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LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
2005
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R. Nichole Rougeau
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
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Rougeau, R. Nichole, "Alice's shadow: childhood and agency in Lewis Carroll's photography, illustrations,
and Alice texts" (2005). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3388.
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3388
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ALICE’S SHADOW: CHILDHOOD AND AGENCY IN LEWIS CARROLL’S
PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND ALICE TEXTS
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
The Department of English
by
R. Nichole Rougeau
B.A., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1997
M.A., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1999
May 2005
©Copyright 2005
R. Nichole Rougeau
All rights reserved
ii
Dedication
I dedicate this project to all who have supported my research academically, financially, and
emotionally.
iii
Acknowledgements
As I complete this dissertation project, I want to thank all who have contributed to my
research and education. I must first begin with those individuals who served as academic
mentors for this project. I could not have accomplished such a feat without the guidance of my
dissertation director, Dr. Jim Borck. Dr. Borck taught me how to take my bucket of disjointed
thoughts and paint a polished central argument. He served as my advocator when others were
quick to dismiss my interests, and for that I am deeply appreciative. I would also like to
acknowledge the support of my dissertation committee Dr. Sarah Liggett, Dr. Rebecca Crump,
Dr. Teresa Buchanan, and Dr. Elena Castro. Each member provided insightful information in the
form of literary suggestions, loaned secondary sources, and desperately needed revisions. And I
must thank the English department at Louisiana State University who has kept me gainfully
employed during the period in which I worked on this project. I would especially like to thank
Dr. Irvin Peckham who continually found teaching assignments for me to help defray the costs of
this project.
Second, I would like to thank Linda Briscoe Meyers, Director of the Photography
Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at
Austin, and Karen Schoenwaldt, Registrar of the Rosenbach Museum and Library in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for their help in locating and giving permission for reprinting some of
Lewis Carroll’s photographs. Both women eagerly provided me with the materials I needed for
the bulk of my argument on nineteenth century photography of children.
A third group of individuals I need to address in these acknowledgements are my fellow
classmates at Louisiana State University. I will be forever indebted to the numerous “sounding
board” sessions and the useful suggestions for secondary sources and focus they provided on a
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daily basis. I especially would like to thank Liz Beard who endured late night phone calls and
offered encouragement no matter how small the accomplishment.
Finally, I want to acknowledge those dearest to me, my family. While it is impossible to
name every single extended family member who has supported my endeavors throughout the
years, I do appreciate your love. However, it is my parents, Jim and Sandy Rougeau, to whom I
owe the most thanks. My mother never allowed me to quit no matter how many times I
threatened to do so. My dad shared his wisdom, and I thank him for his last minute editing
sessions. My parents are my confidants; I could not imagine finishing this journey without them.
I must also thank my only sibling, my brother, Specialist Michael Rougeau of the 256th National
Guard Brigade, who is currently serving our country in Iraq so that others may share the same
freedoms I experience daily. However, none of my academic pursuits would be worth while if I
did not share it with my love, Chad Vanderford. Chad is my companion, the one with whom I
will spend the rest of my life. He refuses to see and expects nothing but the best from me. His
continuing support makes me want to do my best in all that I attempt. Thank you.
