Through the Looking-Glass of Time: Lewis Carroll’s Reflection on Childhood, Growth, and Identity Through the Looking-Glass of Time: Lewis Carroll’s Reflection on Childhood, Growth, and Identity

Growing up feels like being wrenched from a dream. One might hold onto the vanishing visions, but reality urges to push you ahead. Childhood, seemingly blissful and filled with wonder, unravels so that rules engulf imagination and certainty replaces curiosity. No one can avoid this transformation, as it will inevitably happen. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll captures this shift, crafting a land where nonsense rules and authority seems arbitrary, forcing the main character Alice to confront the chaos of growth. Alice’s experiences while she remains young serve as an early confrontation with the actualities of adult life, emphasizing the psychological shift caused by these adventures. Alice mentally matures, shaping her identity and leading her to assert control over herself.  Through Alice’s experiences in Wonderland and Looking Glass Land, Lewis Carroll explores the inevitable loss of childhood bliss, revealing the anger, pain, and confusion that emerge as one grows. Carroll, longing for childhood himself, suggests that resisting adulthood leads to madness; however, through Alice, he offers an alternative: maintaining happiness in adulthood requires embracing love, individuality, and confidence, which are qualities Victorian society suppresses in favor of rigid education and conformity.

Alice’s Abnormal Author

Author Lewis Carroll personified the idea of a “double life,” as he split his time between lecturing and studying logic as a mathematician and writing whimsical literature, reflecting his spanning, creative imagination. His works brimmed with critiques of Victorian society, education, and authority, and it remains clear that his strange relationships with children inspired his writing. Carroll’s duality in lifestyle made his works groundbreaking and unique for the time as he combined elements of Romanticism and Victorianism into his writing, forming an absurd, dream-like setting perfect for drawing readers in.

Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, had an early life consisting of a fascination with logic as well as imagination, laying a foundation for the whimsical yet structured world he later created. His father, Charles Dodgson, the parish curate, and his mother, Frances Jane Lutwidge, stood as the conservative guides in his early years, eventually sending him off to college at Oxford University. He attended Christ Church College but strayed from his father's path when he felt he was missing some of the qualities required to become a priest, remaining unmarried his whole life (Karbiener). Carroll graduated with a degree in mathematics and began lecturing immediately in 1855. Adding to his duality in life, Carroll pursued photography and writing when not lecturing. He wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, formalizing his covert life away from mathematics. Interestingly, Carroll’s photography pursuits mainly focused on young children, usually girls (Krueger).

Lewis Carroll’s relationships with children, specifically the Liddel family, influenced his writing and inspired the creation of his most famous work, Alice in Wonderland, sparking both admiration and controversy. Carrol first photographed Alice Pleasance Liddel when she was four, and she inspired the character Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The novel, inspired by a river outing with the Liddells, was printed as a Christmas present for Alice in 1864 with the earliest version titled Alice’s Adventures Underground (Krueger). This relationship, and similar ones with young minds, allowed him to have enticing creativity in his works but also spurred debates about the appropriateness of his affection for young girls: “What he loved about children was their sense of the richness of the world, and it is this sense that makes his literary work, poetry, and prose so enchanting” (Flesch). His most famous work, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, follows Alice when she falls down a rabbit hole into a fantastical world, encountering bizarre characters that challenge her identity, logic, and the nature of reality. Its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, takes a more somber tone, which may be due to the influence on Carroll of his father’s death (D’Ammassa).

Lewis Carroll’s most notable accomplishment lies in his ability to combine logic and whimsy, as well as blend Victorian ideals with satire and critique. As the period of Romanticism transcended into the era of Victorian Poetry, Carroll combined their elements. He was able to emphasize emotion and imagination, as seen in Romanticism, while also commenting on socially conscious themes present in the Victorian period (Flesch). His duality makes readers realize how he “maintains his composure in the midst of the lunacy that he conjures” (Krueger).  Carroll’s works were meant to delight the young and the old. His creative talent shone as he “combined parody and nonsense verse to evoke a world in an afternoon, a lifetime in a dream” (Flesch), leaving a legacy, along with many works to enjoy for years to come.

