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About Me
- Marta Magellan
- I write books for children, mainly on nonfiction topics, but also adaptations of folklore. I worked as a Professor of English, Creative Writing, Survey of Children's Literature, Issues in Literature and Culture, and World Literature. I also write an occasional newspaper or magazine piece (usually on nature or travel) as well as books for children.
Oh Lewis Carroll, what should I think of you? I'm so on the fence with my thoughts on him.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that puts the 'weird' into it all is his photo collection and I have to question the sudden break in communication between the Liddles and Carroll. Why would there be such a sudden separation?
On the other hand, maybe little girls were more imaginative and Carroll just preferred how they reacted to him.
The more I think about it, the more I try to find the good. That's what we want to think from someone who was a creative as Carroll. It's true that if you mention Alice in Wonderland to anyone, they will know what you are talking about. It's a story that has touched generations. So it's natural that we wouldn't want to think terrible things about him. However some of the photos he took were a little suggestive and that's where I add my skepticism.
Honestly, before seeing the video in class I always used to think that the guy who came up with Alice had to be a little crazy, because the book is a little off the wall.
I think we are still discussing the topic next class, but I just wanted to try and unwind my thoughts.
Until next time...
“You are innocent till proven guilty” and old saying states. From my point of view, that’s a very fair method to judge people around us. A long time ago, I heard inappropriate comments about this author; however, I wasn’t given any proof to support it, so I just rejected those rumors. Nevertheless, after watching the video I must admit that this aspect of his life possesses an odd even creepy taste. Apart from the comments about his intolerance for little boys and his formal sometimes rigid treatment to adults compared to his extremely “polite” behavior toward little girls, the pictures speak for themselves. One doesn’t have to analyze those photos too accurately in order to perceive details that indicate his “preference” for girls, and even though we can’t prove any inadequate behavior, we can certainly notice that Carroll felt a deep attraction for little girls, in both the spiritual and sexual senses. What else can we infer from the undressed girl picture?!
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, one should take into consideration his supposed ability to control those feelings and to manage them successfully if we want to believe that there isn’t any darker chapter in the life of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland author.
A while ago when I first read Alice in Wonderland, I had this speculation over the idea that something was different about Lewis Carroll. However, I was at a young age at the time, and did not put any reasoning towards the thought.
ReplyDeleteAfter paying close attention to fridays lecture, I came to the conclusion that Lewis Carroll did have an eccentric personality. His admiration towards the little girls did put my mind into a shock. Yet, at first I did believe that it was normal for an adult to play with young children. However, after analyzing his actions and realizing that he only liked to play and interact with "little girls," brought my theorization to a final result.
First of all, the photography collection of his, was a definite denotation of his fondness of "little girls." I could not imagine allowing my child to go undressed at such a young age, posing in such an inappropriate manner. Maybe at the time mothers did not mind other adults to take inappropriate photos of their children, however we are speaking about a male adult.
As a result, after analyzing Lewis Carroll's life story and his infatuation and devotion for "little girls," I have come to a conclusion, that he was a distinctive individual. One may never know the true reasoning of why there was a sudden separation between the Liddles and Carroll, however we do understand what he cherished the most and where he got the idea of "Alice in Wonderland."
The story of Alice in Wonderland was always one of my favorite stories growing up. In my mind, what makes this story a classic is its silliness, colorful and imaginative plot. To this day, I still adore the Disney film as well as the original book. I was very excited to study Lewis Carroll in class. The lecture on Friday, however, left me curious and puzzled as to what to believe of the author. I couldn’t help but question, did he truly love little girls with the mindset of a father, or did he really have a perverted mind and found them rather appealing? After thinking about everything we had discussed, I believe that without a doubt, there must have been some sexual perversion involved. However, like Professor Magellan stated, I think it truly was a, “Look don’t touch,” approach.
