Saving student's sanity with daydreams and rabbit holes by Devon-Marie

Saving student's sanity with daydreams and rabbit holes by Devon-Marie - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

High school is one of the most confusing times in a person's life; between attempting to find the path to self discovery and deciding what dream is calling the loudest, it can seem like the world is going to swallow you up and spit out a mangled pile of mush where hope used to be. Physically, high school cannot be avoided; but with the perfect book and some imagination it can seem distant for a while. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the perfect way to survive high school and preserve those aspirations for the future.

Think back to childhood and simpler times; when everything was turned into playtime instead of an essay. Then comes the early teenage years; a new chapter in life, one that discourages thinking in Technicolor. There comes a point that every teenager reaches, when the choice is made to follow dreams and imaginings of years ago; only now the adolescents have forgotten what it is like to think freely. They have crammed themselves into society's boxes and hidden from their fears so often and so well that being released from these confinements is both freeing and horrifying.

Now imaging every confused and anxiety ridden student picking up Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and learning of a little girl, bored out of her wits until she decides to make a decision on her own and follow a rabbit. Teenagers are able to sympathize with Alice's stupid mistakes, and despite the impractical nonsense at the surface, interpret each of Alice's escapades as a parallel to their own lives. Adults are as confusing as the Caterpillar or a mock trial, and seem to act as unwieldy as the Red Queen herself. Life is like a caucus-race; no matter how much effort is put in the end never seems close. But Alice always continues on, refusing to be swayed in her actions; she acts as a role model for these adolescents.

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a story about facing fears, change, and believing in oneself. Not only is it an easy and interesting read that provides a means by which high school students can take a deep breath just enjoy life, it serves as a type of therapy for a stressful chapter in their lives. By reading this novel these kids learn that in many ways each and every one of us is Alice.