Alice's adventures in wonderland - when you are done

[Bojana]

A thread to discuss Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass once you are done with it. Spoilers needn't be marked. Also, feel free to discuss your thoughts on the essay, peer evaluation and other topics linked to the course's experience.

[Louise]

I have finished both books and have a lot of ideas for an essay. Each time I think of one I do a quick internet scan and find that the topic has already been written about. Trying to think of a new angle will be difficult for this classic.

[Will]

I agree Louise. It will be difficult to come up with a unique theme for such a popular book that has had so much literary criticism/analysis already applied to it. However, perhaps you can pick a theme , even one that has previously been used, but present a new angle or facet to it in your essay? I am thinking hard about what to write for this text. I have a few ideas, but like you, I don't want to just repeat an existing literary analysis. Cheers.

[Louise]

I have been narrowing down my topic all weekend. I think it is now narrow enough so I only have to write the essay now. Good luck William.

[Veleka]

Ah, I've wanted to have some sort of assignment on these books for so long, and now that I finally have to write upon them, I am completely stuck. I have always thought that it would be an easy task, as Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite books from my childhood, but now that I've reread it, my current 'opinion' about it contradicts with what I had in mind in the beginning.

[Louise]

I have just finished my first draft. I need to cut over 100 words to make it fit. I haven't found anything like it on the web so I am hoping my approach is unique.

[Rae]

One of the ways I made kept my topic and essay short was I only paid attention to the first Alice book. The second one just made it that much more complicated and I think while I could have written the essay on both it would have been impossible to write under 320 words.

Also - cool note! I saw a printing of Alice Underground at my bookstore. The had written original version that Carroll wrote and illustrated. I almost bought it and may have to go back to buy it.

[Louise]

My essay is now posted on my blog if you want to have a look. I got a 5 for it.

[Catherine]

I decided to skip this one. I kept up with the reading and the discussions, but nothing sparked. The books are OK, but they didn't really enthrall me or even interest me. It's not that I hate them, they're just... Meh. So, because I'm not taking the class for grades or anything, I just decided I wasn't going to work on something I just didn't enjoy. Wow! That really cleared up my mind for Dracula.

[Rae]

My essay is on the blog as well. The beginning is altered for a different audience and I added back a line or two I had to cut to keep in the word limit. I got a 3.5 for it. http://raerei.com/blog/2013/alice-and...

[Louise]

What comments did your peers make Rae?

[Rae]

Form was a 2 overall. The only space for improvement one peer saw what is the formatting of my works cited. I'd used the MLA citation standards, but it's not as readable as some other formats. So that's something to think about.

Content:
peer 1 → Too much quotes don't leave much space for the author's own thoughts.
peer 2 → An enriching read. I was especially affected by this part of your analysis: "Alice struggles with these new expectations. Throughout the book, she is asked to recite various texts she has memorized, but they all come out nonsense." You have got me thinking with that one! The rest of the essay was great too. I think your argument is especially persuasive because even in Looking Glass, Alice's progression from pawn to Queen indicates a similar pattern of growing in stature and experience, and coming out of one role into a new role. Well done.
peer 3 → The essay shows an understading of the work and the arguments make sense, but it feels like the arguments are not quite persuasive and significant.
peer 4 → The content is very good you have clearly stated your understanding of the text and you have clearly read a lot of literature out of the text to make your argument stronger. You have truly dedicated a lot of time to the essay. Keep it up..

If you can think of a way to improve my argument, let me know. Perhaps not mentioning the second book at made the essay feel a little lighter rather than tighter which is what I was trying for although no one mentioned it but it might have been in the subconscious.

Overall I think I did better on this essay than the last essay regardless of the score. So I'm not that fussed. If I get a better grade on Dracula I might start doubting my abilities since I was almost as rushed this week as I was for the Grimm essay and it got the better grade as well. :D

[Louise]

I think it is down to who the peers are Rae. A 2 for form is supposed to be what 80% of the essays get. On the basis of the marking system most essays should get a 4 overall.
I didn't include Alice in Wonderland at all and only gave one quote. Then a peer said it didn't prove that I had read the books.
I liked the way you put quotes in so I can't agree with peer 1 that it had too many quotes.
Peer 3 has said the arguments make sense but are not significant. In so few words one can't expect to write a significant thesis.
I would concentrate on the positive points.

[Rae]

Most definitely will do. It's hard to please anyone much less four people in only 320 words. But we can try. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's Dracula thoughts.

[Tegan]

I posted mine on my blog after my eval as well: http://libromancersapprentice.blogspo...

I managed a 5.5 on it, and deliberately focused on Alice in Wonderland rather than both.

I really wanted to do something about "Alice as Inspiration" - but I felt that went out of the bounds of the assignment and would also take more than 320 words.