Choice: A Building Block in Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and The Matrix
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Matrix are two very famous pieces of literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll and was published in 1865. The Matrix was directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, or the Wachowski brothers and was released in 1999. Like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Matrix also has a sequel (The Matrix has two sequels and an animated version). The Wachowski Brothers were inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the theme, choice. The Matrix has many similarities to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, including similarities in setting, plot, theme and characterization. Many of the similarities in these two books revolve around the common theme of choice.
When Alice first saw the White Rabbit, she was not forced to go and follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole. In fact, she chose to follow this rabbit and this one choice created a whole story. Her choice got her thrown into a completely unknown world of confusion and absurdity. Neo finds himself in the same situation. In The Matrix, Morpheus holds two pills in front of Neo and tells him, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” Morpheus was not holding a gun to Neo’s head while giving him the options. He said it calmly, with no force at all. Neo, like Alice, opted to enter the land of confusion by choice.
The White Rabbit may symbolize the entrance to the new world because in both works the White Rabbit was involved in bringing the protagonist to his/her destination. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice follows the White Rabbit into the rabbit hole. In The Matrix, Neo gets a message on his computer to follow...