ReplyDeleteCarroll`s “hobby” of photographing young girls was definitely creepy as well as his picnic and outings with the Liddell girls. However, in the midst of this, he was smart in the sense that he would ask the mothers` permission before photographing and brought a chaperone along with the girls. This brought to my mind the case with Michael Jackson and how the parents involved allowed their children to come close to this man almost without question. Was it simply because of his genius and creativity or were they just naïve?
Carroll` s inspiration and favorite of the three Liddell daughters was Alice. I believe he did in fact have a deep love for this child, but perhaps not in the parental sense. “Through the Looking Glass,” gives a hint to his thought process as he said farewell to the real Alice after she married. However, there will always be a shroud of mystery since the pages of the diary were lost.
"Alice In Wonderland" is no doubt a real classic. In my opinion, it's a great way to symbolize the ambiguity of growing up. I really enjoy the craziness of this story; the caterpillar smoking opium on the mushroom and the never-ending tea party are definitely my favorites.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to his hobby of photographing little girls and spending time with Dean Liddle's daughters, in my opinion, Lewis Carroll was a bit odd. Even so, he was smart enough to bring along a chaperone whenever he was around little girls. Whether it was their mother, as in the case of photography, or the other man from Oxford. However, what really boggles my mind is what was going through the minds of the mothers. Were they really thinking that their 7 year old daughters looked like young women? While it could be that they thought that, it seems as if that would be something of today, not something of Carroll's time.
As weird and odd as Carroll might have been, "Alice In Wonderland" definitely had and still has a big influence on practically everything from literature to film to music. Everything and everyone seems to be inspired by this story.
I think Lewis Carroll was a strange, but the fact of the matter is, he came up with an incredible story. Even though he wrote it because Alice Liddle was growing up, it's still a fun, silly, but serious story, and that's what I like about it.
Carroll did have some weird tendencies, but he did love Alice Liddle. There's no doubt about that. Did he love her like a daughter? Probably not, but we can keep guessing.
I think Katie's last comment hit it on the head - we can keep guessing. Speculation on why he liked little girls so much will always be just that -- speculation. But Elizabeth Cole mentioned that she always thought whoever wrote "Alice" had to be a bit crazy from what was in his books. I certainly feel that way when I read "Through the Looking Glass." On the other hand, like more than one of you said, he still had some imagination, and he came up with an incredible (literally)and lasting story.
ReplyDeleteWow! Not sure where to begin here. Let's see... I have a little girl of my own and I can certainly see why people love little girls! They are cute, sweet, innocent, fun, loving and these are just a few superficial qualities that pop into mind. I am sure that Alice possessed all of these and more, which would give more than enough reason for Mr. Carroll’s obsession, I mean affection towards her. But in his case, it just did not seem pure or like the love an adult would normally express towards a child. It was more… troubling, at least in my opinion. Yikes! Don’t think I’d let him around my baby girl even if he wrote a timeless story about her!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I would like to say that I am much inclined to give Mr. Carroll the benefit of the doubt. I dislike the idea of passing negative judgment on a person, even posthumously, without a good reason. If Carroll did indeed do something unwholesome with the girls he spent much of his time with, then he does deserve to get some flak for it. If, on the other hand, he was completely innocent, then this speculation about pedophilia is nothing but an insult to his legacy. Regarding situations like this, I strongly prescribe to the philosophy of "better to let the guilty walk free than to punish the innocent."
ReplyDeleteIt's true, there is some evidence that Carrol's attraction to young girls had a sexual component. His photography of young girls seems to be rather suggestive, while his abrupt break from the Liddel family and the missing pages of his diary add fuel to the fires of speculation. Still, even if these theories have some merit, I believe that Carroll aught to be lauded for keeping himself under control and for channeling whatever feelings he did have into the constructive endeavor of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
As a child, I liked the classic of Alice in Wonderland because it made my imagination fly. Now that I read it and understand the symbolisms that it has, I appreciate it more. I think Lewis Carrol had great imagination, and it's shown in the story. If I would have read the story without knowing Carrol's biography, I would have thought that the he was a little crazy, but I would have never thought of him as a lover of little girls. I think he was weird but I don't think he ever did something to those girls. He just loved them. I know I'm naive, and these type of things (like pedophilia) are hard to fit in my mind. I rather think he was innocent and weird than crazy and abusive with little girls.