v
Table of Contents
Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………...iii
Acknowledgements…...…………………………………………………………………………..iv
List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………vii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...ix
Chapter 1. Introduction: Shadows, Agency, and Childhood
in the Works of Lewis Carroll………………….…………………………………………1
Chapter 2. In the Shadows of Adults: Lewis Carroll
and the Lineage of the Nineteenth Century Child……………………………………….10
Chapter 3. Capturing Childhood: Lewis Carroll’s
Fictionalized Child in Nineteenth Century Photography………………………….……..44
Chapter 4. The Agency of Illustrating Childhood:
John Tenniel and Lewis Carroll’s Illustrations of the Alice Texts…...……………….…89
Chapter 5. Deciphering Shadows: Language and Childhood in the Alice Texts……………...134
Afterword. Following Alice’s Shadow: Child Identity in
Peter Pan, Harry Potter, and Series of Unfortunate Events……..………………….…178
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………....186
Appendix: Letters of Permission to Reproduce Images………….…………………………....191
Vita……………………………………………………………………………………………..195
vi
List of Figures
3.1 Coates photographed by Lewis Carroll
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin………………………………………………….……57
3.2 Iphegenia, or Evening Sun photographed by O.G. Rejlander
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin…………………………………………….…………63
3.3 Beatrice Hatch photographed by Lewis Carroll
Rosenbach Museum and Library..……………………………………….………………74
3.4 Evelyn Hatch as gipsy photographed by Lewis Carroll
Rosenbach Museum and Library………………………………….……………………..77
3.5 Evelyn Hatch reclining nude photography by Lewis Carroll
Rosenbach Museum and Library…………………………….……………………….….79
3.6 Xie Kitchin as a Chinaman photographed by Lewis Carroll
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin…………………….…………………………………84
3.7 Ethel Hatch in Turkish dress photographed by Lewis Carroll
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin……………….………………………………………84
3.8 Xie Kitchin as Chinaman watercolor over albumen print
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin……………………………………………….……....85
3.9 Irene MacDonald photographed by Lewis Carroll
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin…………………………………………………….…85
4.1 “Alice was beginning to get very tired” Lewis Carroll………………………………………98
4.2 “Alice led the way” Lewis Carroll…………………………………………………………...98
4.3 “She had quite a long argument with the Lory” Lewis Carroll………………………….…102
4.4 “An enormous puppy was looking down at her” Lewis Carroll…………………………....102
4.5 Drawing of Alice Liddell by Lewis Carroll………………………………………………...103
4.6 Alice and the mouse by Lewis Carroll…………………………………………………..…107
vii
4.7 “Serpent Alice” by Lewis Carroll…….………………………………..…………………..108
4.8 Alice grows after eating the cake by Lewis Carroll.……………………..…………………108
4.9 Alice finds the door behind the curtain by Lewis Carroll……………….……………….…110
4.10 Alice talks to the White Rabbit by Lewis Carroll..……………………………………….111
4.11 Alice listens to the Lory by Lewis Carroll……..………………………………………....111
4.12 Alice in the pool of tears by John Tenniel………………………………………………...123
4.13 Alice finds the hidden door by John Tenniel……………………………………………...123
4.14 Alice and the White Rabbit by John Tenniel……………………………………………...124
4.15 Alice grows tall by John Tenniel………………………………………………………….127
4.16 “Why there they are!” John Tenniel……………………………………………………....127
4.17 “Then the words don’t fit you” John Tenniel…………………………………………..…131
viii
Abstract
The nineteenth century marks the emergence of a new literary market directed at the
entertainment of children. However, a dichotomy exists concerning the image of childhood.
Adults tended to idolize childhood in literature to reflect on their own lives ignoring the needs of
children to possess an identity of their own. Essentially children are shadows of adults.
Examinations of the shadows of childhood—children as shadows of adults, children shadowed
by adults, the shadows as identifying children, and the shadows children themselves cast—lead
to a discussion of agency over childhood. Lewis Carroll, entering this new literary market with
his Alice series, identifies the misconceptions of childhood calling attention to the shadowed
truth in his photography, illustrations and literature.
This dissertation integrates psychological, cultural, visual and linguistic analysis in an
effort to create a lens through which we can expand our understanding of children and literature
written for and about children. Specifically, Lewis Carroll’s Alice series serves as an exemplary
text on which to base discussions of childhood and the child-literary audience in relation to
children as muses for poetry, photographic subjects, illustrated figures, and literary characters.
Examining eighteenth- and nineteenth-century education manuals as well as the romantic works
of William Blake and William Wordsworth, I trace the various forms of shadows used to discuss
childhood. I call on the theories of Perry Nodelman, Lev Vygotsky, Benjamin Lee Whorf, and
Sigmund Freud to conclude that Carroll uses these shadows to dispel previous notions of
children but also to empower the nineteenth-century child in his photography, illustrations, and
Alice books. Furthermore, I extend this lens to discuss images of children in the twentieth and
twenty-first century texts of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and
Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events series to argue that contemporary literature for
ix
Description:childhood as he does “sans habille.” Children are neither saintly good nor horribly evil. My intent with this dissertation, then, is to create a lens through
