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Making space : the subversion of authoritarian language in Lewis Carroll's Alice books

The works of Lewis Carroll show an abiding interest on the part of the author in the relationship between education, language and authority. In particular, the Alices are the story of a young girl who must learn to deal with a variety of characters in dream-worlds where the power of language reigns. It is therefore necessary for Alice to learn how language is used for authoritarian purposes and to discover ways of defending herself against it. It is the purpose of this thesis to investigate, in many cases for the first time, the ways in which Alice is able to find "spaces" in language where authority breaks down, places where the fundamental nature of language is unable to support authoritarian use. In this way, "space" will become both a metaphor and a figurative model for Alice's growing knowledge of and resistance to authority.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33877
Date January 2002
CreatorsBourgeois, David C. C.
ContributorsConway, C. A. (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of English.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001872772, proquestno: MQ78993, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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