Chase Your Rabbit
November 25, 2009Everyone has something that they want.
I believe Alice was in search of adventure and excitement. Her want for adventure and excitement motivated her to explore wonder land instead of hiding or breaking down and crying. In chapter one Carroll says, “She ran across the field after [the rabbit], and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” The fact that she ran across the field shows that she is a very curious child who seeks adventure. Alice’s desire for excitement was so powerful that she didn’t even consider the consequences of her decisions. Everyone has been through at least one of these situations where you react as an impulse of something that is going on and don’t think about the result of your actions. It is simply human nature.
For Alice her desire for adventure and excitement was enough to send her through Wonderland. But what about you? What is your desire? What is your rabbit that drives you to do the things that you do? Perhaps you have more than one rabbit to chase. Perhaps millions. Maybe one of yours is to make sure your name is on the headmaster list, or the varsity chart. Everyone has different rabbits. Alice’s rabbit propelled her to a new world. How far is your rabbit going to take you?
The "Liddell" Things 
I believe she was both in search of adventure and blindling following. She desired to find interesting things but she didn’t know where to look. I believe she was frustrated because she got more than she bargained for.
I love your point here, Edward. Acting on impulse is something we do a lot today, especially as teenagers. Maybe Carroll was embodying the Alice that he thought she would grow up to be, not a care in the world and acting on impulse. Or, that could have been how she acted as a child, the one whom loved.
Interesting–was she just blindly following along, or was she in search of adventure?
If in search of adventure, why was she so frustrated and bewildered by the strange behaviors she encountered, constantly trying to stuff them back inside of the box of “what makes sense”?
Love your rabbit analogy, by the way. Mine is teaching!
I agree with the spirit of your post, but not the conclusions.
Yes Alice did not think things through, but she did not seek for adventure in following the rabbit. She simply was curious as to why “a rabbit had a pocket-watch, or a pocket at all”. She was curious same as the rest of us, and yes we all seek some level of adventure, and we all have our own rabbit to chase, our own wonderlands to dream up, she simply followed her intrigue and piqued interest. Her adventure through Wonderland was not something she sought, but rather something that occurred as a result of her following the rabbit blindly, impairing herself without reserve because of her natural human desire to find out.
Very true point. Alice was in search of an adventure. In chapter one of the story, she is quoted as being bored. Also, without adventure, there would be no Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
And to answer your question, yes I do have rabbits. And not just one. I think I can say the same for others. Everybody has a dream – a desire they want to achieve, and like you said before, that is their rabbit.