The Surreal Worlds of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland follows Alice, a curious and adventurous young girl, as she follows a white rabbit down its hole, landing her in a whimsical land. In Wonderland, this bizarre and illogical world, Alice encounters many strange creatures. After meeting a collection of talking animals, she comes upon an aloof hookah-smoking caterpillar with whom she has a philosophical discussion, exploring Alice’s identity through cryptic questions. The enigmatic Cheshire Cat appears multiple times as she ventures on, remembered for his haunting grin, which sometimes appears before his cat body. 

Next, Alice visits the Mad Hatter’s tea party, where she realizes that time operates differently in Wonderland. The absurd conversations between the Mad Hatter and his friend, the dormouse, leave Alice confused as she wanders on in search of the Queen of Hearts. Upon finding the quick-tempered Queen, Alice participates in a wildly chaotic game of croquet where they use flamingoes as mallets and hedgehogs as balls. The story culminates in a chaotic trial where the royals expose their nonsensical nature of authority. Alice then wakes up, realizing her adventure was a dream as she lies by the riverbank with her sisters. 

In the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, Alice finds herself on another adventure when she steps through a mirror into another surreal world structured like a chessboard. Alice mimics a pawn, attempting to advance to the eighth square of the land to be crowned a queen. She faces peculiar characters like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Humpty Dumpty, and the White Knight. Alice experiences the reversed logic of Looking-Glass Land, ending with a final confrontation with the Red Queen, which causes her to be confused. Alice wakes up wondering if her experience was real or imagined. Both works display Lewis Carroll’s distinct writing style as he uses logic, wordplay, and nonsensical elements to challenge traditional storytelling.

Pains and Fears of Adulthood

Alice’s journey through Wonderland illustrates the fears and anxieties which arise in growing up and facing adult life, suggesting that this transition not only includes adapting to external norms but also confronting the internal chaos that follows. An unmistakable example of this appears in Alice’s fluctuating physical size, which causes her significant internal distress. Alice grows and shrinks dramatically by eating a mysterious cake and drinking a bottle labeled “Drink Me,” leading her to question whether she remains herself. This signifies the physical and emotional changes that accompany growing up. Alice struggles with bodily changes to the point where she feels less than human: “Why there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!” (Carroll 12). Her distress stems from the societal pressure to conform to what seems “respectable.” As her body changes, a natural aspect of growing up, her emotions overwhelm her, and she nearly drowns in a pool of tears. Alice becomes threatened by her reaction to growing as the frightfulness of her change puts her in danger of drowning. This scene emphasizes the struggles of self-perception and emotions in the growing process. Alice faces another anxiety when she meets the hookah-smoking caterpillar whose talk of Alice’s destination and cryptic questioning of her identity unsettles her. The caterpillar’s ambiguous question, “Who are you?” (Carroll 33), represents the uncertainty of self-discovery, denying Alice the straightforward guidance and comforting answers that fill childhood. The caterpillar’s vague, open-ended language forces Alice to confront a question she can not yet answer, showing the stress children often feel when expected to define themselves prematurely. Alice’s internal struggles become more apparent in her encounter with the Cheshire Cat, who embodies the confusion in Alice’s journey. The cat’s cryptic statements challenge Alice’s sense of logic and safety, forcing her to question reality: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad” (Carroll 48). The cat’s words reinforce the internal chaos accompanying the transition from childhood innocence to the ambiguity of adulthood. Additionally, the encounter with the cat leads to inner questioning, underlining how growing up includes physical changes and emotional and psychological uncertainties. Similarly, critic Paul Schilder’s essay highlights how Carroll’s stories show anxiety through Alice’s constant confusion, loss of her name, distress when reciting poetry, and anxieties about physical size and identity. Schilder goes further to say that the fears and absurdity faced in the novel can be destructive. While I agree with Schilder’s notion that the nonsense in Carroll’s literature has deeper psychological layers that can come off as “destructive,” I disagree with his assertion that “there is very little love and tenderness and little regard for the existence of others” in the novel (Schilder 40). Despite her confusion, Alice consistently demonstrates empathy and curiosity as she attempts to understand the nonsense whirling around her. For being so young, she exemplifies the purity and compassion of a child filled with optimism. To recognize Carroll’s message about the right way to develop and the right path to adulthood, the reader must acknowledge the empathy that he attempts to celebrate. As Schilder notes, Alice’s confusion and self-doubt mirror the anxieties of identity, but her determination to understand and navigate this madness highlights her resilience. Alice’s interactions with wild characters in Wonderland reveal that growing up is not only about external changes but also about confronting the internal turmoil and uncertainty that shape one’s identity.

