The Binary Opposition of Child vs Adult Shown Through Alice’s Experiences in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass (1871)

Triani, Anita (2026) The Binary Opposition of Child vs Adult Shown Through Alice’s Experiences in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass (1871). S1 thesis, Universitas Andalas.

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Abstract

Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass presents a symbolic world characterized by inconsistency, absurdity, and inexplicable authority. Within this setting, the main character, Alice, as a representation of the child character, becomes the center of a symbolic conflict between logic and chaos, between rationality and power. This study is motivated by the need to understand how child identity is constructed in literature through opposition to adult figures. The objective of this research is to examine how the binary opposition between child and adult is structured within the narrative and how Alice responds to symbolic adult control. This study is grounded in Claude Lévi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposition, which posits that meaning is produced through structured symbolic contrasts. The method employed is descriptive qualitative analysis, using close textual reading. The data were analyzed by focusing on Alice’s interactions with characters such as the Red Queen, White Queen, and Humpty Dumpty, in order to identify patterns of resistance and narrative strategies used by Alice to maintain her identity and agency. The findings show that Alice is not portrayed as a passive child, but as a figure representing coherence, rationality, and epistemic strength. Through logical questioning, emotional steadiness, and rejection of absurdity, Alice challenges adult authority without exiting the symbolic system. Carroll’s use of binary opposition reveals a reversal of traditional roles between children and adults, positioning the child’s resistance as a central force in deconstructing incoherent authority.

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