Like much of children’s literature, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland negotiates between the impulse to instruct children and the desire to delight them. Writing children’s literature without seeking to teach lessons required Carroll to draw upon a number of strategies, including the innovative use of nonsense, the linguistic playfulness of jokes and puns, and the explicit mockery of education and didacticism.
Using your close reading skills, in this discussion, identify one example of Carroll’s use of wordplay or mockery of education and didacticism. After you identify the line or passage, please explain Carroll’s strategy to entertain children and avoid didacticism in that particular line or passage.