Through characters like the Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum, Carroll illustrates how rejecting growth and responsibilities that come with adulthood leads one to madness, stagnation, and absurdity. These figures embody adulthood gone wrong, remaining immature, belligerent, and compulsive, contrasting Alice, who seeks to make sense of the world around her. Alice comes across the Mad Tea Party, a scene where time remains suspended and responsibilities are put off. The hat maker, exhibiting eccentric and unpredictable behaviors, sits with the March Hare and a dormouse, having an endless tea party. The act of endlessly rotating around the table represents the character’s futile attempt to outmaneuver time, showing an unwillingness to move forward. The Hatter challenges the conventional idea that time remains unchangeable, exaggerating what is rational in his approach. He tells Alice, “If you knew Time as well as I do, you wouldn’t talk about wasting it, It’s him” (Carroll 53). By personifying time, the Hatter makes it something one can interact with rather than just measure. He transforms time into something one can befriend, offend, or even lose. An adult responsibility is time management, and rather than managing time, the Hatter interacts with it, supporting how he resists adult burden. Additionally, the Hatter speaks with a disjointed syntax, often taking unpredictable pauses, representing his disordered thinking. Certainly seen as mad, the Hatter shows how delirium can stem from the complete refusal of adult maturity and duty. Through The Mad Hatter, Carroll critiques not adulthood itself but the avoidance of the growth process, as everyone has to grow up, ideally following the right path, which Carroll shows Alice as a model of. Tweedledee and Tweedledum also exemplify adult immaturity through their endless bickering and lack of growth as they carry rattles like a baby. Their behavior reflects the absurdity of adult conflicts, and they remain stuck in a perpetual childish rivalry, showing the stagnation that comes with rejecting maturity. Their tantrums are so infantile that Alice, a child, finds them ridiculous. When Tweedledum begins “to stamp about wildly and tear his hair” (Carroll 141), Alice consoles him, thinking his actions are absurd. Tweedledee and Tweedledum represent the refusal to grow up, acting like children throwing fits, leading them to madness as they speak with playful words and inverted logic. The irony of a child perceiving grown figures as immature critiques adults who reject personal growth, the process of self-improvement, emotional maturity, and the acceptance of responsibility. The Queen of Hearts embodies the dangers of adulthood without self-awareness, throwing childish tantrums instead of leading with wisdom: “The Queen turned crimson with fury, and after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began screaming” (Carroll 61). The bestial comparison strips her of any true authority as she lashes out, exposing her hollow power. Her inability to rule graciously and accept the responsibility that comes with her control exposes the consequences of resisting maturity; she wields authority but lacks the confidence and individuality Carroll signifies necessary for a fulfilling adulthood. Instead, she orders beheadings at random, which are rarely carried out, showing how she clings to empty threats. This dictatorial approach leaves no room for reason, reducing the Queen to a parody of adult incompetence, showing that the mere appearance of power stands meaningless without the emotional growth Carroll presents as essential to adulthood. Psychoanalyst readings of the novel, such as Paul Schilder’s, often suggest that children should avoid reading this novel because of its unnerving psychological connotations. Joseph Wood Krutch refutes this, asserting that children “are never too young to begin to laugh at those morbid fears which, the psychoanalyst himself is ready to assure us, he is never too young to feel” (Krutch 44). Krutch’s perspective highlights the novel’s function as a mirror, allowing children to recognize the absurdities of authority figures who flee from responsibility and the madness of resisting growth. These characters Alice meets represent figures that appear in real life, who assume flawed adulthood and are driven mad. The path to adulthood presents struggles facilitated by Victorian society and the education system. Instead of teaching children crucial traits like empathy, compassion, and confidence, the system demands methodical learning, which suppresses individuality. 

