The Secret World of Lewis Carroll

Who was Lewis Carroll?  This documentary explores the life of the creator of Alice in Wonderland.  This documentary brings together a variety of readers of Alice in Wonderland to talk about the author.  What leads to Alice in Wonderland?  Who creator of this book?  Why is the author such a controversial man?  Who was the inspiration behind Alice in Wonderland?  This documentary explores the world of Lewis Carroll.
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On July 4th, Oxford celebrates Alice in Wonderland.  It was on this day Alice told the story of Alice in Wonderland.  The story begins with a girl, relaxing along the river bank.  She follows a white rabbit and goes on an adventure.  Alice meets a variety of characters along the way.  It was a book treasured by the English people and has been published in a variety of languages.  

Lewis Carroll’s story begins in Christ Church in Oxford.  It was where he wrote down the story of Alice in Wonderland.  A door away lived a girl named Alice Liddell.  She was the daughter of the Dean of Oxford.  She did not realize how big of an impact that the story would have on her life.  How did those adventures come to be created?  Lewis meet Alice when she was four years old.  Lewis was a mathematician who lecture at twenty-four.  He was a man who loved rules and order.  His relationship with Alice has led to many questions.

Lewis was known as Charles Dodgson.  He had a speech impediment was a bachelor all his life.  He kept his identity secret and was a keen photographer.  Lewis did not want to be recognized in the street and did instruct the mailmen to return any letters addressed to Lewis Carroll.  He meets Alice and her sisters in the library at Oxford.  Her father was appointed as Dean and moved around in high social circles.

Lewis had purchased his first camera at this time and took photos of the girls.  A friendship between him and the girls began.  The girls were not patient sitters for their first photo.  Eventually, Alice would become signaled out as someone special.  She was often bossy and would shake her bangs out of her face.  She had a strong personality and had an assurance that her sisters did not have.  Lewis would entertain the Liddell children.  He read them stories and taught them magic tricks.  When they grew older, he brought them out on a boat trip.  This boat trip would lead to the creation of Alice in Wonderland.

On this boat trip, Alice pleaded with him to tell a story.  Alice begged him to write it down as well.  Lewis started telling the story to the girls and made it up as they went along.  The story was not completely made up and referred to real places along the countryside.  It took a year for Lewis to write the story and he gave the book to Alice’s Adventures Underground to Alice for Christmas.  Eventually, he decided that the book needed to be published and took his time in finding a title for the book.  Eventually, he called the book Alice in Wonderland.  A children’s book finally arrived in Victorian England.

Alice was the first child’s lead and the first child’s female lead in English literature.  She was feisty and funny.  She had common sense.  It was a revolutionary book.  It was supervised by the children’s literature at the time.  Who would create such a book for children?  Opinions on Lewis Carroll vary.  Everyone has an opinion on the life of Lewis Carroll.  To continue to learn more about these opinions continue to watch this documentary.

This documentary would be appropriate for an English class in high school and college.