Friday, May 19, 2017

Getting to Know Lewis and Alice: Who Was Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell?


Before we fall down the metaphorical "rabbit hole" with Alice, we must first learn a little bit about the life of Lewis Carroll and who the infamous Alice Liddell was that inspired Carroll to write Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

For today, watch 5-10 minutes of The Secret Life of Lewis Carroll. Then, listen as Dr. B. explains a few theories about Carroll's relationships with children, stammering, and storytelling. (Video on stammering, here.)

When we are done, answer all of the discussion questions below.

1) Who was Alice Liddell?
2) How did Carroll and Liddell meet?
3) What drew Carroll to Alice?
4) What made Alice different from the other children?
5) According to scholars in The Secret Life of Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the "third most-quoted book after the Bible and Shakespeare."  Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not (be specific)?

14 comments:

  1. 1) Who was Alice Liddell?
    Alice Linddell was the Dean's daughter.

    2) How did Carroll and Liddell meet?
    She was the daughter of the Dean at the church she worked at. They met when she was age 4 and he was 24.

    3) What drew Carroll to Alice?
    "They were all photogenic, charismatic, and upperclass."

    4) What made Alice different from the other children?
    She was cushy, imperious, and always bossed everyone around. The photographs that were taken of her, she came off as a strong, confident girl. She's always the youngest, smallest, yet has a strong personality.

    5) According to scholars in The Secret Life of Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the "third most-quoted book after the Bible and Shakespeare." Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not (be specific)?
    I agree with this claim because Alice was a different girl, so her words and what she hears and interprets is going to be different than what the typical person would say, hear, or interpret. No one likes to quote average sayings, everyone wants different language that makes an impression.

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  2. 1. She was the Daughter of the dean at the college Charles Dodgson worked at.
    2. he worked at the college her father worked at.
    3. The fact that he had a speech impediment made him more comfortable around children rather than adults.
    4. She liked being photographed and was very bossy.
    5. Im not sure if i believe this quote. I don't have any real evidence to support or deny this, Iv never really heard many quotes from the book besides maybe one or two. So i would say this quote is not true mostly because iv personally heard other books such as Moby Dick and harry potter quoted more than Alice in wonderland.

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  3. 1. Alice Liddell was a young child between ages 4-7 during the relationship with Charles Dodgson. She was the daughter of the dean at Christ Church, where Dodgson taught.
    2. Alice and Dodgson met when the girls were playing in the garden outside his window.
    3. She was photogenic and was a charismatic child.
    4. She was especially charismatic to Dodgson. Alice had a strong personality and did things how she wanted.
    5. I believe that this book is the third most quoted book, because even if people haven't read it, they still know the story, so it is easy to make references to.

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  4. 1. Alice Liddell was a roughly 4 year-old that lived with her father, the dean, at the college Carroll taught at.

    2. Carroll and Liddell met because she lived in the college. They first met when he was writing on his desk and noticed the dean's children. So he went out to meet them.

    3. Liddell was photogenic and charismatic. So he often liked to photograph her and her sisters.

    4. She was very bossy for her age. Alice was also very independent, charismatic, and loved the camera.

    5. I can definitely agree with that claim. I've heard so many quotes from the book, and of course the Disney version of the movie made it even more popular among more modern audiences. Me and my cousin often make references to the movie/book because love the nostalgia and weirdness of the tale.

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  5. 1) The Dean's child who Carroll had a relationship with
    2) Carroll worked at Christ Church, Oxford. Alice lived there. Carroll took pictures of her and other girls.
    3) Alice was imaginative, and very accepting of him. Children stay true to themselves.
    4) She was bossy, but charismatic. She liked to be in the spotlight.
    5) I agree with this claim. Alice in Wonderland is such a unique book. It's not relatable for everybody, but the quotes have so much personality behind it. It's so easy to recognize what it's from when somebody quotes the book.

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  6. 1. Alice was the dean's daughter at Oxford University.
    2. Carroll and Lidell met at a garden outside the university. They met when Alice was 4 and Lewis was 24.
    3. She was charismatic, photogenic, and upperclass.
    4. She's the youngest child but also the bossiest.
    5. I don't agree with this claim only because I think there are many other stories out there that are also quoted immensely, not just Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I think that I might answer this question differently after I fully read this story and hear more of the quotes.

