n size. This is the beginning of what the reader will see as Alices way of questioning her identity. Being just the right size to fit through the door, however forgetting the key, Alice begins to weep causing the entire room to fill with tears. Now Alice can be seen as becoming a mother in creating the amniotic fluid. Alice makes two more changes in size before she enters the magical world of Wonderland. The reader is well aware that Alice is very torn between childhood and adulthood as she begins her journey through the terrifying world of experience.Throughout the rest of the story Alice continues to question her identity. Naively an image of the fallen adult society that she embodies at an age when she wholeheartedly embraces its values and assumptions, Alice barely retains the most precious gift of childlike innocence- a potentially redemptive imagination that gives her passage to Wonderland (Otten 51). The reader becomes aware that Wonderland attempts to evoke the child back out of Alice, who they know already feels so grown up. Her attitude towards people in Wonderland illustrates her attempt to prove that she is in fact an adult. For example, she fears being Mabel because Mabel lives in that pokey little house and has ever so many lessons to learn!. Later, she feels no remorse in knocking the Rabbit into the cucumber-frame or in kicking Bill out of the chimney. Perhaps the most convincing argument for Alice occurs at the Duchesss house. In her attempt to save the baby from abuse, Alice assumes moral responsibility: Wouldnt it be murder to leave it behind? (Carroll 69). Her compassion here coexists with her adult-like and proper behavior. Dont grunt. Thats not a proper way of expressing yourself. It seems however, in most all of the other instances in the book, Alice appears more piteous than authoritative. Challenged by the Caterpillars rude questions about her identity, Alice realizes she knew who she was when s...