ReplyDeleteLewis Carroll was a strange man, that is all I can really say about him. I mean, yes, some of the things he has done mainly involving the photographs of little girls is needless to say creepy, but the man was a genius in every other aspect of his life. Unfortunately, to the mothers he conned into letting him take naked pictures of their daughters he had done nothing wrong, he had consent, so there is not much to be said about that. But, undoubtly I would have never in my life let my child take such pictures, revealing every ounce of her innocence, whether it was thought to be beautiful or not. other than the quirks of this strange man and his fascination for little girls I must admit as farfetched as Alice in Wonderland was no one can compare to it,the imaginatioin of it is brilliant, I willadmit that. It will forever be a masterpiece and ultimately that is what many care about; his side work with little girls was a disturbing, but that is not ultimately what he was known for.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we have many opinions about weather or not he liked little girls in an inappropriate way; however, it seems we do all agree that he was genius and he wrote a masterpiece. Now for those of you who are truly interested, there's always Through the Looking Glass.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that have amazed me most about taking this course is learning that most of the books I remember as a child were written centuries ago. It amazes me how creative authors were w/children's literature. The story of Alice in Wonderland is truly a spectacular, creative and imaginative masterpiece. Although, Caroll seems a bit unorthodox he clearly had a childlike imagination. I think that people may assume or question whether or not Caroll did anything w/little girls because of his "obsessive" like tone, but years ago people did not think the worse of others like today. If you go back to DaVinci's era, he was known to spend a lot of time w/a young boy, who wasn't a relative. Something that in today's day in age would be 100% inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteI like to believe in innocence, and Lewis Carroll's story of Alice is nothing more than a sweet introduction to early adolescence written for a little girl he thought must have been adorable. It is once we view the photographs of children, and in particular those we see as suggestive through a 21st century lens that are truly troubling. Those were different times back then, for the 19th century is also known as "the age of innocence."
ReplyDeleteAlice in Wonderland is actually a serious analysis of the transition from childhood to adulthood written with creative license and an extraordinary imagination, which were both trademarks in the writings of the romantic writers of the age. It is a beautiful piece of literature which is playful and wistful as it is thoughtful and analytical. I like to see Alice in Wonderland as it is: a dedication to someone Carroll cared for deeply and, in the end, a mild and sweet way to prepare an innocent little for all that is to come in adolescence. "It is what it is," as my best friend likes to say about overly complicated things, and in its simplicity I believe that it is the correct approach to the book. I can only judge Carroll if he and I were seated across from each other engaged in conversation about both idle and serious topics. Even then, man as much as animal is difficult to understand for both have an infinite collection of thoughts and experiences that forge their being; since Carroll was not even prosecuted and judged in man's courts I cannot use the law to compare his actions to those socially accepted at the time.
I think that he was a Pedophile. He may not have even acted upon his feelings but we will never know, and the world will continues arguing over this matter. I was persuaded by looking at the sensuality presented by the young girls in his photographs. Photography as a hobby is one thing specializing in little girls and sometimes naked little girls seems over the top for a hobby. It seems it was the only way to keep their innocence through the photographs. Maybe he wasn’t a Full out Pedophile, if not he was defiantly and admire of little girls. Being a pedophile is a sickness and although Carroll was talented and intelligent beyond belief I believe that he did have this sickness and he had to write in order to live through this absurdity. The evidence is clear when in “Alice” we find out that Carrols asked for Alice’s hand in marriage when she was still very young.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the movie and learning about carroll, my conclusion the man had issues and was slightly creepy. If he existed today, in todays society he'd probably be labeled a pedophile among other things and end up on the sex offender list. I don't know what those mothers were thinking letting there little girls get photographed like that. While he could write and while alice is a good story about growing up. You just can't get it out of your head the way this man operated. he obviously had a thing for the real alice. I have heard of going for younger woman but caroll was just ridculous. I guess what weighed lightly weighs heavier now.
