After reading chapter eight I have come to notice how unjust most of the logical rules in wonderland are. The Queen’s method of playing Croquet, give her a higher leverage to win. Is it perhaps the unfairness that makes this story so queer to some of its readers?
We like to believe that our world is made up of rules that are sensible, but how much are we willing to bet on that? Take for instance the rule of school. Everyone knows that a good student is always someone who makes an A on their paper, or plays the role of a student well within the confinement of the classroom walls. What happens to the students who are, let us say, not necessarily book smart, but have their own creative mindsets different from what typical schools allow for?
We think ‘sensible’ in terms of fairness quite a bit more than we realize, and if one takes a step back to observe the way we work, we may some to the conclusion that our regular coherent customs are far from the normal we think. In this way, the world Alice is in may be a closer reflection of our own world than we thought. The rules that make no sense, the irregular impulses of the characters, are we really that far from it? In our world there are many such oddities that we do not notice simply because it has been ingrained into our consciousness from the day we were born. Truly, our ways of operating life are in itself, as much of a puzzle as Carroll’s whimsical tales.
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The Alice Project #12 
I really enjoy your exploration of the bizarre land of wonderland. As Darcy mentions, Carroll cleverly dissects cunning ideas to present to children, without the formulaic paths we typically take. The rationality of Wonderland may not be existent to us, but it may be to others. We just need to continue to explore the tangential evidence between the two seemingly unrelated topics. Justifying your ability to be smart is often a complicated matter, without the good grades or the standard mindsets we seem to be mindful of. Justifications is a great idea to explore in Wionderland. Props to you for thinking of this grand idea.
Hmm, what an interesting thought, that we are conditioned to accept our currant society. It is in my opinion complete truth. it is how societies operate just look at some of the varied cutlers about the world and their customs. The Chinese who bound their women’s feet. The African tribes that stretch their necks. Or the Muslim countries which require their women to wear burkas. Now not to insult or degrade any of these practices. they in all honesty seem at the very least odd to an outsider but I am quite sure that no Muslim woman is adverse to wearing a burka. She is used to it. Nor would you have found any Chinese woman during the 15th century or so protesting the binding of her feet. Without these necessary customs they would become ostracized from their societies. Humans in general are guided by the approval and disapproval of our peers.
This is great that you brought this up. The story seems so odd to us because we are not use to ‘unfair’ rules. The rules they have in the book may be seen as completely normal to them because that is always how it has been. Just like we are, we think all our rules we abide by are normal because it is ingraved in our minds that it is. If we went to a different country that did not have the same laws as we do, it would be odd to us, but normal to them. Just like the difference between private and public schools. We have different ways our schedules, academics and athletics work. Maybe Carroll is suggesting that our rules and laws are not right and everything should work differently or maybe he just did that for the imagination part of the story for Alice
I love the way you offer your view as a lesson for children to relate to. This ties right back to Alice being represented as a figure into the adolescent world with which she is on the verge of entering. The Queen is also a great example of the fipped ways in which we percieve circumstances. Thank you for the last sentence!
I completely agree with you. The entire story seems so backwards to us because we are often viewing the world in terms of set formulas and rules, but there are so many tacit existing behaviors and rituals which go against everything we are taught. Thats why this book is such a good book of lessons for children. It’s got cunning and clever ideas presented to the young molded mind and bizarre characters which often resemble what people in the real world act like. Children are able to grow with Alice through her journey and experience such a loony land which subconciously makes more sense than our world. Characters such as the Queen, act upon their basic personality and not upon rules of society, whereas in our world we have a given set of mannerisms which lead us to our actions.
I compliment your observation!