Alice's Adventure in Wonderland Book Report

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland Book Report

Theme:

In the story, Alice encounters a series of puzzles that seem to have no solutions, which imitates the ways that life frustrates expectations. She expects that the situations she encounters will make sense, but they repeatedly frustrate her ability to figure out Wonderland. She tries to understand the Caucus race, solve the Mad Hatter’s riddle, and understand the Queen’s game. In every instance, the riddles and challenges presented to Alice have no purpose or answer.

(Main) Characters:

Alice

Alice is a girl from a wealthy English family who finds herself in a strange world ruled by imagination and fantasy. She feels comfortable with her identity and has a strong sense that her environment is comprised of clear, logical, and consistent rules and features. Alice’s familiarity with the world has led one critic to describe her as a “disembodied intellect.” Alice displays great curiosity and attempts to fit her diverse experiences into a clear understanding of the world.

The Cheshire Cat

The Cheshire Cat is unique among Wonderland creatures. Threatened by no one, it maintains a cool, grinning outsider status. The Cheshire Cat has insight into the workings of Wonderland as a whole. Its calm explanation to Alice that to be in Wonderland is to be “mad” reveals a number of points that do not occur to Alice on her own. First, the Cheshire Cat points out that Wonderland as a place has a stronger cumulative effect than any of its citizens. Wonderland is ruled by nonsense, and as a result, Alice’s normal behavior becomes inconsistent with its operating principles, so Alice herself becomes mad in the context of Wonderland. Certainly, Alice’s burning curiosity to absorb everything she sees in Wonderland sets her apart from the other Wonderland creatures, making her seem mad in comparison.

The Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts is the character that Alice must inevitably face to figure out the puzzle of Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts is literally the heart of Alice’s conflict. The Queen of Hearts is not as concerned with nonsense and perversions of logic as she is with absolute rule and execution. She is a singular force of fear who even dominates the King of Hearts. In the Queen’s presence, Alice finally gets a taste of true fear, even though she understands that the Queen of Hearts is merely a playing card. The Gryphon later informs Alice that the Queen never actually executes anyone she sentences to death, which reinforces the fact that the Queen of Hearts’s power lies in her rhetoric. The Queen becomes representative of the idea that Wonderland is devoid of substance.

PLOT:

Alice sits on a riverbank on a warm summer day, when she catches sight of a White Rabbit in a waistcoat running by her. The White Rabbit pulls out a pocket watch, exclaims that he is late, and pops down a rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit down the hole and comes upon a great hallway lined with doors. She finds a small door that she opens using a key she discovers on a nearby table. Through the door, she sees a beautiful garden, and Alice begins to cry when she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She finds a bottle marked “DRINK ME” and downs the contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter the door but cannot enter since she has left the key on the tabletop above her head. Alice discovers a cake marked “EAT ME” which causes her to grow to an inordinately large height. Still unable to enter the garden, Alice begins to cry again, and her giant tears form a pool at her feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore, where a number of animals stand gathered on a bank. After a “Caucus Race,” Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat, Dinah, and finds herself alone again.

Alice meets the White Rabbit again, who mistakes her for a servant and sends her off to fetch his things. While in the White Rabbit’s house, Alice drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the size of the room. The White Rabbit returns to his house, fuming at the now-giant Alice, but she swats him and his servants away with her giant hand. The animals outside try to get her out of the house by throwing rocks at her, which inexplicably transform into cakes when they land in the house. Alice eats one of the cakes, which causes her to shrink to a small size. She wanders off into the forest, where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah (i.e., a water pipe). The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he tells Alice that different parts of the mushroom will make her grow or shrink. Alice tastes a part of the mushroom, and her neck stretches above the trees. A pigeon sees her and attacks, deeming her a serpent hungry for pigeon eggs.

Alice eats another part of the mushroom and shrinks down to a normal height. She wanders until she comes across the house of the Duchess. She enters and finds the Duchess, who is nursing a squealing baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Cook who tosses massive amounts of pepper into a cauldron of soup. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice and then departs to prepare for a croquet game with the Queen. As she leaves, the Duchess hands Alice the baby, which Alice discovers is a pig. Alice lets the pig go and reenters the forest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat again. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the March Hare’s house and fades away to nothing but a floating grin.

