Wonderland...

Wonderland has long been my favorite word in the English language. Many people know this about me. They gift me their personal copies of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass". These are gifts I cherish.
I was first introduced to Alice the way most of us were; Disney. As I got older and became more familiar with literature, I, of course, read Carroll's books. In high school, when I was very high, I watched the film again and thought, Wow, Disney is a freak. His interpretation of the novels left me with the impression that little girls get high on hallucinogenics at a very young age and discover themselves through their trip. The freak part comes from Disney's choice to animate his interpretation and market it to children.
I never really gave Alice much thought after that, but I've always loved the way the word Wonderland just rolls off the tongue in perfect verse and syllable...Wonderland.
Last year, about this time, I received another copy of Carroll's novels, both, in one. Not long after, I began to understand the purpose of finding yourself in another person. I don't mean in that Let me get lost inside of you thing. I mean meeting and knowing the people who carry your reflection inside of them and that that is what it takes to really get to the bottom of things. In "Alice", our protagonist meets the folks who provide her the tools she needs to grow. The Caterpillar, a literal symbol of transformation, teaches Alice how to cope with change, the Cat teaching her to roll with flow, with change. The Mad Hatter is her antagonist, but he still makes Alice face herself, and he shows her that time is perpetual, yet subjective. I love that! The one thing I don't like about the story is Alice's interaction with the Queen. Some analysts have said that the queen represents the antithesis of logic and that logic must surely win out. I think the queen represents to Alice the differences in people and that they each offer something different in our lives. The queen introduces Alice to a different perception of people, such as the different persona the Queen espouses, some sort of madness (or genius), yet she does rule Wonderland.
My favorite Carroll story is "Trough the Looking Glass". All of Alice's friends have prepared her for this transformation on her journey through Wonderland. "Looking Glass" is a story we should all consume, voraciously, as it is a fine guide to going back to the past, facing the ugliest images, and coming out on top in the end, a beautiful reward for having done the work. In "Looking Glass", Alice encounters several members of the monarchy, surely an analogy for the adults in our lives and the way they hold control of our childhood thoughts, actions and emotions, their colors representing a specific characteristic within Alice herself. For a moment, she is held prisoner by The Red Knight, the White Knight arriving to banish the red one, the fury. They walk together, Alice and her white knight, on a path that leads them across a river where Alice is crowned Queen, a reward, again for having done the work. 
A looking glass is a mirror offering us a reflection we must all deal with. It is the mirror to our soul, our memories, our past, our darkness.
I imagine all good fairy tales have to end with a "white knight" rescuing a damsel in distress, however, these two stories are very complex. They are a good read in adulthood. Trust me, you will see the story very differently. But that is what life is all about. When we are children, other people are in control of our circumstances. Those people don't always wield that power with compassion and once we enter young adulthood, we have a steamer trunk full of damage, and like any old trunk full of junk, it must subsequently be gone through. We see things very differently, once we are in control of our own lives. My metaphoric trunk consists of a looking glass, a mirror, amongst the scattered pieces of my life, and as I sift through the damage of my past, I step through my looking glass, where on the other side, I find my Mad Hatter, who keeps my time for me, tuning his pocket watch, finely, to my specific needs, as I journey through my rabbit hole, periodically spinning me around so I can face the reflection, and helping me gather the tools I need to tend my garden.
I don't choose the hatter to lead me through my Wonderland because of his ability to keep my time subjective, either. It is because he is mad. As we all are, or most of us, anyway. Just as Alice tells him, "All the best people are.", I concur. I think that's what drove Alive down the rabbit hole in the first place. She went looking for something...
She found it, in the madness that is Wonderland, as we do...

by Deannalynn Arzola