiful garden. Full of flowers, mushrooms, green grass and clear blue sky, she tried desperately to get through the door. But it was too small. She couldn't fit herself no matter how hard she tried.

She turned again to the room and this time noticed a small bottle on the glass table (that was definitely not there before). After drinking the contents she felt herself shrink impossibly small. She looked up to see the now giant glass table above her and realized that the golden key to the small door was still sitting on the table while she sat on the ground.

(Disney Alice in Wonderland Clipart page 1 - Disney Clipart Galore (clipped to polyvore.com))

She began to cry, but after she started again she noticed a small box with a piece of cake inside. With a sign that read, "eat me," she ate the cake and found herself grow taller and taller with every moment. Soon she was nearly nine feet tall and she towered above the glass table. This time she picked up the golden key and returned to the small door, determined to get through this time.

However, now that she was tall she still couldn't get through the door. Sitting down she began to cry again. Her tears, now giant because of her size, filled the room and pooled like a pond in the room. As it filled the water carried her, and her sadness, through the tiny door and into the beautiful garden.

Author's Note. This is based off of Down the Rabbit-Hole from the Alice in Wonderland unit. I changed the characters to a more modern setting, but kept the original plot almost exactly the same. I thought it might be more realistic for her to see a cat in her backyard and liked the idea of it being some high schooler that is bored during the summer (because I know I used to be). The tunnel, the rooms and everything else that happens follows pretty much the original story.

Bibliography. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland unit by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Week Eleven: Essay

Alice in Wonderland: Role of Other Characters

One of the more interesting stories within the Alice in Wonderland unit was the Advice from a Caterpillar story. In the story, Alice is lost and happens upon a caterpillar smoking a hookah (age appropriate?) who questions her, "Who are YOU?" She is confused and said she doesn't remember who she is or what was going on because she had been so many sizes within a short period of time. He confuses her further by his questions and mysterious, vague phrases. He made her angry and frustrated because he was confusing and made zero sense.

In my opinion, the conversation itself was completely random and deviated completely from the original question. In the middle of the conversation he tells an even more random story about an old man and a younger man asking him questions. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the point of the story was because it just abruptly ends and the story reverts back to Alice and the caterpillar.

All of the animals she encounters are strange in their own ways. By the end Alice is pretty confused by where she is and what she was doing there. I think that Alice herself is pretty strange and unusual, but that may be from being in the strange world she falls into. Or a result of the animals she encounters. She meets a pigeon and the conversation changes morphs even more. As I was reading it was actually hard to follow along because the plot doesn't seem to follow any direction. I'm not sure what the point of talking to the caterpillar and the pigeon was. I think that maybe the characters give a view into the different lifestyle and world that is present in Alice in Wonderland. Overall, I think the characters, however strange or unusual, are important in portraying the weird world that makes up her experiences. It builds the world and characters that carry on throughout the rest of the unit.

(Illustrated by Sir John Tenniel)

Week Eleven: Reading Diary

Part A: This week I read Alice in Wonderland unit. It was really fun and entertaining to read. I have seen the Disney version many many years ago so I don't really remember much. This unit was interesting because it was very similar to what I remember of the movie and it really struck me how weird the plot is. Basically, Alice is a young girl who is bored and then follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole. The rabbit had a watch and a waistcoat, which struck her as odd. She followed the tunnel down the rabbit hole and came upon a room. There, by magically growing and shrinking with food or drinks she fits into a small door that leads to a garden. This is the basis of Down the Rabbit Hole parts one through three. After reading all the other children's fairytales, what strikes me about these stories is the lack of defined moral or even real plot. The story just goes in all different directions and doesn't have an end theme. What is the point of the story telling? Is it all supposed to mean something?

Part B: The most interesting part of this section for me was Who Stole The Tarts? story. It just seemed so random and confusing. I don't exactly remember if the movie follows the storyline, but I do vaguely remember the characters. The events that happened seemed so strange. The witnesses were all unique in their own ways. The Hatter wore a hat he sold and got so nervous he got on the ground and begged. Random descriptions of jurors and other members attending were injected into the story and I'm not sure what the point was. The Duchess snuck out and then Alice was called up. The whole chain of events was really pretty strange to me.