ReplyDeleteThe closest thing for me growing up knowing the story of Alice in Wonderland was watching a half-baked, short-lived television show titled "Adventures in Wonderland." I did not ever watch the Disney movies or know anything else other than what these "real-life characters" showed me. Now that I have read the story as an adult and examined the large spectrum of themes and symbolisms, I think that I can look at the story differently than someone who reflects upon it with thoughts from his or her childhood and can just delve into the gory details.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I would like to give Carroll a slim chance of not being that creepy man who was a borderline pedophile (which seems to be the choice description), I cannot wrap my mind around him being anything less. Even though he lived in a sexually repressed Victorian society that did not have an abundance of pedophiles around the corner and lists that were sent in the mail announcing the newest member of that elite club (which you can join with the mere act of brushing up a child and winking suggestively) evidence clearly points to him as one!! Why, if you put him in modern times, the nude photographs and the sensual positions that he posed the little girls in would have him in jail and one of society's lowest members. Add in the factors that he surrounded himself with little girls, wrote letters to the real Alice expressing his attraction to her as a child when she married and did not act the same around older children, adults and quite frankly boys, the odds of an unnatural urges are there. Can I say he ever acted on them? No. The fact that there is no hard evidence to support the molestation charges some would like to label him with could very well be his saving grace. And as well as not having any hard evidence, the fact that he grew up as an older brother to seven younger sisters could have made it easier to connect with little girls. (Even if one would assume that he would still connect with them as they aged and therefore wouldn't be so afraid of middle age women.)
Yes he wrote a wonderful story that has transcended his time and is still firmly rooted in the newest generations, I will give him that...But at the same time, his obsession with little girls (because as it has been repeated multiple times he did NOT care for little boys) is disturbing to me. The only thing for certain, the arguments for and against Carroll do add to the excitement of the story and can make it more interesting by looking for hidden meanings and symbolisms to prove either side of the debate.
After learning about Lewis Carroll and his life I would have to say that I believe he loved children in general. Although he had a special interest in young girls, I think he had a fascination with childhood altogether. He was such a complex person who understood the difference of being a young child and a responsible and capable adult, however, he chose to remain on the side of being a carefree child. It’s safe to say that he grew up in the sense of becoming a professor and having a stable career; still, there was a significant part of him that longed to stay in “Wonderland” for eternity.
ReplyDeleteThe video and lecture basically described him as a man who feared to completely venture from childhood, as he had a special place in his heart for such a memorable chapter in a person’s life. The video made it seem like his hobby of photographing young girls was his method of freezing time, in a way which childhood would be grasped forever. From what I understand, his mind revolved around time itself and he simply could not fully understand why he could never erase childhood out of his mind. Whether it was writing Alice or playing around with little girls, he always seemed to be occupied with children and their simple lives.
Moreover, I believe he was an intricate man who dreamed of remaining young for as long as he could, vicariously living through other children, specifically girls, by reaching out to them and living a separate life, compared to his day job. In a sense, it was as if his reality wasn’t what he had hoped for, rather, his “second” life was what he desired the most; and that was to live his childhood as much as he could.
Lewis Carrol in my opinion was nothing but a very appreciative and dedicating writer. With extra time to make observation in Oxford it leads me to believe that he was only valuing a simple girl that stood out to him from all the other girls. Everyone has favorites and Alice Liddle probably was very different from any ordinary girl.
ReplyDeleteIt seems odd now in present days to accept that he cared for a girl that was not his daughter, but how can this only be in bad attempts to think of a girl sexually.Sure there were nude pictures that he took,but why cant this be taken in a form of art.
