# Alice in wonderland

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alice-in-wonderland/327659>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 24, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alice-in-wonderland/327659 "2005-10-24T14:43:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raven26x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d26b3c/32.png) [@raven26x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raven26x)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alice-in-wonderland/327659/1 "2005-10-24T14:43:09Z")

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Is it true that Alice in Wonderland is about child abuse. If so please explain.

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**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alice-in-wonderland/327659/2 "2005-10-24T14:53:46Z")

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> [@raven26x](#):
>
> Is it true that Alice in Wonderland is about child abuse. If so please explain.

If you’re really interested in it, pick up a copy of [The Annotated Alice](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393048470/qid=1130165256/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5305071-6492037?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and read the footnotes (it is almost sure to be available at your library). They quite candidly discuss Carroll’s obsession. Martin Gardner’s general tone and conclusion is that Carroll was an innocent man stricken with pathology, but you can’t help but wonder if some of his behavior (e.g., photography) was over the top.

Carroll’s Wikipedia article has a section titled [allegations of paedophilia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll#Allegations_of_paedophilia) that address this as well.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alice-in-wonderland/327659/3 "2005-10-24T14:54:29Z")

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I hope this isn’t a homework question. It might help if you went into a little more detail as to what you’re thinking of or where you heard that it might be.

Just about everybody in _Alice_ suffers or perpetrates some physical or verbal abuse, of the cartoon violence variety, but it’s all part of the fun. _Alice_ does contain the immortal verse

> [@Lewis Carroll](#):
>
> Speak roughly to your little boy  
> And beat him when he sneezes.  
> He only does it to annoy  
> Because he knows it teases.

But this isn’t meant to be taken any more seriously than anything else in the book.

In case you’re referring to Carroll’s fondness for young girls, check out the Straight Dope column on [Was Lewis Carroll a perv?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_185.html) (Short answer: he may have had some unorthodox sexual predilections, but there’s no evidence he ever acted on them.)