Deeper meaning resides in fairy tales told
to me in my childhood
than in the truth that is taught by life.

Friedrich Schiller

The genesis of Lewis Carroll's story now known as Alice in Wonderland begins on July 4, 1862. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll's real name) was spending the day in a boat on the Thames River. With him were three young girls, daughters of Dean Liddell: Edith, Alice and Lorina. To pass the time as they rowed from Cambridge to Godstow back to Cambridge again, Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) made up the tale of young Alice and her trip to Wonderland. The oral tale was transformed into a book that was first published with the title Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in December 1865 (Dodgson's original title was Alice's Adventures Underground.)

Alice's visit to the strange place called Wonderland is a parable that describes a child's encounter with the apparently inexplicable world of adults. Dodgson treats this underground world of adults satirically and with considerable disdain. While all children must essentially make the trip from childhood innocence and intuition to the grown-up world of experience and judgment, it is not necessarily a desirable occurrence and the transit is not always pleasant.

When we say it is "not necessarily a desirable occurrence" we mean, of course, from the child's point of view. The adult world, however, has a vested interest in the sublimation of the child's drives. Children are, after all, more often ruled by emotion and instinct and not logic and reason.

We are but older children, dear,
who fret to find our bedtime near

Lewis Carroll

The complex mythology that encrusts the life of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) himself seems to suggest that his own relationship with the real world of adults was complex and problematic. He preferred the company of young people, girls in particular. When not fabricating interesting fairy tales for them he would photograph them. His precise relationship with the young Alice Liddell is not clear. What is clear is that there is not any tangible evidence that supports the popular notion that Dodgson was in fact a pedophile. But nor is it reasonable to assume that Dodgson died a virgin as other mythologists of his life suggest. Just exactly who Dodgson's paramours were is open to speculation.

In a new book examining these issues Karoline Leach begins a reappraisal of Dodgson's distorted biographical image. In The Shadow of the Dreamchild: A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll, Leach suggests that Dodgson's relationship to the Liddells might be far more complex than previously thought. Leach speculates that the object of Dodgson's affection might not have been Alice at all but her older sister or perhaps Alice's mother. Nevertheless, the fact is there is a paucity of facts and the truth will most likely never be completely known.

Finally, contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that Dodgson wrote or conceived Alice in Wonderland under the influence of opium or any other drug. That pleasant boat ride in July atop the Thames River and the inspiration his young audience provided seem to be the true catalysts. Although, it is true, the story has a distinctly psychedelic aura about it.

Related External Links

• Alice In Wonderland E-Text (Project Gutenberg)

• An Analysis of Alice In Wonderland

• The Poems in Alice In Wonderland

• Alice In Wonderland- Review by Edward Tanguay

• Lewis Carroll's "Alice" Books- An Overview

• Joyce Carol Oates on Alice In Wonderland

• Charles Dodgson- Photographer

• The Lewis Carroll Society

"I thought Oz was a great Head," said Dorothy.
"And I thought Oz was a lovely Lady," said the Scarecrow.
"And I thought Oz was a terrible Beast," said the Tin Woodman.
"And I thought Oz was a Ball of Fire," exclaimed the Lion.
"No, you are all wrong," said the little man meekly. "I have been making believe."

The Wizard of Oz, Chapter 12.

L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz is a great American fairy tale. In describing the importance of fairy tales the child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote,

Through the centuries (if not millennia) during which, in their retelling, fairy tales became ever more refined, they came to convey at the same time overt and covert meanings…fairy tales carry important messages to the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious mind, on whatever level each is functioning at the time. (The Uses of Enchantment).

Of course a child's experience of The Wizard of Oz is going to be quite different than what an adult understands. What seems subtle to the adult will be clear and distinct to the child. The process of balancing emotion and intuition with reason and logic is part of the maturing process each of us undergoes. The result is the replacement of variable colors where once only distinct black and white existed.

Like Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz got its start as an oral fantasy story. Baum told the tale to his children. It appeared in book form in May 1900 and became an immediate best seller. A year shy of the book's centenary fans and scholars alike continue debating the meaning of Dorothy's trip to the land of Oz.

Was Baum trying to convey an important message with his fairy tale? Was it a political message, a philosophical message, a moral message? Historians and other academics have found a variety of messages and meanings. Some argue Baum's story is a contemporary populist parable suited for its time and place: America's so-called "gilded age." Others suggest Baum wrote it under the influence of theosophy. Baum himself writes in the introduction to the first edition of his masterpiece,

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

Project Ozmosis: What The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland Mean to Our Children

`If there's no meaning in it,' said the King, `that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know,' he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them with one eye; `I seem to see some meaning in them, after all. (Alice In Wonderland)

What do these tales of fantasy mean to our children? The German poet Schiller claimed that the fairy tales he heard as a child had more meaning for him than real life experience. There is always something precious in the child's understanding of these things.

We are encouraged to find out what children today think of these fairy tales. We want to encourage readers of our words here to ask their children what they think about the stories of Dorothy in Oz and Alice in Wonderland. What meaning do these stories have for them? The Cosmic Baseball Association will compile the responses and provide access to them through our website. For more information about contributing to this project, please send an email to us at admin@cosmicbaseball.com.

Related External Links

• The Wizard of Oz- Online Etext

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website by Eric Gjovaag

• International Wizard of Oz Club

• Jim’s Wizard of Oz Website

• "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism" by Henry Littlefield

• "The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a 'Parable on Populism' " by David B. Parker

• "Oz: L. Frank Baum's Theosophical Utopia" by David B. Parker

• "Over the Rainbow" by Peter Drier

• American "Gilded Age" Chronology

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