t they considered, proper public decorum. Not many authors of that time knew what Carroll had learned early on, that what children really wanted was something to get their imaginations working. Those poor children had heard the same stories of little girls and boys suffering , because they didn’t follow the rules they had been taught, time and time again. They needed someone to save them from an agonizing death due to boredom, and Carroll was just the man to do it. He gave them books that fed their imaginations, and played with their senses. His books were fun for both the children who listened to them, and the adults who read them to their kids(Gardener,1960). Throughout the years many people have analyzed Lewis Carroll’s work from numerous perspectives. In “The Annotated Alice”, Martin Gardener has dissected the fantasy story, giving reasonable explanations to Carroll’s silly antics. Much of Carroll’s literature that appears to have noreal meaning what so ever was actually derived from areas of common Victorian life, such as the character of “The Mad Hatter” and “The March Hare”. In Carroll’s day it was common for hatters to go mad because of the mercury, and other chemicals used in curing(in some areas of Europe there were no laws against this), which caused a slight tremor called “hatter’s shake”. As the twitch, which effected their eyes and limbs, progressed, the inflicted would developed hallucinations and, sometimes, other psychotic dysfunctions. As for “The March Hare” this can be attributed to the insane nature of the male hare in the month of March, it’s mating season(Gardener,1960). Another character whose attributes have some rationale is the Cheshire Cat. The saying “grin like a Cheshire cat” was common during the Victorian time period. The exact origin of this phrase is unknown, but there are two d...