Those who write,dedicate they're writing to a full experience, not only by observing but by the experience,and live withing they're characters,in this case it was Alice.After reading the book it is evident that Alice's personality is very distinct like no other. This is why in my opinion Lewis Carrol had such great success in an original story like 'Alice in wonderland', starting with the care for an innocent persona.
I have a tendency to think the best of people and not judge too quickly but I also try not to be foolish enough to assume that everyone has good intentions. This is why I can't make up my mind about Lewis Carroll.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I can easily come up with excuses for his questionable behaviors: Perhaps his photography hobby can be seen as just artistic expression. Perhaps his love for little girls is just admiration of their unique perception of the world. I do think that little girls are different from little boys in the way that they represent innocence and maybe this is why Carroll preferred them. There is something almost miraculous about childhood that I think others, like Plato and William Wordsworth, recognized. Maybe this is all that Carroll appreciated.
On the other hand, I also wouldn't let him babysit for me. Even so, I prefer to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. I agree with Prof. Magellan; maybe he did have a subconscious attraction to girls, but in those days the subconscious was not discovered yet and therefore he wasn't even aware of these wrong feelings.
Overall, maybe his subconscious was guilty but I like to think that his intentions were innocent. Call me naive if you want, but I think sometimes the fault lies with our generation. We often attribute sexual innuendos where they were never meant to be and this skews our view of literature and of the world. Perverted people tend to think everyone else is perverted too- because that's all they see (I think this was the case with Freud- but that's a whole other blog)!
Lewis Carroll was a character indeed. I'm not quite sure I want to write him off as a pervert though. I understand he took pictures of young girls naked. That is something we call being a pervert. I believe he did have a sort of Peter Pan Syndrome, but knew when it was time to be an adult. The fact that he suddenly stopped taking those photographs without explanation, means something clicked. He suddenly must have understood how wrong it must have looked for an older man to be doing such a thing. There are some people who believe he took the pictures to catch the beauty of a childs innocence, and purity. I think if he truly believed that he would have taken pictures of little boys as well. But he did not, and that makes a difference. Unlike Tiffany, I believe he had the intentions. I think he just never had the courage or right situation to make a move, or at least that's as much as we know.(This is Angelica Quintero by the way. I'm not sure its going to post my name)
ReplyDeleteEven though Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was a good book, I think that Carroll's personal life was a little off. To me Carroll liked girls a little too much. The fact he loved little girls and took pictures of them, not to mention naked pictures, to me, confirms that he was sick in his mind. He might have been able to control his impulses but that doesn't mean that his thoughts were impure.
ReplyDeleteI think Lewis Carrol wrote one of the most incredibly tales of all times. There have been many remakes of movies and TV shows of Alice in wonderland. I believe that someone that writes a master piece like Alice in wonderland must love children. He was obviously obsessed with little girls, but there is no prove that he has ever had a sexual relation with any of them. I think he was too smart to act in a savage way. Maybe that obsession he had was what made Alice in wonderlad so perfect.
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ReplyDeleteLewis Carroll is a remarkable storyteller, who is still today paving the way for new writers. The only thing that most people can agree on is that he wrote one of the most vivid and eccentric stories of all time; the rest is just speculation. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds". I am not taking sides; I am not defending him nor attacking him; I do understand that evil is everywhere and Lewis Carroll was a very peculiar individual. It’s quite the predicament, how much do we really want to know about Lewis Carroll?
ReplyDeleteAlthough Lewis Carroll's pedophiliac tendencies are alarming when considering his stature as a children's book author, what is most disturbing may be the cautious denial of Lewis Carrol Society members interviewed for the video. They apply the (cleverly masked) innocence of his children's literature to the man himself.
