archaeography

Aillwee Cave
The Burren
Co. Clare, Ireland
July 2004

The importance of linking the body and space is demonstrated well by Alice throughout her adventures in Wonderland. Alice comes to understand the world in a very particular way – as the space that she has created for herself in a particular body. Part of being disconcerted in Wonderland comes from her changing sizes several times as a result of consuming magic foods. When she loses an understanding of her body, she loses an understanding of space. This affects not only her visual perception but also her memory, her sense of direction, and her sense of self.

"Just at this moment her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now rather more than nine feet high …. ‘Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is “Who in the world am I?”’ …. As she said this she looked down at her hands, and was surprised to see that she had put on one of the Rabbit’s little white kid-gloves while she was talking. ‘How can I have done that?’ she thought. ‘I must be growing small again.’ She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high …. in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt-water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea …. However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.”

Alice tries desperately to get a handle on Wonderland by controlling her body. She wants to make herself the ‘right size’ for each new experience, and so she experiments with the body-altering food to make herself ‘fit’ into Wonderland. More importantly, Carroll allows us to experience and understand Wonderland only through Alice’s body. Wonderland is what it is at any time because of what Alice’s body is, and we are allowed access to Wonderland by being allowed access to Alice’s body.