Alice travels to the March Hare’s house to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse having tea together. Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns that they have wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea-time. After a final discourtesy, Alice leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a tree with a door in its side, and travels through it to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and enter the garden.

After saving several gardeners from the temper of the Queen of Hearts, Alice joins the Queen in a strange game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are live flamingos and hedgehogs, and the Queen tears about, frantically calling for the other player’s executions. Amidst this madness, Alice bumps into the Cheshire Cat again, who asks her how she is doing. The King of Hearts interrupts their conversation and attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently dismisses the King. The King takes offense and arranges for the Cheshire Cat’s execution, but since the Cheshire Cat is now only a head floating in midair, no one can agree on how to behead it.

The Duchess approaches Alice and attempts to befriend her, but the Duchess makes Alice feel uneasy. The Queen of Hearts chases the Duchess off and tells Alice that she must visit the Mock Turtle to hear his story. The Queen of Hearts sends Alice with the Gryphon as her escort to meet the Mock Turtle. Alice shares her strange experiences with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, who listen sympathetically and comment on the strangeness of her adventures. After listening to the Mock Turtle’s story, they hear an announcement that a trial is about to begin, and the Gryphon brings Alice back to the croquet ground.

The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the Queen’s tarts. The King of Hearts leads the proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the Cook both give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense. The White Rabbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his line of questioning, but takes encouragement when the White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a letter written by the Knave. The letter turns out to be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission of guilt on the part of the Knave. Alice believes the note to be nonsense and protests the King’s interpretation. The Queen becomes furious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge size and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing cards.

All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her sister’s lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her sister ponders Alice’s adventures.

CONFLICT:

Conflict happens every time Alice meets a new character and is being confronted with its strange rules and behavior.

CONCLUSION:

When Alice woke up and realizes that it’s just a dream and she tells her sister about it.

Choose to be happy

Starting today, decide to be happy, to understand one's actions, to be considerate, to appreciate what you have, to laugh more and to live your life.

Just one day, choose what makes you happy, listen to your heart, be kind to others, don't judge someone for their actions, be grateful for all of the little things in life, appreciate the little things that's making you happy. A hot cup of tea? Fluffy socks? Warm bubble baths? Long walks? Cold breeze of the air? Appreciate it and never complain about what you don't have. After all, it's the little things in life that matters most. Who knows, it might turn out to a great and awesome day!

Friends

Friends. What are friends? There’s so many definitions for “friends” but we all don’t have the same definition for it. Friends are the ones you spend your life with. It doesn’t matter if they’re not the same sex as you, same color as you and same race as you, but what matters most is that they’ll be by your side through good and bad times.

Friendship is the relationship between two people who loves and cares for each other, who trusts each other. Keeping a friendship strong means you need to consider each other’s feelings, you need to take care of them and treat them like a part of your family and lastly, we need to love and care for them as much as they love and care for us.

But in order to make a friendship a real one, you need to give and take, trust, support, be loyal and considerate to each other. Friendships are supposed to make both people happy, not feel like you’re forced to be friends with them just because they’re popular and cool. That’s not what it’s supposed to be like. And there will always be one point in our lives where we’ll be having hard times finding real friends but that’s ok because that just means new friends are about to come. Things like these happen and its normal. It’s life. We just have to live with it and move on.

Friends make you feel safe. There’s even times when we feel like we’re closer to them than our family members, and you feel like they’re basically a part of your family. Friends are the ones who won’t talk bad things about you behind your back. Friends are the ones who will always accept you for you even if you have different interests, different races, skin color, different taste in music, different taste in fashion, they will always accept you because they want you to be yourself and not change for anybody else. Not even for them. Even if you think you’re not skinny, you’re not good looking, you’re not popular, you’re not smart, they will accept you and will not want to change anything about you. They even make you feel good about yourself and not let you down. And in my opinion, friends like this are the best and truly amazing.

