'Life, what is it but a dream?'

This morning, I finished reading Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. What amazing worlds Carroll has created! I love the magic and mystery and childishness of it all. I love the lands of nonsense that are so random yet make so much sense all at the same time; it's like logic to the point of being illogical (or so illogical its logical...). I love both stories the entire way through...until the end. When Alice wakes up, it all having been some elaborate, juvenile dream; a fantasy. Now, don't get me wrong, dreams are lovely things, especially the childish kind, and these books show just how magical the mind of a child can be. BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A DREAM?! This is a work of fiction, a cute little story created for a child to enjoy. Isn't that what stories are about? For both the young and the old, stories provide an escape, a chance for us all to go wandering around some other world, having crazy adventures and forgetting our own dull lives for just a short while. Contrary to the title quote of this blog, life is not a dream (or maybe it is, but that's a philosophical discussion that I don't wish to get lost in right now...), that's why we need fairytales. Reaching the end of an otherwise highly satisfying book to find it was all a wild concoction of the protagonist's mind...well, talk about anti-climax.

I guess I'll overlook this, though, as the stories are actually a work of genius. That, and the fact that I do not wish to offend one particular friend of mine, who loves these tales more than life itself... almost. :)