Alice as a Parody of Life

Whenever we first started reading Alice in Wonderland in this class, I definitely noticed some apparent similarities and differences. Alice is always changing her size throughout the book which relates to how I feel here at U.T. The rabbit hole that Alice falls down in definitely reminds me of the confusion and mess that I have experienced so far. The looking glass is another similarity that I noticed because it reminds me of my own aspirations in life. While reading Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass, I recognized several parodies to my college life.

During Alice in Wonderland, Alice changes size a few times. At the beginning of the story, she gets smaller. She gets smaller when she has the White Rabbit’s hat. She can’t go into the house in the wood because she is too big. When she eats the cake, she gets smaller. All of these situations that Alice goes through remind me of the way I feel. I have never shared a room with anyone else so it is hard to get use to being in one tiny room and sharing it with another person even if that person is your friend. When Alice gets smaller eating the cake, it makes me think of how me and my friends eat more than normal and we eat such unhealthy foods.

Towards the beginning of the story, Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Alice notices the tunnel was full of bookshelves and cupboards with tons of pictures and maps attached. This definitely reminds of all the confusion and mess I experience at U.T. Since I always homework or studying to do, I never find enough time to clean my room. Ever since I have gotten here, I feel confused all the time. I never think I know what I am doing. I just get so overwhelmed with all the things I have to get done and how much time they take. While Alice is falling down the well, she says “Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end?” (The Annotated Alice, 13). Alice feels that her fall is just never-ending. This is exactly how I feel about college. I feel that I have a never-ending load of work. It seems that once I think I’m finished with one thing that I still have another thing that needs to get done. Tests never seem to end. I have one almost every week. I never finish studying because once I finish one test; I have another test to study for.

In Alice Through The Looking Glass, Alice looks through the mirror. She thinks about all the wonderful things that would be on the other side in the Looking-Glass House. Alice says “I’m sure it’s got, oh! such beautiful things in it!” (The Annotated Alice, 143). Before I came to college, I always use to daydream about how wonderful college life would be. My sister and some of my friends would always tell me about it. I was so excited. Now that I am actually here, I’m so stressed out, overwhelmed, and just tired. I still daydream about my future. We all wonder what lies ahead in our lives just like Alice wondered what lied beyond the looking glass. Everyone looks forward to the exciting things in life and all the great things that will happen to us later on.

In the stories of Alice in Wonderland, parodies stand out. Reading it just reminds me so much of my own life right now during college. Alice goes through some of the same type of situations that we go through everyday. College is a constant struggle and an eye-opening experience for everyone but it is something that we must go through to have a better and more successful life in the end.