ReplyDeleteWhen people learn about Christopher Columbus peddling nine and ten year old girls from the now extinct Arawak Haitian tribes into sexual slavery, they are alarmed. When people find out that Lewis Carroll was expanding upon a photographic portfolio of pre-pubescent girls in sexualized poses, their eyes seem to go distant. Why is that? Maybe the reason is because Alice is so deeply rooted in our culture. Who wants to find out that the book their parents read to them before bedtime was written by a possible child molester?
As an aside, Carroll prefered his models to be of the upper class, most likely because sexual deviance was thought to correlate to lower class status. Because many children entered the workplace by age twelve, those of that age were thought to be adults and no longer held much interest to the author. In "Pleasures Taken: Performances of Sexuality and Loss in Victorian Photographs", by Carol Mavor, the author states that Lewis Carroll teetered upon the boundaries of perversion. "The oil painting over the photograph of beggar Alice [Alice Liddell as a Beggar-Child, c. 1858] signifies culture and fantasy and ensures that this is art and not life. But how different the effect might have been if Alice were of the working class. One suspects that he would never have dressed Coates [a conservatively dressed, working-class model employed by Carroll] in seductively ripped clothes." [p.39]
Carroll's need to preserve young beauty may have been nothing more than something like pressing flowers, but the evidence doesn't point in that direction.
As a child I remember feeling peculiar as I watch Alice in Wonderland. I think it is probably because of the metaphorical ways it explores the idea of growing up. Even if the author was suspected of petafiliac intentions the story itself I find to be inoscent of such suspicions. The only hue that can be critized is the scene with the catapillar. The catapillars character though, is rather vague to the extent that he can be viewed as simply arrogant or self absorbed. The story itself I find to be incredibly active with imagination. All the details in character and adventures are very original. Lewis Carroll had such a creative way of using time as a central theme. The experimentation of time and space perception is brilliant. It is such a great fantasy because of the elements that withdraw from everyday realities.
ReplyDeleteAs far as his actions torward little girls, I am not sure how to feel. It is very possible that he himself did not know why he felt the way he did. It would make it even harder if I knew he had malicious intentions torward them. I think that would have colored my judment with more certainty. While the photographs give enough evidence to see that he had a vision for little girls that were far from simple admiration. This evidence does not change that Alice in Wonderalnd is a great story .
As I've mentioned before, I'm bad at reading between the lines, so once again, I missed a blatantly obvious theme the first time I read Alice. I missed the whole theme about being in that stage between adult and child. This theme is all-encompassing in the story and I think that says a lot about the author.
ReplyDeleteHe shows a certain disdain for adult women, and a reluctance for Alice to grow up and growing up in general. Just that is enough to make a person wonder at Carrol's sexual preferences. Add to that a strong friendship between himself and a bunch of little girls and a nearly unhelthy on between himself and one particular girl (Alice) and you've got the makings of a pedophile.
I think it'spossible that he may never have done anything to a girl in his life, but I think we can almost state this as a fact: Carrol was attracted to little girls. He even took nude pictures of them! There's no way that was purely artistic. If it was, he might've taken nude pictures of women, men, boys, anyone else. Also, the pictures wouldn't all have been so sensual. He clearly had a desire for these little girls that went beyond the norm.
But who knows? Maybe he never acted on these desires...
Lewis Carrol seems like a very confused person. He lived two different lives eventhough he was a college professor and a true gentlemen for that fact he rather spend is spare time writing and playing with little girls. There is a childlike quality he like to share with these young girls and he loved how they were so fascinated by his stories. To me its rather odd that a man of his intellect would like to spend his spare tiem with young girls instead of woman of his age and be more adultlike. Not saying that having a childliek behavior is ocmpletely wrong everyone is allowed to act like they are a little kid again by feeling nostalgic at one point when its a constant thing and almost an alter ego it becomes a great concern.
