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Raquel Mejia
Lee
English 308
Critical Essay
6 May 2015
Critical Essay

There are many different views and ideas on childhood and how a child should

behave. The different ideas of childhood can be presented in childrens literature. There

are various texts, each with their own portrayal of an ideal childhood. Lewis Carrolls

Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Frances Burnetts A Little Princess both present

distinct versions of childhood. Sara, from A Little Princess and Alice from Alices

Adventures in Wonderland represent two distinct ideas about childhood. Saras

projection of a young lady who is graceful in the face of adversity reflects the idea that

young girls should be ladylike. Alices projection of a curious young girl who has to

figure out how to navigate her way through an unknown and enchanted land reflects the

idea of how young girls are to be curious, adventurous and should be well educated. The

obstacles that they both face are important in highlighting the characteristics of what a

young girl should be like. These two texts are gender specific. They are geared toward

girls with their ideas of what young girls should be like emphasizing that childhood for

young boys should be different.

Carroll presents Alice as a curious young girl whose curiosity leads her to stumble

upon Wonderland. There she encounters different creatures and people that she has to

learn to treat and deal with. Alice is also presented as a young girl who has a lot to learn.

Carroll projects the ideal childhood of a young lady as one in which she is well educated,

curious and adventurous. When she is in Wonderland Alice uses her prior knowledge to

what she has learned in school to try to figure out things in Wonderland, such as location.
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What Carroll shows is that Alice has knowledge of longitude and latitude but doesnt

know how to correctly apply it in a real life situation. We see Alice try to use her

knowledge but not know how to correctly apply it on other occasions as well. Carroll

here is using this as a critique of Alices education. For Carroll a young lady should be

well educated and should not just memorize things from her books at school but be taught

how to correctly apply them and use them in her life as she grows older. Carroll also

presents Alice as a young girl who is very curious. It is curiosity that leads her to

Wonderland and curiosity that leads her to explore Wonderland. Carroll presents Alice

this way so that the readers can see how important curiosity is. A young girl should be

curious because curiosity leads to discovery and knowledge something that Carroll

emphasizes as important for Alice and young girls in this text. Carroll does this by having

Alice question things, situations and people around her in Wonderland. Alice is also

presented with a sense of adventure that can be tied in with her curiosity. It is important

to see that this young girl how been written like this since most of the time it is boys who

have been portrayed as the adventurous ones. Even though this text is gender specific and

geared towards young girls it paints a different picture than other texts do for what young

girls should be like. Alice has to get through some things in Wonderland that she

wouldnt have been able to do if she wasnt adventurous. At first Carroll portrays Alice

as a little scared. She even cries at the beginning of her adventures through Wonderland,

but it is Alice herself that tells herself not to cry. A great girl like youto go on crying

in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you! (Carroll, 17) Carroll is portraying Alice as

vulnerable in this moment but throughout the rest of the text she becomes stronger with

her adventures in Wonderland. She is able to do this through her adventurous side and
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Carroll highlights that throughout the text. The way Carroll presents these characteristics

and ideologies for an ideal childhood of a young girl tie in with one another. It is

important to see them that way to understand the text as a whole and see the whole

picture of what an ideal childhood is.

Burnett presents Sara as a young, caring, graceful and imaginative girl. Sara loses

her father and mother at a very young and goes through very difficult and harsh

situations. All of the situations she is forced to go through highlight how graceful she is.

Even when she is treated harshly and unfairly she reacts to the situations in a manner that

only someone with grace can do. This is Burnetts way of emphasizing that young girls

should carry this specific characteristic and apply it and act accordingly in all types of

situations. This is one of the ideal characteristics that a young lady should have. Other

characteristics that are highlighted in Sara are her gentleness and her kindness. Burnett

highlights this when Sara gives bread to the girl she sees on the street. She puts aside all

regard for herself and gave more importance to the other young girl, a total stranger. Sara

is meant to represent what an ideal young lady is and what she ought to grow up to be.

The situations Sara goes through are also meant to help her grow up to be an ideal young

lady. Burnett also has Sara adopt another young girl, which shows her motherly instincts,

another important trait a young lady should have. Sara presents all the qualities that make

her seem like if she were a little princess, sending the message that an ideal young lady

should behave like if she were a princess. This is the ideal child and type of childhood

that Burnett is trying to present by making Sara so graceful and having her go through

tragedy but she still behaves like a princess. The way Burnett presents Sara and the

obstacles she has to overcome really point out how young girls should act and what kind
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of women they should grow up to be. It is important to understand the situations Sara

goes through and how she deals with them to see how Burnett is painting this ideal

version of childhood as a whole.

These two texts are gender specific. They are geared towards young ladies,

instilling in them what they should be like. They both present two different ideas of what

traits they should have and how they should behave. On one hand we have Alice, who is

curious with a sense of adventure, and on the other hand we have Sara, who is noble and

kind and motherly. These texts present two ideal young girls. While doing so, they are

also presenting the idea that the childhood of a young boy is different and their

upbringing differs to that of a young girl.

Everything that these two young girls go through is meant to highlight or develop

a specific characteristic that an ideal young girl should have. They all tie in to bring the

story together and get the message across to the reader. All these characteristics are a part

to the whole idea of the ideal young girl, with Sara and Alice presenting two different

versions of what the ideal you girl is. One of these girls is graceful and princess like

while the other is curious and adventurous. These ideas have developed and changed

over the course of the years. People with different beliefs of children and childhood

present their ideas through childrens literature and try to instill what they believe is

appropriate for children through their work. The perception of children and childhood

and what is appropriate for them has changed and so has the childrens literature. There

are so many versions of what is appropriate for children because there are many different

views and ideas on what children should be learning and the characteristics they should

be acquiring.
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