This paper investigates the deviation from Victorian femininity of Alice in the original novel Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and the movie adaptation from 2010, Alice in Wonderland, and discusses the changes in Alice from childhood to adolescence under the growingly frequent exposure to society and her growing awareness of a Victorian woman’s moral duty in the 19th century, thus discovering the hindrance of teenage Alice from breaking through gender norms due to the lack of childlike bravery that is possessed by seven-year-old Alice in the novel.

This paper has a much greater influence on me than I had expected before starting the project.

The loss of childlike bravery explored in Tim Burt’s Alice in Wonderland reminded me too much of myself. Like Alice, I am seeking a better future. Yet I was withheld by the fear of the unknown and failure, and chose to shut out new possibilities that could have given me a chance to thrive.

Alice was so strongly repressed by her fear of judgements and backlash from society that eventually she was forced to withhold her potential which could have helped shed light on women’s capabilities sooner. If people in the real world recall their childhood bravery like she did and overcome their fear of speculative consequences, more hidden gems like Alice would be discovered, and one day, restrictive gender norms can truly be combatted by these pioneers.

My work on this paper as an English major may not seem like much in retrospect, but it’s definitely a tiny step forward for what I and millions of people around the world believe in.