Down the Rabbit Hole Analysis in Freudian Sence

Down the Rabbit Hole Analysis: Freudian

In the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Alice slips into a deep sleep, symbolized by the fall down the rabbit hole, once in wonderland, we see many acts of her subconscious showing their head, and setting the book up for an extended psycho-analysis of Alice. What she chases throughout this book is the white rabbit, which symbolizes her innocence that she is trying to hold onto.

In Alice in wonderland, at the beginning right before Alice disappears into the rabbit hole, “Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank”(p.1) This suggests that Alice was falling asleep, as her. The fact that she was getting tired before going into the rabbit hole advocates the possibility that she has fallen asleep. As soon as Alice enters the rabbit hole, she falls” Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end!”(p.2) Alice is falling down a long never-ending hole. This long fall can be connected to Alice’s fall through the dream levels, into the deep level 4 sleep. This explains that the setting of the book is inside Alice’s dream.

When Alice is Dreaming, it becomes apparent that Alice’s dreams represent her inner turmoil as she grows up, and her loss of innocence. As Alice sits by her sister, she sees a rabbit with a waistcoat and watch go down a rabbit hole. “In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” Alice chases a white rabbit, which causes her to appear in wonderland. White in the literary world represents innocence; this symbolism represents Alice trying to restrain her innocence that is desperately running away from her. When Alice reaches Wonderland, she sees a garden, “she decided on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key” The garden represents a land of beauty, and the key represents innocence. This suggests...