Alice Books As Parodies Of College Life (11.29.2005)

Reading Alice, I feel a strange connection between the little girl growing up in the story and my own experiences at the University of Texas. Guessing that all college life is similar in some way, even though schools differ, I’m sure that other college students can relate to the connections between university life and Alice. College is “light and fantastic but with serious bits of thought embedded in it” (395). Each day, we encounter an array of emotions and events, ranging from the goofy and fun-filled conversations with friends to the melancholy feelings of home-sickness to the looming feeling of assignments.

Each fall, thousands of teenagers around the world “fall down the rabbit-hole…into a peculiar world of its own rules, its own logic, and its own language” (396). The University is unlike any place many of us have ever experienced before. At the University of Texas, we are immersed in a world of 50,000 other students in their late-teens and their twenties. The experiences and the conversations we experience in this intellectual place are strangely different from those we experience at home. Late-nights in the dorm can find inventive games, such as baseball in the hallway, or intellectual and thought-provoking conversations. The school spirit and the friendships we form are peculiar and strange at first, offering a new perspective as we live away from home and with our peers for one of the first times in our lives. We can do almost anything whenever we want. In the beginning, this life was strange to me.

While away from home for one of the first times, we are faced with the daunting question, “Who are you?” The question comes in many forms. What is your major? What do you want to do when you grow up? Why are you in Plan II? What is your passion? What are your goals? Where are you from? In the midst of the turmoil of this new and strange place, we are faced with a task of self-examination. Similarly, “Alice shows an obsession with identity—‘Who in the world am I?’ the young girl wonders, and later declares, ‘I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else’” (398). We stay in college until we have formed part of ourselves. It is here that we discover our passions. Perhaps we will find that a structured curriculum and job is for us, or perhaps we will take our Plan II education to a completely different place from rock-climbing to service organizations around the world. We can do anything, but we must first examine ourselves to find where we wish to go.