The Failure of Victorian Society

Victorian society, specifically in its consideration of children, failed to nurture individuality, love, and confidence, instead enforcing rigid education and conformity to suppress actual growth. The education system in Wonderland and Looking Glass Land reflects this as it prioritizes memorization and obedience over curiosity and imagination. The Mock Turtle Alice faces laments his strict education, listing the subjects he endured: “Reeling and Writhing,” and then the different branches of arithmetic, “Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision” (Carroll 73). Carroll manipulates the traditional subjects and uses verbs that suggest suffering and struggle rather than intellectual development. “Reeling and Writhing” replace “Reading and Writing” with words that mean physical pain, twisting in agony and dizziness, suggesting learning to be painful or torturous. “Ambition” and “Distraction” replace “Addition and Subtraction,” implying how Victorian education can overwhelm and urge relentless striving rather than enlightenment for students. “Uglification” and “Derision” replace “Multiplication and Division,” both suggesting destruction rather than construction of helpful knowledge. “Uglification,” or making something ugly, symbolizes how education distorts a child’s natural curiosity, an unappealing quality of Victorian education. “Derision,” meaning disdain or mockery, implies that the system nurtures cruelty rather than understanding. Carroll uses the Mock Turtle to satirize Victorian education with a clever parody critiquing rote learning. The system should instead prioritize meaningful understanding and development of individuality. He argues that certain qualities that Victorian education suppresses, like curiosity, understanding, and empathy, must be valued and kept when growing to find the right form of adulthood.  The Mock Turtle follows these nonsensical subjects without question, mirroring the mechanical nature of Victorian schooling. This mechanical nature is also seen in how characters like the King of Hearts blindly recite rules: “ ‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop’ ” (Carroll 91). These instructions are blatantly obvious and redundant, reducing the rules to a thoughtless, automatic process. The King’s instructions are overly complicated and monotonous, whereas Alice gets to the point while asserting her confidence. Critic Mark Conroy further stresses the flaws of the noble authority. Conroy writes about the Duchess’s “overtly unpleasant if not hideous behavior,” describing it as “unbecoming of her class” (Conroy 147). Conroy also states that “in her waking life, Alice learns to emulate the people for whom the Duchess herself is a symbolic stand-in” (Conroy 147). This strengthens Carroll’s critique of Victorian society as Conroy states that society teaches Alice to grow into the corrupt authority she witnesses in Wonderland. The repetitive nature of education and lack of meaningful emotional development in Victorian schools leads to the disastrous authority seen in the Duchess and the King of Hearts. While in her real life, society guides, or rather misguides, Alice this way, the version of Alice in Wonderland resists these constraints and contrasts this conformity by using critical thinking when challenging the nonsense and absurdity of the Queen of Hearts. Alice asserts her reasoning when the Queen of Hearts wishes to execute someone before a verdict. She tells the queen, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” (Carroll 94). The syntax in this protest is strikingly simple, contrasting the overly elaborate or convoluted language used by the authority in Wonderland. It is a sharp declaration signifying Alice’s rejection of arbitrary rule, the power being only an illusion. Carroll proposes that genuine growth and knowledge of self-worth do not stem from the repetitive and confining Victorian education system. Alice demonstrates the importance of adaptability as she navigates the confusing lands without following rigid rules.

