Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
8-2025
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Phyllis Thompson
Committee Members
Matthew Holtmeier, Scott Honeycutt
Abstract
Throughout Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass’s 160-year existence, Lewis Carroll’s seven-year-old protagonist has experienced many changes and alterations. With an ever-growing pop culture interest, Alice’s original narrative has undergone numerous adaptations, with each new variation diving deeper into the impact of trauma on Wonderland.
This thesis continues this existing discourse by examining Wonderland’s capacity to facilitate recovery in the aftermath of severe trauma. Through this research, the traumatic experiences of Alice, from Christina Henry’s The Chronicles of Alice: Alice and American McGee’s Alice: Madness Returns, are examined concerning their effect(s) on her construction of Wonderland, as well as her interactions within the realm. As a manifestation of her imagination, Alice’s navigation through Wonderland highlights its capacity to facilitate recovery by providing her with a safe-space to resolve the fragmentation of her traumatic memory and Self to reestablish a sense of wholeness within her mind and body.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Axton, Cheston A., "In a Safe-Space of Her Own: Alice's Journey through a Traumatized Wonderland to Find Attunement and Recovery" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4558. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4558
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.