Lewis Carroll Essay -- Lewis Carroll Biography Biographies Essays

Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll is a well known and talked about author, whose writings have stirred up much controversy. His work has inspired ballot, puppet shows, and even music videos. (Vink). Lewis Carroll is an outstanding English writer because of his background, his position in English literature, and his many works, such as his novel, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† â€Å"‘Lewis Carroll,’ as he was to become known, was born on January 27, 1832 (Leach 1). He was raised on a parsonage that was located in the middle of a cornfield. The family even raised livestock to supplement their income. Carroll was the oldest of four boys and seven girls. He referred to his mother as â€Å"‘one of the sweetest and gentlest women that ever lived,’ and was notable for the energy with which she ran the household.† ( Carpenter and Prichard 97). She taught all her children at home while they were young. His father was an ordained priest. It was in 1843 when Carroll was eleven, the family moved to Yorkshire. This was a much more lucrative living arrangement; in fact, the house was â€Å"... so big that Mr. Dodgson was able to find room on the grounds for a school holding about [sixty] children† (97). At twelve, Carroll was sent to grammar school at Richmond where he was happy and hard- working. However, two years later he was sent on to a small private school at Rugby, where he was apparently bullied. Something he wrote a few years later aroused the suspicion that he may have suffered from some form of sexual abuse while at Rugby, but this is only a speculation. â€Å"He left Rugby at the end of 1849 and ...went on in January 1851 to Oxford: to his father’s old college, Christ Church† (Leach 2). After only two days, he had to return home because â€Å"his mother had died of ‘Inflammation of the Brain’– perhaps meningitis or a stroke – at the age of forty- seven† (2) This did not seem to distract Carroll much or if it did it did not show, for he returned right back to Oxford where â€Å"the following year he achieved a first in Honour Moderations, and was nominated to a Studentship (2). He later won the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship that he held for twenty-six years. â€Å"The income was good but the work bored him† (2). â€Å"He became deacon of the Church of England in 1861 but chose not to go further† ( Bla... ...e in which many pages from his diary were missing. Years later after Alice was married, Carroll sent her a letter that read, â€Å"I’ve had scores of child friends but they have been quite a different thing† (Vink). It was six years after Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that he decided to write the sequel to it called Through the Looking Glass. â€Å"The story was based on a chess game which is believed by some that is represents Alice becoming as adult and when Alice wins the chess game, Carroll loses Alice† (Vink). Without a doubt, Lewis Carroll is truly an outstanding English writer as a result of his background, his position in English literature, and his many writings, including his novel, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† One critic had this to say about Lewis Carroll: He had a knack for being able to make the oldest person feel as if he/she was seven and a half, and following a rabbit, or any other animal that people think of when they see, or hear the words, â€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.† What they do not think of are the oddities Lewis Carroll put so much thought into while writing the book (www.studyworld.com).