Notes for Alice in Wonderland (Theme: Identity)

- Alice can't answer the Caterpillar's question "Who are you"
   - The reason Alice gives is that she's been "changed several times"
       - grew smaller then larger in the hall of doors
       - grew smaller and fell in a pool of her own tears
       - grows large3r, then smaller in the Rabbit's house
- Her constant change in size leads her to question her identity
  - When she grows large in the hall of doors:
       - she wonders if she has been turned into Mabel
           - checks herself by reciting her Math and Geography lessons
           - tries to recite the busy bee poem but fails, saying the crocodile poem instead
  - When she is small, talking to the Caterpillar:
       - recites "You are Old, Father William" completely incorrectly
            - (a poem about how to live a good life)
       - "It's wrong from beginning to end"
- Alice changes in size again
  - takes from both sides of the mushroom (one to make her larger, one to make her small)
  - she shrinks then grows enormous
  - Alice is mistakes for a serpent by a pigeon
       - the pigeon  doubts she 's a little girl
       - Alice replies that her identity as a little girls "matters a great deal to me"  
- Alice goes back to her normal size at the end of chapter 5
  - half a paragraph later, she's shrinking down to 9 in. high


Write a TEAC paragraph in response to the questions:

1. What is the main reason why Alice questions her identity?
2. How does Alice check to see if she is still herself? Why do you think she has chosen this method?