TY - JOUR AB - <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 4.75pt 0cm 0cm; line-height: 22px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Nonsense is a genre many have experimented with but few have mastered in fine detail. In a time where change was imminent, Lewis Carroll skilfully employed the mechanisms of nonsense in his children’s books&nbsp;<i>Alice in Wonderland</i>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<i>Through the Looking-Glass</i>. This essay takes a closer look at how Carroll approaches the topic of authority and power within the social context of nineteenth century England. The first part of the analysis focuses on how power is initially distributed in the relationship between Alice and the imaginary creatures. It examines the girl’s physical and mental development that allows her to gain control over the unknown she is faced with. In the second part, the paper shifts its emphasis to language, investigating the power that meaning or no meaning (associated with nonsensical language) can have over the reader. Power is revealed as an object of the imagination that can redesign itself according to each person’s intellectual context and background.</span><b><span style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> AU - Amalia Mihailescu DA - 2014/5// DO - 10.5526/esj85 IS - 2 VL - 6 PB - University of Essex Library Services PY - 2014 TI - Power in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books T2 - Essex Student Journal UR - http://publications.essex.ac.uk/esj/article/id/121/ ER -