Alice: The Ethnocentric Imperialist

Alice grew up in an English, upper class household. She studied lessons in History, English, Math, Etiquette, and Science. Alice spent the majority of her adolescent life learning how to conform and behave in a Victorian society. However, when Alice is thrown into Wonderland, everything she had learned is no longer applicable. In such a situation, most people would try to adapt to the standards of the new society, but Alice does no such thing. She feels the norms of Wonderland are against her beliefs, and the inhabitants refuse to conform to the way of life that Alice once knew. Alice does not blend in to the life in Wonderland and she refuses to make the changes necessary to do so. The English society that Alice lived in was an imperialistic one. Because of this, she attempts to carry this idea out in Wonderland. The main reason that Alice did not conform to the new society is because they do not fit what she was taught.

Caterpillar using a hookah. An illustration from A...

Alice’s Abenteuer im Wunderland Übersetzer: Ant...

John Tenniel`s original (1865) illustration for Le...

The Character Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is an imperialist who views the citizens of Wonderland inferior and exoticizes them due to ethnocentrism.

Throughout the novel, Alice shows a sense of entitlement, a characteristic of imperialists. The audience is shown this not only in specific actions of Alice but by her general attitude in Wonderland. In one of the first scenes of Alice in Wonderland, Alice falls down the Rabbit hole and is met by a tiny door that she is much to big to fit through. She is also greeted by a table with a bottle that says, “Drink me.” and a cake that says “Eat me.” Alice helps herself to the food without any thought as to who they belong to. This shows Alice not caring for the rights of people who live in Wonderland. She is taking it for herself. Another act of entitlement came when the Queen summoned for her servants heads to be chopped off after painting the roses the wrong colors. Alice takes it upon herself to override the Queen and hide the servants from their punishment. In her country, this would be an act of treason- a terrible crime. However, Alice’s self proclaimed entitlement makes overriding the Queen’s command in Wonderland easy. One of the more subtle instances of Alice’s idea of entitlement is the fact that she walks around everywhere in Wonderland without any permission. For instance, in the scene of the Frog and the Footman, she gets annoyed by both characters, walks past them, and opens the door of a private residence. This is another act that would be considered illegal in her native land.

Not only can Alice be viewed as an imperialist by her entitlement issue, but you can see it by the way she is always belittling the citizens of Wonderland. Throughout the entire novel, Alice refers to the beings as “creatures”. The word “creatures“ has a negative connotation with it and is rather demeaning to the intelligent inhabitants of Wonderland. It not only belittles the citizens, but it places them beneath Alice who never once refers to herself as a creature. This word alone places humans at the top of Alice’s animal hierarchy. Specific events where Alice belittles the citizens are the conversations with the caterpillar and the Mad Hatter tea party. While talking to the caterpillar, Alice places him immediately in the role of “the other” (in terms of Orientalism) in the scene. He symbolizes the other by being foreign compared to other Wonderland citizens and having traits regarded as Middle Eastern (his accent and hookah). Alice tries to understand him at first; discussing metamorphosis with the caterpillar in an attempt to reach a common ground since all caterpillars go through this in Alice‘s world.. Alice then gets frustrated by him because he refuses to be comprehended (or dominated) by her. She attempts to read his feelings by using an analogy of her own feelings. She does this to try and impose her feelings on to him much like an imperialist will try to impose their culture on others. When it does not work, Alice resorts to her favorite defense mechanism: making her opponent look smaller and less intelligent than her. John Carroll shows this mechanism in the dialogue: “ ‘Well perhaps your feelings may be different,’ said Alice: ‘all I know I, it would feel very queer to me.’‘You!’ said the caterpillar contemptuously. ‘Who are you?’Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation. Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar’s making such very short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, ‘I think you ought to tell me who you are, first.’” (Carroll, p68)At the tea party, Alice is told jokes and riddles by the Mad Hatter. Alice, who eventually gives up trying to figure them out, asks for the answers. The Mad Hatter does not know them, and Alice, instead of being a polite guest tells him he should never tell jokes if he does not know the answers to them. This is belittling to the Hatter and is also not appropriate for a self- invited guest. Alice is also belittling to the Wonderland beings with her constant corrections on etiquette. An instance of this is with the door mouse character. Alice was asked to tell a story by the mouse and the mouse informs her that he was not entertained by it. Alice responds with the quote, “Be civil or finish your own story.” This quote shows Alice’s imperialistic tendencies by her being an intruder and yet correcting the inhabitants.

Part of the reason Alice is so rude to the Wonderland beings is because throughout the whole story, she uses a very ethnocentric view point. This ethnocentrism is what causes Alice to exoticize the beings and view them as inferior. Alice in Wonderland as well as Through the Looking Glass, play on words. Alice comes to the new land with English ideas and principles. She is utterly baffled in Wonderland when words and events have different meanings than the ones they hold in England. An instance of this is the caucus race. This is one of the first interactions Alice has with Wonderland. She enters with the ethnocentric view that a Wonderland caucus race will be the same as an English caucus race. When the caucus race does not follow the same rules as the English one, Alice is frustrated and decides it is nonsensical. The croquet match is similar to the caucus race, only this time Alice enters saying, “I’ll manage better this time (Carroll p.104) .” What Alice Manages to do is assimilate Wonderland’s “croquet” to England’s “croquet”. She judges it only to be a ridiculous and impossible version of the English one and misinterprets the Queen’s line of “Off with his head!”. In Wonderland, the previous line is more likely part of the game, rather than an outside part (seeing that no one actually gets their head chopped off). One more example of Alice’s ethnocentric view is in the trial scene with the Mock Turtle. Because it does not follow the set up of the English court system, Alice decides it is an invalid system.

One of the more imperialistic notions of Alice is her obsession of the rules of Wonderland. As Daniel Bivona points out, “ Carroll renders a world organized by gamelike social structures in which mastery of the game promises mastery of others.” (Bivona p.144) Throughout the entire novel, the audience sees Alice struggle with the rules of Wonderland like in the Caucus race, Tea Party, Croquet, and trial scene. Alice, as the imperialist, gets frustrated when the rules do not work in her favor. Much like an imperialist, and the child that she is.- she throws tantrums and tries to gain power.

Alice in Wonderland as well as Through the Looking Glass can be looked at from many angles. Alice can be shown as coming of age novel or the story can be shown on a psychological/political piece . Through this latter interpretation however, Alice can be shown as an imperialist through her sense of entitlement, her belittling of the Wonderland beings, as well as her ethnocentrism and obsession with winning the “games” of Wonderland. The audience can receive a very nasty image of Alice through this interpretation and they can also see a very unsuccessful imperialist.

BIBLIOGRAPHYBivona, Daniel. "Alice the Child-Imperialist and the Games of Wonderland." Nineteenth-Century Literature 41 (1986): 143-71.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. New York: New American Library, 2000.

Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site. 31 Mar. 2009 .

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