12th Grade English
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Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Dodgson.
◦ Mathematician, linguist, photographer, and novelist. Excelled in
literary nonsense.
◦ Born January 27, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England.
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He wrote and created games as a child (1 of 11
children)
◦ He was shy but enjoyed creating stories for children.
Interestingly, Alice’s main audience was not meant to be
children.
◦ Age 20 he received a studentship at Christ Church as lecturer in
mathematics.
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Wrote Alice’s Adventures in 1862-1863. It was
published in 1865.
◦ By the time of his death (1898), Alice had become the most
popular children's book in England
◦ By 1932, it was one of the most popular in the world.
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Bad Stammer, but vocally fluent with children.
Young people inspired his best-known writings
(have also been a point of disturbed speculation
over the years).
Loved to entertain children.
Alice, the daughter of Henry George Liddell who is
a credit to his inspiration for the novel.
◦ Alice Liddell remembers countless hours with Carroll as he
told fantastic tales of dream worlds.
◦ Afternoon picnic: Carroll told the first version of what
would later become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
◦ When Alice arrived home, she exclaimed that he must
write the story down for her.
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Narrator · The narrator is anonymous and does
not use many words to describe events in the
story.
Point of View · The narrator speaks in third
person, though occasionally in first and second
person. The narrative follows Alice around on her
travels, voicing her thoughts and feelings.
Setting (time) · Victorian era, circa publication date
Setting (place) · England, Wonderland
Protagonist · Alice
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We will be working with a variety of themes, but
the ones that are most prevalent are:
◦ The tragic and inevitable loss of childhood innocence
◦ Life as a meaningless puzzle
◦ Death as a constant and underlying menace
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Symbols/Motifs:
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Dream
Subversion
Language
Curious,” “Nonsense,” and “Confusing”
The garden
The mushroom
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Existentialism: A philosophy that emphasizes the
uniqueness and isolation of the individual
experience in a hostile or indifferent universe,
regards human existence as unexplainable, and
stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for
the consequences of one's acts.
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Fantasy: Fiction characterized by highly fanciful or
supernatural elements; fiction utilizing the creative
imagination or unrestrained fancy.
Allegory: The representation of abstract ideas or
principles by using characters, figures, or events in
narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form; can be
interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a
moral or political one.
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Linguistics: The scientific study of language and its
structure, including the study of morphology,
syntax, phonetics, and semantics.
◦ Morphology: study of word structure
◦ Syntax: arrangement of words/phrases to create wellformed sentences
◦ Phonetics: study and classification of speech sounds
◦ Semantics: meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text
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Diction: word choice in writing/speech-making
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Inquiry: the act of questioning / Inquisitive: curious
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Facts that pertain to all languages:
1. Wherever humans exist, language exists.
2. The vocabulary of any language can be expanded
to include new words for new concepts.
3. All languages change through time.
4. All grammars contain rules of a similar kind for
the formation of words and sentences.
“There’s glory for you!”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously.
“Of course you don’t – til I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice
knock-down argument for you!”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,”
Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather
scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean –
neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words
mean so many different things.”
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-
Glass
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Humpty Dumpty is unwilling to accept
the rules of language. Definitions can
evolve, not change on a whim.
◦ Example: Mad = insane; angry
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Alice is correct; one person can’t
redefine the meaning of words.
◦ Words can only be developed or
redefined by general consensus.
A desk must always be
a desk; it cannot be anything
else.
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Deductive Reasoning: reasoning from the general
to the particular (or from cause to effect).
◦ Generally, this is the format of your argumentative essays.
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Inductive Reasoning: reasoning from the particular
to the general.
◦ This is when you make generalizations from specific
examples.
Deductive Reasoning: Giving
Meaning to Language We Speak
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1.
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5.
Word
Deciduous
Longevity
Homogeneou
s
Bibliography
Polyglot
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Student’s Definition
“able to make up one’s
mind”
“being very tall”
“devoted to home life”
“holy geography”
“more than one glot”
Though incorrect, these students demonstrated their ability to
utilize prior knowledge in defining words. That’s the beauty of
the English language! It’s elastic!