Alice as a Model for Maintaining Happiness

Lewis Carroll does not explicitly suggest how to avoid the fears and madness filling his imagined lands representing growing up. Instead, he provides Alice as an example of overcoming the struggle. She eventually asserts agency not by fully rejecting childhood or adulthood but by maintaining a balance of love, composure, and individuality. In Wonderland, the Gryphon leads Alice to meet the Mock Turtle, a sad and melancholic creature who constantly sighs and reminisces about his past. The emotional Mock Turtle and the Gryphon are rude to Alice throughout the encounter, calling her dull and questioning her education. Despite this,  Alice remains composed, responding politely: “Thank you, Sir, for your interesting story” (Carroll 71). Alice shows compassion and acts as an attentive listener even when faced with bizarre creatures. Her ability to stay calm amidst absurdity reflects how she resists the chaos of Wonderland. Another instance of Alice’s inherent kindness occurs when she encounters the White Queen in Looking Glass Land. The Queen appears flustered, her hair tangled, and her shawl disheveled. Alice kindly helps her fix her hair and clothes: “ ‘I’m very glad I happened to be in the way,’ Alice said, as she helped her to put on her shawl again” (Carroll 145). This moment shows Alice’s nurturing side as she patiently assists the Queen, a stranger. This nurturing moment highlights Alice's developing identity. Even though she stands as a child in a nonsensical world, she instinctively takes on a caretaking role. This moment can be interpreted as Alice confronting the expectations of adulthood. Alice’s reactions to the strange events in Wonderland can be further understood through Freudian theory, which suggests that dreams reflect the hidden conflicts and desires of the unconscious mind. This theory becomes inherently relevant when the novel ends by revealing it was all a dream. Mark Conroy suggests that Alice plays a dual role, being both the dreamer creating the world and the performer who engages in the events in the dream. Conroy claims that Alice plays the role of an “impartial witness” (Conroy 145), presenting her as shallow and indecisive. I disagree with this evaluation, considering these traits are often placed on young girls unreasonably. When reading the novel, I noticed Alice asserting her opinion when she felt the need but also reaching maturity by not wasting time fussing over illogical instances. Rather than being indecisive, Alice demonstrates confidence, politeness, and adaptability in situations where others might lose their composure. As she responds calmly to a berating Mock Turtle and instinctively takes charge, helping the frazzled queen with care, Carroll reveals that Alice is not passively drifting through Wonderland but rather engaging in its absurdities to reflect her growing self-awareness and emotional intelligence. I believe by playing both these roles, Alice can experience the wild Wonderland and visualize how her traits play out in a symbolic adult world without any consequences. I propose that playing the performer subconsciously installs a more powerful sense of identity in Alice through her experience watching performer Alice. By watching herself act in Wonderland, she gains a deeper understanding of who she is and how she wishes to carry herself. This experience allows her to navigate from childhood to adulthood with a stronger identity, proving she is not shallow and indecisive but a confident and compassionate girl learning to assert her place in the world.  Additionally, author Lewis Carroll had an appreciation for young minds, so as he explores dream theory and the resonant innocence of a child, I doubt that he would intend to make Alice’s character impartial if Carroll’s opinions lie in the fact that young minds are bright and intricate. Although Alice occasionally loses her poise, she becomes a stronger and more confident individual by the end of the novel. Alice learns to correct others when they act unfairly towards her, asserting confidence instead of conforming to whatever others demand. Lewis Carroll chose to socialize primarily with children, watching and photographing young people. His reluctance to stick to his profession as a lecturer mathematician led him to yearn for childhood by growing a fascination with young Alice Liddell and whimsical writing. Carroll’s obsession with childhood and his close relationships with young girls suggest a deep desire to avoid adult concerns. Carroll does not explicitly show this part of himself in the novel, but his creation of mad characters reflects his struggles with transitioning from childhood to adulthood. From an outsider’s perspective, the novel reflects the difficult process. Finding the solution to this life transition remains tricky, so Carroll presents qualities in Alice to possibly succeed. Beyond longing for childhood, perhaps Carroll spent time with children to better understand the process of growing up by acquainting himself with it again. Rather than a creepy affiliation, his idea could be to understand how he could have grown up better by idolizing Alice as the model of the right path to adulthood. His relationship with Alice Liddell, in particular, takes on symbolic significance. In his life, the two often went on boating trips where he would photograph Alice. This setting, a river gently carrying them forward, parallels the inevitable and tumultuous journey of growing up. Alice sits as a passenger, experiencing the ride as she grows. Carroll, the one paddling, represents the adult looking back, attempting to steer and make sense of the current. As a river can not be controlled, neither can time, and Lewis Carroll’s photography and storytelling became his way of capturing a fleeting period. In giving the book to Alice Liddell as a Christmas present, Lewis Carroll offers a thank you to her and attempts to solidify what he saw in her, a model for the path to adulthood he struggled to navigate. At the end of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice’s sister thinks to herself how Alice would “in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood” (Carroll 96). Even after facing the frightening parts of adult life and growing up, Alice’s pure heart glows through the darkness. Instead of avoiding adulthood, which Carroll suggests could lead to madness, Alice will embrace it while holding on to her compassionate nature.

