32nd Annual Student Research Conference
The Liberation of Opium Use in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Abygayle F. Adams
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
This paper analyzes the link between drug-induced hallucinations and the awareness of the subconscious mind represented in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1856). The availability of opium during the Victorian Era, and it’s being the solution to most ailments at that time, manipulated the medical field by suppressing further investigation of its impact on the human mind. Alice’s portrayal embodies the relationship between opium use and the subconscious mind of children in the Victorian Era. By establishing this relationship, Carroll emphasizes the imagination of children when under the use of opium and illuminates how the world the children live in is represented in their hallucinations. This paper further investigates the viewpoint of children, molded by societal norms defined by the normalcy of opium use, during the Victorian Era.
Keywords: Carroll, Alice, Opium, Wonderland, Halluncinations, Huxley, Desires, Doors of Perception
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 105-5
Location: BH 241
Time: 9:30