Talk:Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

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I have recently read Alice in Wonderland. I checked it out from the library, and found it a most difficult book to read. Much of it made no sense. However, I did conclude that Carol was a drug user. I mean, the mushroom, the hookah. There are so many things about that book that could most undeniably be a trip on shrooms or acid. The Disney movie didn't help much either, with all the colors and everything all over the place. I've done shrooms once and I didn't like it, but once was enough to be able to associate the trip with the movie. I mean, I felt like I was lost in some sort of wonderland. Then I watched the movie while I was on it. You do weird things, like my girlfreind. I went up to her and held her hand while on it. She looked at me and just said, "why are you touching me?" not angry, just asking. As I look back, that just reminds me of the way the characters were in the movie, and book. It's hard to explain if you've never done them, I just wanted someone elses opinion. I was just wondering if anyone else agrees with me. Perhaps someone has read other more intellegent peoples theories as to why this seems to be a drug users story.

A typical attitude of modern day drug users towards children stories with fantasy elements... seriously, opium was a common recreational substance (it is also what the caterpillar smoked, hence forgetting things), legal at that time in Britain, according to my knowledge. 82.139.47.117 12:17, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Opium would indeed have been available in Victorian Britain, but there are stories much older- Little Red Riding Hood, which encourages transvetism, or Goldilocks, which encourages intrusion, theft and vandalism- that could be equally construde as unsuitable to children, but few parents discourage the reading of them. I also would dispute the fact that either of the Alice books are difficult to understand. If you do find them difficult, however, I would recommend another book, "The Annotated Alice" by Martin Gardner. Anything that is too "Victorian English" for any reader now will become instantly clear on reading it, I think. CO.