By: Lewis Carroll
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Carroll’s most well-known poem.
◦ First of many nonsense poems set into the text of the
beloved English novel Through the Looking-Glass.
◦ Published in 1872, six years after the more commonly
known Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
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Employs conventional structures of grammar and
many familiar words; thus it is not “pure
nonsense.”
Carroll’s studies in logic firmly ground the thought
beneath the imaginative works, so that adults find
as much to appreciate in the novels and poetry as
children.
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Epic Poem: a long narrative poem telling of a hero's
deeds.
Mock-Heroic Ballad: a satirical imitation of heroic
verse
Satire: a literary work holding up human vices and
follies to ridicule or scorn; a literary work that
MOCKS human vices or stereotypical perspectives
or situations.
Introduction to Digital Literature
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Definition: A new form of literature in which poetry
and literature are displayed in the 3-D medium of
the computer.
◦ Includes: interactive fiction, “game stories,” hypertext
narratives, animated poetry, collaborative e-texts, etc.
Terms
 Post-modernism: literary reaction to the assumed
certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to
explain reality.
◦ Stems from a recognition that reality is not simply
mirrored in human understanding of it
◦ Reality is constructed as the mind tries to understand its
own particular and personal reality
◦ Values plurality and multiple perspectives
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Erogotic: non-trivial effort is needed to follow the
“work path” of a literary work. The user-reader is
needed in order for the narrative to continue.
Cyberdrama: a new type of storytelling that employs
computers and games to do its telling; it is used to
“emphasize the enactment of the story in the particular
fictional space of a computer” (Janet Murray).
Hypertext: a genre of electronic literature that employs
links to continue the narrative in generally a non-linear
fashion. User-readers must click on the links in order
to uncover a new layer of the narrative or poem.
Immersion: metaphorical term derived from the feeling
of being submerged in water; here, it refers to being
submerged in a fictitious reality
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1. What themes are congruous with this story and
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
2. What symbolism is used and why is it effective?
3. How does Pullinger characterize Alice throughout
the narrative? How is this similar or different from
Carroll’s Alice?
4. How is the 3-D narrative enhanced by the visuals
and audio? Does it work? Why?
5. How is postmodernism evident in both “Inanimate
Alice” and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
Episode 1:
http://inanimatealice.com/episode1/index.html
Episode 2:
http://inanimatealice.com/episode2/index.html
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Reader Response: Answer one of the
aforementioned questions to “Inanimate Alice.” If
you do not finish in class, this is homework.
1 full-2 pages.
MLA Format.
Incorporate at least TWO “dig lit” terms.
Focused argument around a thesis statement.
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Develop your own narrative or poem using digital literature
tools. Here’s your chance to work digitally & be creative!
Address one of these themes: Search for Identity; Chasing
Your “White Rabbit” (obtaining a goal); Coming of Age.
You will create a narrative or poem for a grade.
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The fictional (or creative non-fictional) narrative should reflect a
storyline similar to “Inanimate Alice.”
The poem should be an heroic (or mock-heroic) poem similar to
“Jabberwocky.”
You will use one of the digital tools provided to create
your own digital literature.
You will present your digital work to the class for a grade.
You will write a 1-2 page Reading Response addressing
your digital poem and the digital components in it.
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wordpress.com - blog
Twine - a free, hypertext writing tool http://gimcrackd.com/etc/src/
Portable wiki - http://www.tiddlywiki.com/
Video/audio show - animoto.com
Gimp.org - Downloadable OS image editing software (like
Photoshop)
Wix webspace - web based html editor, free (easy)
Prezi - simple presentation tool; think outside the ppt box;
commerical but free (easy)
Wordle - text visualization, free (easy)
eDiastic - poetry generator (easy to hard); charNG is similar
Giotto - free, open source tool for creating animation and
interactive Flash/SWF files. Windows only (?)
Tween - Tween light, tween max - an alternative to Adobe Flash
for animation
You may also use Tumblr or any other web-based
tools; please clear any alternative digital tools with me!
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