Conclusion

Alice’s journeys through Wonderland and Looking Glass Land reveal the complexity of growing up. They show how childhood innocence and curiosity must be held amid society’s expectations and inevitable difficulties that couple with growth. His lands mirror the inescapable fears when transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Through the complicated characters that Alice faces, Carroll demonstrates that avoidance of growth only leads to madness; the characters he creates are supposedly adult figures carrying responsibilities, yet they act foolishly and lash out in feral ways. Carroll utilizes these characters to warn against what can happen if one tries to relinquish control and responsibility when growing. He offers Alice as a model for navigating change with confidence, kindness, and adaptability. Throughout both novels, Alice asserts herself by maintaining a balance between reason and imagination. Her ability to challenge laughable authority, seen in her defiance of the Queen of Hearts, establishes her growing confidence and independence. At the same time, her patience and empathy in an absurd environment allow her to remain composed. Through a Freudian lens, Alice’s dream world allows her to explore different facets of identity and agency. She grows through understanding her place by being a dreamer and performer in the novel rather than practicing blind conformity, a dangerous risk in Victorian society. Carroll critiques Victorian society’s effect on children, namely its failure to facilitate genuine growth, as it had a mechanical and rigid approach to education. Carroll does not suggest that the Victorian education system should try to change, for he possesses little hope for a positive transformation. Lewis Carroll possesses cynical qualities, so rather than trying to encourage all of society to change, he presents Alice as a path. Alice Liddel provides the model for the character of Alice, and Carroll’s admiration of this girl led him to create the compassionate qualities of Alice. Through Alice’s character, Carroll proposes that the most successful transition to adulthood is not through submission to arbitrary structures but through maintaining a sense of wonder, moral integrity, and self-awareness. Alice’s sister, reflecting on her journey, observes the strength of Alice’s loving heart, a reflection of the power of balancing childhood innocence while bearing responsibility.  While growing up may feel like waking from a comfortable sleep, Carroll ultimately shows that change, though unavoidable, should not mean losing the wonder of childhood. Instead, by embracing responsibility and a spirit like Alice’s, one can move forward confidently, carrying the best parts of youth into adulthood.

Works Cited

Carroll, Lewis. ALICE in WONDERLAND : a Norton Critical Edition. edited by Donald J. Gray, W W NORTON, 2024.

Conroy, Mark. "A Tale of Two Alices in Wonderland." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by James E. Person, Jr., vol. 53, Gale, 1996. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.research.cincinnatilibrary.org/apps/doc/JHVWCI858119192/LCO?u=cinc37305&sid=bookmark-LCO&xid=67ef8ba3. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025. Originally published in Literature and Psychology, vol. 37, no. 3, 1991, pp. 29-44.

D’Ammassa, Don. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2014. History Research Center, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=&itemid=&articleId=26228.

Flesch, William. “Carroll, Lewis.” The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry, 19th Century, Facts On File, 2009. Bloom’s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=102265&itemid=WE54&articleId=11284.

Karbiener, Karen, and George Stade. “Carroll, Lewis.” Encyclopedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present, Third Edition, Facts On File, 2013. History Research Center, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=&itemid=&articleId=31284.

Krueger, Christine. “Carroll, Lewis.” Encyclopedia of British Writers, 19th Century, Vol. 1., Facts On File, 2003. Bloom’s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=102265&itemid=WE54&articleId=32106.

Krutch, Joseph Wood. "Psychoanalyzing Alice." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by James E. Person, Jr., vol. 53, Gale, 1996. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.research.cincinnatilibrary.org/apps/doc/MDOIPZ490722392/LCO?u=cinc37305&sid=bookmark-LCO&xid=a422c68b. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025. Originally published in The Nation, vol. 144, no. 5, 30 Jan. 1937, pp. 129-130.

Schilder, Paul. "Psychoanalytic Remarks on Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by James E. Person, Jr., vol. 53, Gale, 1996. Gale Literature Criticism, link-gale-com.research.cincinnatilibrary.org/apps/doc/CNSFXY194164513/LCO?u=cinc37305&sid=bookmark-LCO&xid=0bbdafd3. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025. Originally published in Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, vol. 87, no. 2, Feb. 1938, pp. 159-168.