Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Research Paper

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll, was born January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, England. He was the oldest of 11 children and spent the majority of daylight playing with his siblings. While writing books, his pen name was Lewis Carroll. Dodgson had written dozens of books throughout his lifetime based on his imagination, his experiences, and other people's experiences. Dodgson had many influences from his childhood, family, imagination, and interests to write dozens of books and poems.

Charles L. Dodgson, who was born in the early 1800’s as the first child out of his 10 other siblings, which he spent most of his time with. Dodgson kept his siblings entertained most of the time because their parents taught them at home. He

Dodgson suffered with a stammer while talking, he preferred the little girls than the older women around his age because he felt more comfortable talking to children (Green). His best writings came from the inspiration of relationships with little girls. In 1855, Dodgson discovered photography through his uncle. He loved photography so much that he purchased his own equipment a year later. After he had went through and experimental phase with his camera, he discovered that he beloved photos of little girls (Green, Brady, University of St. Andrews, Scotland). He had started taking regular photos of girls and having them dressed in costumes and put in different situations. Later on, Dodgson was taking nude pictures of young girls with their parents right next to their side to monitor him with the children (Green). He would also paint the girls both nude and dressed, they were his muse for photography and his writing. Dodgson seemed to like the girls more than just a muse, but he never acted upon his feelings towards them. According to the website “alice-in-wonderland.net”, Dodgson said “Their innocent unconsciousness is very beautiful, and gives one a feeling of reverence, as at the presence of something sacred.” These feelings Dodgson had towards these little girls was written throughout many books and was the inspiration of several

The inspiration for this book came from a little girl named Alice Liddell. Alice was the daughter of Henry George Liddell, whom he had met in 1864 at the Christ Church. Alice and Dodgson had spent many hours together. Alice would sit on the couch while Dodgson would tell stories about dream worlds. One day, while on a picnic with Alice and her two sisters, Dodgson told a new story based on Alice (Biography.com, notablebiographies.com). His story was the beginnings of the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and from there, Alice loved the story and wanted him to write it down for her. From her request, he had happened to write a whole book for her. The manuscript had landed into the novelist, Henry Kingsley’s, hands (Green). Kingsley urged Dodgson to publish the book and so he did under the pen name Lewis Carroll in 1865, three years after Kingsley persuaded him to publish it. (Biography.com, University of St. Andrews, Scotland). He had chosen to use a pen name because he wanted to keep his fictional work separate from his professional life. This book went on to sell millions of copies and make “Lewis Carroll” rich and famous. Alice Liddell is considered to be his biggest inspiration, she is the reason why Dodgson became famous in the first place. Without Liddell, Dodgson would probably have not been discovered by Kingsley and become a famous published