Can someone explain to me the meaning of the word play in Alice in Wonderland about the different branches of arithmetic - ambition, distraction, uglification and derision? I know that it is based on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division but where do the new words came from? I just don't get it...
Thanks
2007-11-06 02:27:16 · 7 answers · asked by Lara J 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I don't get it either - wow I'm confused! But I love the movie!
2007-11-06 02:30:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is not an example of either puns or satire. Carroll is employing malapropism - replacing words with similar-sounding but different-meaning words - as a literary device for the humorous effect.
2007-11-06 14:30:55 · answer #2 · answered by Charlie149 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Those are called puns. Words that sound like the words they are supposed to be representing, that swing the meaning off in a different direction.
People used to get things like puns, when people were still literate.
Now we live in the age of Harry Potter, and books are simply the thing you buy before you go see the movie version.
2007-11-06 10:35:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Lewis Carroll, the author, was also a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University.
2007-11-06 12:45:07 · answer #4 · answered by picador 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is called satire. Lewis Carroll's words are not meant to make sense. Just look at his characters. Do they make sense? No they don't. Does his poem Jabberwocky make sense. Absolutely not. He writes to poke fun at the political climate of his time, and for the readers to have fun, not to make sense of anything.
2007-11-06 10:37:24 · answer #5 · answered by ♂ ♫ Timberwolf 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
That was one of the most messed up books I have ever read. I think that Lewis Carroll was on something crazy when he wrote it.
2007-11-06 10:30:43 · answer #6 · answered by acetylene 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The idea is that "You cannot get it" because the author used words that are not the real ones. So, it seems that the aurthor maybe was not mathematically inclined (like me!) and so the concepts were beyond him. Or else, if he DID get math, he knew plenty of people who do not.
2007-11-06 10:37:08 · answer #7 · answered by thisbrit 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