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  7. 1) Who was Alice Liddell?
    The daughter of the dean at the Oxford University.

    2) How did Carroll and Liddell meet?
    Lewis Carroll was a math professor at the Oxford university and they met outside his classroom.

    3) What drew Carroll to Alice?
    He saw a young group of girls playing outside. He also had a speech impediment so he likely was more comfortable around young children.

    4) What made Alice different from the other children?
    She enjoyed having her picture taking and she was very bossy.

    5) According to scholars in The Secret Life of Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the "third most-quoted book after the Bible and Shakespeare." Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not (be specific)?
    I would agree with this claim due to seeing many quotes from the book throughout social media and just hearing them said from time to time but I don't feel as though there is enough evidence to back that statement up.

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  8. 1. Alice Liddell was the dean's daughter at the Christ Church college.
    2. Alice and Charles met at the Christ Church college.
    3. Charles was drawn to Alice because she was "charismatic, photogenic and upper-class."
    4. Alice loved being photographed unlike her two older sisters. Alice was also very bossy and had a very big personality.
    5. I don't think it's exactly the third quoted book, but the novel is definitely quoted a lot because of it's popularity throughout time.

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  9. 1. Alice was the daughter of the dean of Christ Church.
    2. Dodgson taught math there, and formed a relationship with her.
    3. Alice respected and was more interested in Dodgson than his peers were, and therefore he preferred her company over others.
    4. Alice was pushy and dominant over the other girls, and Dodgson liked that aspect of her.
    5. Carroll wrote this in 1865, and within the next decade and became a world renowned book (noticed many different ethnicities interested in the book in video). Most I've met here in the U.S. in particular have the ability to remember at least one quote from the story.

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  10. 1) Alice Liddel was the 4-7 year old daughter of the Dean at Christ Church College.
    2) Alice lived at the college because her dad was the Dean, and Carroll was a math professor. He was working and saw Alice and her sisters playing out on the lawn.
    3) Carroll was drawn to Alice because she was very photogenic and upperclass.
    4) She was different than most because though she was the youngest and smallest one among her sisters, she was the bossiest.
    5) I could believe that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the "third most quoted book," because many people know some quotes despite whether they have read the book or not.

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  12. 1) Alice Liddell was the Deans daughter.
    2)Charles and Alice met at the garden outside of the Christ Church at Oxford while he was writing.They met when Alice Liddlell was 4 and Charles Dodgson was 24.
    3)Charles was drawn to her because she was photogenic and charismatic as well as getting along with children better than he did with adults probably a reason being that he did have a speech impediment making it harder for him to speak to adults.
    4)What made her different was that she was bossy and impatient, she wasn't shy she liked to stand out she liked being in the spot light un like heritors who were shy didn't like pictures and didn't like the spotlight.
    5)I do agree that "Alive in Wonderland is the third most quoted book because it's a "universal literature" and people from all over he world loved it.In many Countries they have different interpretations of it and in many languages as well.

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  13. 1) Who was Alice Liddell? Alice was the daughter of the dean at the University that Charles taught math at. The youngest and bossiest of her three sisters.

    2) How did Carroll and Liddell meet?
    Since she was the daughter of the dean, they lived on campus and therefore Dodgson would have seen her often.

    3) What drew Carroll to Alice?
    Being a child, she would not have judged him for his speech impediment or other characteristics that would be a deterrent to adults.

    4) What made Alice different from the other children? She was photogenic, charismatic, and upper class, which would have been very intriguing to Dodgson.

    5) According to scholars in The Secret Life of Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the "third most-quoted book after the Bible and Shakespeare." Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not (be specific)?
    I have heard many quotes from Alice in Wonderland, often times unknowing that they were from the book, until after reading it. However, after reading Alice in Wonderland, it is apparent that many people use quotes from the book all the time and I would not disagree that it could be the third most-quoted book.

    ReplyDelete

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