ReplyDeleteI was particularly disturb by the photography not so much of the young girls but the ones of them not fully clothed or scantily dressed and the fact that parents were letting this man take photos of there daughter like that bothered me as well. Lewis Carrol is a brilliant and creative man, I respect his imagination he created a classic that will always be passed on throughout the years he made a fantasy world liek no other yet his desires for young girls is the only thing that sickens me. I dont find it normal for a grown man to continue to want that desire the object of most of his affection started with alice but even when she was older he still wanted her to be a little girl and the connection they once had was lost because of his disturbed mind most likely. People probably started noticing it wasn't normal for him to be taking photos like that and always wanting to play with them.
His fantasy world describes alot of how children always think they are smarter or bigger than what they are and by knowledge it stains a childs pure innocense and I'm guessing he enjoyed watching the purity of these little girls and how he was the one to tell them tall tales of the fantasy world and fill there minds with wonderment. Anyone knows telling stories to younger kids is always fun because they get so into it and they start using their imagination yet when you start growing up thats when you start realizing reality and imagination are two different things and it seems like Lewis Carrol could get along with these girls because they knew exactly how he thought and that he was just as pure as them living in a fantasy world.
Up till this day, Carroll's stories of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' & 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There' (I have read both stories countless times) are among my favorite books ever. There is no denying that he indeed was a great writer. However, as far as his personal life goes, his controversial 'love' for little girls is something I can only leave in speculation.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea that he was sexually attracted to girls is something we see now more because we judge it as if it were in our own period in time. If, at THAT time, something as low as the act of pedophilia or subtle pedophiliac tendencies were made, wouldn't had Carroll paid severely? Sure there are the pictures and all, but if there was a 'malevolent' action behind it, such as sexual drive of seeing these young girls naked, why would the parents of the girls allow it? I mean, after all, Carroll didn't just grab them off the street and randomly began taking pictures of them...he did ask the parents for consent.
Maybe Carroll had pedophilic tendencies, or just a misunderstood man. We may never find out and can only be left to speculate, but as long as we can speculate and there is no hard proof of him being a pedophile, I go by the belief that Carroll didn't mean any form of harm upon the girls and on his name.
ok......... how to get into this without sounding strange or weird .. this is by NO means a justification yet ... i feel what drew carroll to little girls is the same thing that keeps petter a child the malleability that children have .... dose he not mold alice from woman to child thru out the whole story ...
ReplyDeleteNicholas Sylver
ReplyDeleteWhat a debate this has brought up. I am not sure myself what I would categorize this as. My mind still has not decided on which side to take in this Carrol regalia. Normally I would not jump to a conclusion without knowing the said perpetrator in real life. But for a comment to this blog, it seems as if a stone cold decision is preferred.
Yes, I would have to say he was a lover of children. Taking pictures of little girls, and the fact that he based a whole story could cause a person to come to such a conclusion. However, it is questionable to think rather he was a perverse man, or just a person that loved the phsyce of children in particular.
It is my opinion and belief that there HAD to be something wrong with Lewis Caroll. His obsession with little girls is far too much; sadly, not many people in his time even bothered to notice his obsession. What I found to be incriminating was the fact that he actually photographed these girls nude.
ReplyDeleteFor those that say that there was nothing wrong with Lewis Caroll and that he loved these girls like a father, all I'd really have to say is: imagine Michael Jackson as a University professor asking to photograph little boys. Get the picture?
It's trully a shame no one called out Lewis Caroll to be a pedofile in his time - I guess it just wasen't uncommon or society didn't view it as something horrendously wrong.
In my opinion I think that Lewis Carroll loved children, but I think that he loved little girls more, I do have to admit that after looking at the video I kind of felt a little bit creep out by the whole situation. While seeing pictures of little girls it kind of made it looked like a pedophile, but if it was for artist point of view then I guess it would be considered a work of art and admired, but after reading Alice in Wonderland, one has to think it over and analyzing if there was something more to him loving little girls. I think that he was mostly fond of little girls because of their curiosity and how Alice stood out from other little girls.
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