Alice in Wonderland is a very popular children’s book by Lewis Carroll which is full of interesting characters for kids to enjoy, and for us to analyze. Although Alice was the only human, there are so many animals in this story with human characteristics. Whether this was Carroll’s main intention or an accident, these creatures are open to so much psychological interpretation and may be diagnosed with so many symptoms that humans have to suffer with daily. One animal that took place of a human and a humans disorders was the White Rabbit. There are many disorders that humans can have, but it is not yet discovered that animals can have some mental disorders as well. One disorder that the White Rabbit seems to have is Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This disorder is characterized by feeling pressure and worrying about everyday things. Anxiety could be beneficial, for example: working on an essay 1 hour before its due can really help you finish it quick, but sometimes there’s too much pressure. When you worry too much it can interfere with your daily routines and if you do it too much you might develop (GAD). People with (GAD) anticipate disaster and it makes getting by the day difficult. The white rabbit is not only displayed as a rabbit that’s constantly looking at his watch, but also resembles generalized anxiety disorder which has three symptom's such as irritability, A feeling of being on edge, restless, or “keyed up”, and socially awkward by his actions throughout the story.
Social awkward is one symptom the White Rabbit displays during the first chapter when Alice is following the White Rabbit. “When the rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, “if you please, sir---” the rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan,and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.(18) This shows that the rabbit seems to be either nervous or shy towards new people who are near him which makes him act crazy.
The White rabbit also shows irritability towards certain characters in the story based on their status. In other words the white rabbit acts differently towards Alice, the queen, and his slaves. When he mistakes Alice for his servant, he is very demanding saying “, “Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here?” Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!” in a angry tone.(42) Another scene is when Alice is (119-120) She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face. “Hush! Hush!” said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised himself upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered, “she’s under sentence of execution.” …....Alice gave a little scream of laughter. “Oh, hush!” the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. “The Queen will hear you! You see she came rather late, and the queen said--”(119-120) He is not intimidated by Alice but shows be be frightened by the queen hearing him talk as he whispers to Alice nervously. He also shows no respect towards his slave who yells “Do as I tell you, you coward!”. Overall he is not respectful with the characters who are inferior to him.
The feeling of being on edge,restless, or “keyed up” describes the White Rabbit when he is overwhelmed looking at his waistcoat-pocket and hurrying up repeatedly saying “oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!”(3) and “Oh! the duchess, the duchess! oh! won’t she be savage if Ive kept her waiting!” (17) The white Rabbit has so many worries about getting himself to the place at a certain time and on top of that worrying about not disappointing certain people that it drives him insane.
The way the Rabbit’s characterized is as if he had this disorder, which in life is limited to humans. The Rabbit has his role in the story and gets by with the disorder, but it does get in his way sometimes. He and the rest of the characters all show many things psychological and although this is a children's book we can learn a lot from it.
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