Lewis Carroll, the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury England. He was the oldest boy in a family of eleven children of Reverend Charles Dodgson and his wife, Francis Jane Lutwidge. The childhood of Lewis Carroll was relatively pleasant, full of ideas and hobbies that contributed to his future creative works. Carroll's life at Daresbury was rather secluded, and his playmates were mostly his brothers and sisters (Green 18). Interacting with mostly his sister

Blake, Kathleen. "Lewis Carroll." Victorian Novelists After 1885. Detroit: Gale Research

Lewis Carroll "divided himself into two names, Lewis Carroll and Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson" (DLB v.18 45). The pen name Lewis Carroll is very interesting as to how it was created. While teaching at Christ Church, Oxford, Carroll wrote comic literature and parodies for a humorous paper. The editor thought Dodgson needed a name that was not too journalistic. Dodgson wrote to his editor and suggested a number of variations and anagrams based on the letters of his actual name, "Charles Lutwidge Dodgson." "Lewis Carroll was the name finally decided upon (Pudney 53). Clearly, Carroll was fascinated with anagrams and various patterns and puzzles. The pen name that he created, he tried to keep totally separate from his born name, which creates the idea of Carroll having two selves: the pragmatic character of the regular, Oxford don and the mysterious character living in a shadowy world of fantasy. Carroll insisted on this division to a great extent and he would not accept fan mail addressed to Lewis Carroll at Christ Church (DLB v.18 45). Another odd obsession of Carroll's was wearing gloves all the time when being in the outdoors. No matter what the temperature was, he would wear gloves (Pudney 13).

Green, Roger Lancelyn. The Story of Lewis Carroll. New York: Henry Schuman, 1951.

Pudney, John. Lewis Carroll and his World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976.

The most obvious parallel between Carroll's life and his writing of Alice is the cherished relationship between him and Alice Liddell. She was the inspiration for his writing and for the sequel to the novel, Through the Looking Glass. A closer analysis of the character of Alice in the novel is her fluctuating sense of self. This is introduced in the first chapter when she is decided whether to drink the bottle which makes her small or eat the cake, which makes her big. Alice, meant to be a girl of about eleven or so, is on the cusp of adolescence. But what does she want to be? If she shrinks to a child-like size to get through the doorway into what seems to be the garden of childhood, then she is too small to reach the key to open that door. She is trapped in a kind of paradox. Throughout the chapter Alice is "trying on" her adult self. She speaks in a learned manner, even when she isn't quite sure what she is speaking about, and she often creates in her own mind an adult personality to check her childish impulses. This split personality may be a parallel to Lewis Carroll again. In his life he had two selves: Charles Dodgson; being a proper and serious Victorian gentleman and then Lewis Carroll; a character of more humor and mystifying nature where he related best with children.

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)