What are friends? It’s someone you can count on. It’s someone you can trust completely. It’s someone who will make you realize that after all, there’s still someone who will want the best for you and only the best for you. It’s someone who makes you feel safe. It’s someone who makes you feel important. It’s someone who will always be there for you. The one who will correct you if you’re wrong and not tolerate the wrong things you’re doing. Accepts your call even if it’s already 2 in the morning and not get angry because they know you need them. They’re the ones who will laugh with you. They’re the ones who will make you cry not because of sadness but because of laughter. They’re the ones who will make you forget about your problems even for a short period of time. They’re the ones who will help you face all your problems and struggles and cheer you up when you’re feeling sad. They’re the ones who will help you with your assignments when you’re having a hard time on it. It’s someone who will laugh at your corny remarks just to make you smile. They’re the ones who will do even the stupidest thing with you. They’re the ones who will fight with you over a small thing but get together again in just a couple of minutes. They’re the ones who will visit you when you’re sick. They’re the ones who will support you in any way they can. It’s someone who will help you and not expect anything in return. They’re the ones who already knows what you’re feeling or what your problems are without even asking why, they just look at your face and they’ll know what’s wrong. They’re the ones who will always see the good in you. And once you get to meet them, you’ll think about how lucky and blessed you are to have someone like them in your life. Having true friends is probably one of the best feelings in the world. I hope everyone will meet their true friends and make a strong and true friendships with them. 

Interview with a Grants Manager

I recently interviewed Glen A. de Castro, a Grants Manager on Philippine-American fund. We talked about how his work is like, what's a typical day for him and so many more. The following is a summary of the conversation and interview with the manager:

What is a typical workday for you?

According to Glen, a typical workday for him includes holding meetings to discuss proposals submitted to him for funding or to plan some program activities. He also added, "the other side of my work is when I get to travel to different places in the country to check the projects that some organizations want us to support. I meet the members of the organization and I ask questions about their proposals, what problems they want to address, what are their activities, who will do the activities and how much will it cost to do the activities. If the answers are good, then I recommend them for funding. If not, I try to help the organization improve their proposal." 

What do you find most enjoyable in your job? 

Glen said "There are many enjoyable things in my job but I guess the most noteworthy is that I get to meet a lot of people and I get to travel to so many places in the Philippines."

Are there any negatives to your job? 

He said that maybe it is not really negative, there are just times when work is overwhelming and it is just a part of the cycle and we all just have to live with it. 

What's the toughest part of your job?

He said that the toughest part of his job is when he's preparing the document that will invite proposals for submission to their office. He also added "I really have to be careful in putting in the priorities. Every word is carefully thought of to ensure that the guidelines for submission of proposals are clear."

How did you get your job?

"When this project where I am currently employed was conceptualized and developed, I was invited to be a member of the proposal writing team." Glen said. He also said that when the proposal finally got approved, they naturally invited him to fill in the post of Grants Manager for the project.

If you’d be given a chance to change your job, would you?

"No." Glen said. "There are lessons to be learned here anyway." He also added.

How do most people enter this profession?

Glen said that most of the people he knows in their industry started by working for non-government organizations - especially the international ones. He also said "You really just have to be good at project development and management and in grant-making to be able to land this type of job. Once you get to know who are the donors in the country, how they do grant-making and how do they manage it, then you are already in the position to apply for the job. Of course, you have to wait for the opening."

What educational preparation would you recommend for someone who wants to advance in this field?

He recommends everyone who wants to be like him to take social sciences courses. He also said "Depending on your passion, you can take advance degree to be more competitive locally and globally."

How long does it take for managers to rise to the top?

Glen stated "There is no one clear career path. I became a manager 12 years after starting work."

Any "words of advice"?

"Keep on learning. Things are changing fast and it is important that you have the skills, knowledge, and capacity to ride the change. And when the going gets tough, try harder. Do not ever give up." Glen said.

I asked him a follow-up question "What would you say to anyone who wants to be like you if they grow up?" and he said that if anyone wants to be like him when they grow up, he would tell them to study hard, never give up on anything and if anything goes wrong, don't worry, its a part of a life, learn from it and you'll be successful. End of quote.