When I first read this DB assignment, to write about Alice and leadership, I was a bit confused. How was Alice a leader at all? Throughout Wonderland, she is constantly put in situations outside her control—in one minute speaking with the White Queen, the next rowing in a boat with a sheep, the next speaking with Humpty Dumpty on a wall. At first thought, I felt that Alice was anything but a leader, but I then realized something very valuable. Alice is a leader in progress. Through attempting to find herself, she may teach others—us included—how we may navigate through the seemingly nonsensical world of college and even of our lives beyond.
"Who are you? "To become effective leaders, we must ask ourselves the same question. http://www.stickerchick.com/D/sdis0116.jpg
What struck me most about Alice is how distanced she is throughout the book. Understandingly, she has a difficult time relating to the creatures and characters of Wonderland, but throughout—and this is most important—Alice is unquestionably herself. Her journey through Wonderland is a highly contemplative one: the caterpillar asks her to “explain [her]self!” (Carroll, 47), and the Cheshire Cat causes Alice to question where she is going (Carroll, 65) perhaps a metaphor for Alice’s life journey. Covey speaks about the need for leaders to have self-knowledge and a balanced understanding of oneself, paying equal attention to our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual intelligences. (Covey, 232-233) Alice’s time spent in Wonderland is ultimately transformative not because she attempts to conform to the mixed standards of the characters she meets but because she is able to evaluate herself, to measure her own self-worth and assess her self-awareness. What we are doing in this class—what we are doing in college—that is more important than simple schoolwork is the same task as Alice’s: a careful consideration of the self. Hopefully, we may follow Alice’s example. Faced with a world run by backwards logic (if any logic at all), Alice emerged triumphant. Alice’s crowning at the end of Through the Looking Glass is the culmination of Alice’s journey. Alice doesn’t rule over the creatures of Wonderland, she rules over herself. It is this self-control and self-awareness which is necessary for effective leadership.
Ask questions. This is how ethical problems may be brought to justice.
Alice is also an ethical leader.While she is oftentimes tactless, offending the creature’s of Wonderland by, for example, bringing up the sensitive subject of dogs and cats to the mouse in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll 26), she is a fierce defender of logic and justice.Carroll, an expert logician, included many instances of logic and word play in his books. Entertaining, they might serve the additional and deeper purpose of emphasizing the importance of questioning that which we don’t understand. Alice constantly questions the world of Wonderland, growing “curiouser and curiouser” (Carroll 20) about what she encounters. Sometimes she is merely interested such as when she questions the White Night in Through the Looking-Glass: “Everybody that hears me sing [my song],” says the White Knight, “either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else—“ “Or else what?” said Alice. In other instances Alice reasserts her opinion such as the occasion when she questions the validity of the Cheshire Cat’s logic. The cat argues that he is mad because he growls when he’s pleased and wags his tail when he’s angry. Alice counterargues that she calls a cat’s behavior, “purring, not growling.” (Carroll 66) Regardless, Alice constantly questions the statements of those around her, something anyone must e able to do to recognize justice. Alice’s commitment to justice is realized in the climactic court scene at the end of Adventures in Wonderland when she attempts to reveal the injustice of the trial. When the Queen commands Alice to “Hold [her] tongue!,” Alice replies that she “wo’n’t!” (Carroll 124) Alice commands us to stand up for justice, to question the rationality and ethics of situations, even when the world around us is agreeing. Alice has demonstrated, as the popular phrase says, that “doing what’s right is not always popular.” In one annotation, I learned that Carroll meant for Alice to be a story without the blatant morals of the “nice little stories,” (Carroll 17) typical of his day.Incidentally, Alice is an important ethical story—one which emphasizes the importance of questioning and logic in carrying out justice.
The Court Scene, a dramatic example of justice
Another way Alice may lead is by example. Through reading Carroll’s books and the testimonies of other students in the Anthology, I was able to make comparisons to my own life and my experience in college thus far. As Dougill writes in his essay “Rites and Wrongs,” even Dodgson himself was uncomfortable with and related to the adjustments and rigor of college life. There is an “emotional distance” from home where one may feel “distraught and disoriented” and “lonely.” (Dougill, 203) I have made considerable adjustments to college life. One connection I drew related to the differences between what we are asked of in college and in high school. In high school, we are told to know very specific information (think AP class style), but in college we are forced to learn more about how we may push ourselves and learn about ourselves than anything else. We are thrown into a world where we are expected to be altered beyond return. I have felt the confusion Alice felt when she tried to recite a well-known poem, “How Doth the little—“and says something completely different instead, a poem about a crafty crocodile! I feel that most of the information I learned in high school is largely nontransferable. College expects different knowledge out of us. What we knew then is not what we are asked to learn now.By relating Alice’s experience to my own I am able to find something familiar. We are all in Wonderland—college—but unlike Alice, I’m happy I haven’t found my way back out yet.
Oxford College. Even the structure itself is intimidating!
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