In the Victorian era of 1865, lived a man by the name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson, alias Lewis Carroll. A true lover of children, he believed that they were the soul of the community and the link to his childhood. Out of love and generosity to one of his good friend's daughter, Alice Liddell, he wrote a novel of her adventures in a mystical place named Wonderland. Along with love and merriment on her way, Alice encounters scenarios that would devastate a young child's mind such as when, "In a bit of confusion he [Mad Hatter] bit a large piece of his teacup instead of the bread and butter" (Carroll 105). Considering "much of the children's literature was purposeful and dour" at the time Carroll went against the grain of the other writers and decided to write the novel with an abundant amount of satires (Stanley 30). The work of Lewis Carroll in the novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicts the usage of drugs and phallic symbols and creates an absurd amount of confusion in a child's life, thus such a book should be solely for the enjoyment and entertainment of adults.
Through out the duration of the novel young Alice confronts many different possible modern scenarios toward drug abuse and hallucinations. "And it [the caterpillar] put the hookah into its mouth, and began smoking again" (Carroll 52). When the caterpillar exhibits the nature of smoking when becoming agitated, he red flags the reader, due to its similarities to what many drug abuses turn to in times of distress. The Caterpillar became frustrated in Alice's inability to comprehend what he was explaining to her. Instead of calming his emotions, as would a healthy person, he began to ignite the end of his hookah and inhale deeply. In fact "some critics have seen in his hookah smoking and magic mushroom intimations of drug use" thus proving the fact that it is not out of the picture to believe such a hidden meaning exists (Howes 120).