Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, shows us how our instincts will inevitably take over in situations as generated impetus subdues our morality; just like how our need for survival trumps our desire to be good. Alice is the dignified seven-year-old protagonist of the story. She believes that the world is orderly and stable, and has an insatiable curiosity about her surroundings. ‘Wonderland’ challenges and frustrates the 7-year old’s perceptions of the world. As the story progresses, Alice constantly succumbs to some of the very human traits, causing her to consider actions she wouldn’t usually consider; her instincts repress her ‘back image’, the loyal supporter to her morals. This shows us how powerful situational pressure can be, and how helpless we …show more content…
Because her morals are constantly being restrained by her instincts, she is constantly defying and resisting her back image, her perspective is continuously being moulded, thus she intermittently struggles with what is considered “right” or “wrong” in situations. Shown as Alice ventures to drink a strange bottle of liquid; after falling down what seemed to be a fall to another world, she finds a little bottle with the words “DRINK ME”, “beautifully” printed on in large letters. She then starts to debate on whether to drink it or not, with one side of the internal conflict being her instincts, and the other being the morals. She will first be confronted with the morals, alluding her towards the risks of drinking a strange substance, but is eventually be overwhelmed by the irresistible sensation of a drink. Her perspective on the situation can be changed in an instant, boycotting the back-image and keeping it castaway deepest abyss of her mind, and assimilating a “Do now, deal with the consequences later” way of thinking, as intuition rises to power. Further, in the plot, Alice is confronted with “The Queen of Hearts” - the ruler of