Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a tale of a little girl who is trying to become an adult. She comes into many situations where being able to adapt is the only way that she will get by. She starts off slow but in the end she held the strength and composure to get through it all.
The central theme of Alice's adventures is her struggle to adapt to the rules of this new and strange world that she has fallen into. This is really Alice's struggle to adapt to the strange rules and the behavior of adults. Out of nowhere a little white rabbit walks by. He is all worried that he will be late for his scheduled appointments. Just like a working adult would be in the adult world. The story starts off with Alice following the bunny down the hole. This shows Alice is still very childish because she has no clue where the hole will lead or if she will be stuck once she gets down there. Once she gets down into the hole she sees a lot of doors and one little small one. Then she sees a key which will only fit in the tiny door. She realizes that she will not fit into the door so she thinks that she is stuck. She looks on a close by table and grabs a little drink. She shows some signs of growing up by looking for a poison sign on it but then shows that she still has some maturing to do when she drinks out of a cup that is just sitting there. After drinking the cup she starts to shrink and she finally can fit through the little door. Then she remembers that she left the key on the table and cannot reach it. This shows how foolish children can be sometimes in their means to an end. .
Alice then sees a piece of cake with a sign that says eat me. She waits a little while and then becomes a giant. Her change in size and her thoughts of her own identity reflect the difficulties of growing up. The changes of her size could also suggest the sudden changes of puberty and the development of a woman.