The Parallel Worlds of the Book of Job and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Abstract

The book of Job (hereafter italicized to differentiate it from the character of Job) and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are both famous for breaking the rules of genre and language. Both stories are told through a frame tale that brackets a series of debates. These debates are full of occasionalisms, visual jokes, homographs, homophones, double entendre, and even triple entendre. Both make use of similar literary devices, such as parody, fourth-wall jokes, and unexpected cliffhangers. Job and Alice go through similar character development, in which they must question their presuppositions and learn simple honesty about how complex societal systems work in the world. This article argues that the breaking of genre rules helps Job and Alice become honest voices of protest, challenging the rules of authority and those who blindly defend them.