Language is a powerful tool that has vast abilities. It can portray strong emotions from simple words and make statements without directly doing so. Language not only affects the work but the way readers consider certain words. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a prime example of making readers think about the text. Carroll plays around with the connotation and denotations of words, forcing the readers to figure out what each word truly means and implies. The usage of the term queer is one case in Alice in Wonderland.
. Denotation, or the literal definition of a word, can greatly change the interpretation of a text. The denotation of queer depends on the usage of it in the sentence and the period in which the work was written. Alice
…show more content…
Many older members of the LGBT community consider queer to be extremely offensive with a negative connotation. This is due to the fact of being gay during the most homophobic time of America and at the receiving end of much discriminatory compared to the younger generation. ABC published an article in 2013 about how an older gentleman in his sixties is disgusted by the way Millennials use the “Q” word so freely. He recalls being kicked out of his apartment and being fired from a job for being gay. He was so insulted he even filed a formal complaint with the state of Colorado for having queer as an option for gender identity on a job application for Colorado College (Marusic). Despite much negative backlash from the older generation, many younger members of the LGBT community consider queer to be a part of their identity; a positive connotation. Younger members see the word queer as way of uniting members of the community, not separated by labels of gay or lesbian. Jenny Block, an author for Huffington Post explains why she uses the “Q” word. “Queer is the most inclusive word that we have,” she says, “‘LGBT’ leaves out some of our family” (Marusic). Block is only one of many members who feel this way and are proud and welcoming to the word