Is Wonderland the Island?-The Cheshire Cat
November 13, 2009I have noticed many similarities in characters of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and those of Lord of the Flies, especially in Chapter 6. This will be my first blog entry for “Is Wonderland the Island”, focusing on the Cheshire Cat.
First, there is the Cheshire Cat. The constant descriptions of it “grinning from ear to ear” remind me greatly of the Lord of the Flies character in Lord of the Flies. Consider it-they are both animals, they both have a dark, creepy connotation, they are both (probably) imagined by a “hero” of the story, they both speak of madness and darkness of humanity, etc. In Lord of the Flies, the Lord of the Flies character makes a prediction to Simon of the boys on the island all turning savage, into pigs. Similarly, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, when the Cheshire Cat asks Alice what happened to the Duchess’ baby and she tells it that the child turned into a pig, to which the Cat responds, “I thought it would”. Is this a similar prediction as the Lord of the Flies’ prediction that the boys will turn into pigs? (See my following blog, “Is Wonderland the Island?-The Duchess’ Baby” for further analysis on the correlation between the Duchess’ baby turning into a pig and the Lord of the Flies savages turning into “pigs”.)
Now, obviously the Cat does not perfectly represent the Lord of the Flies; there are differences between the two. For instance, the Cat is friendly. It has a fairly normal conversation with Alice. She even considers it to be her friend! The Lord of the Flies, however, always “speaks” in a very satanic tone. It is anything but Simon’s friend-more his biggest fear. This being said, the similarities between the Cheshire Cat are definitely apparent, and are something to consider when analyzing the meaning of the two stories.
The "Liddell" Things 
Oh wow, that’s a really amazing point, Kathy. The beast and the cheshire cat do kind of represent a sort of wisdom in both stories, and I think it’s great that you noticed that. There are so many things that others are noticing that I just don’t seem to get! The only real difference I see is that the cheshire cat is twenty bazillion times cooler than the beast from Lord of the Flies [though, that is my own biased opinion].
I also see your point on how they are rather different, but I do agree that a certain extent of comparison can be made there. It’s very interesting, if you ask me.
I love that you posted a blog about the Island having similarities to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As I was reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland I also noticed many similarities between characters. I agree that both the Chesire Cat and Lord of the Flies are very similar. Although they are not identical the similarities, like you stated show that these characters almost resemble each other. I know that they do not represent each other, but there are only a few differences. Although there are only a few differences, they are pretty big, like the Cat being friendly to Alice. Though I don’t think that Wonderland as a whole represents the island, I do think that there are a few characters that resemble each other.
Although they do have some similar characteristics, the Cheshire cat and the Lord of the Flies do not really resemble each other.
Wonderland and the Island from Lord of the Flies are very distinguished. Wonderland is a place of curiosity and discovery. The Island represents much more than that. It represents society and our human nature. In my opinion, Wonderland comes no where close to that.
The Island and Wonderland are separated by what is real and what is not. The little things that can be tied together between the two places are small compared to the bigger picture.