In what ways does Carroll in “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” create a dual audience of children and adults?

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll are literary works filled with imaginary details and constructed with metaphorical language that creates dilemmas about their genre and audience. Carroll’s imaginary characters, places and occasions, along with nonsense and poetic devices appeal children while content of these novels also address to the adult audience. Evolving from that, the idea that he has a dual audience of adults and children arose. This essay focuses mainly on the question: In what ways does Carroll in “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” create a dual audience of children and adults? The scope of this essay is mostly based on these two novels while secondary sources that investigate the audience are used as supplements, including literary commentaries, articles that lead the evaluation to be done based on characterization, imaginary elements, poetic and philosophical devices and content of the novels. The limitation of this essay is that it does not investigate what pushes Carroll to have a dual audience, or whether he specifically aimed to have one. Further research, or if possible, an interview with a close relative that knows the real story behind these novels might also be examined. This essay concludes that Carroll uses fantasy and poetic devices, sense and nonsense and characterization of the characters, Alice in particular, to target children’s fun-loving sides and curious minds; whereas content of the novels and their plots, philosophical interpretations of events and characters are utilized to inspire and excite adult audience. The essay acknowledges the techniques Carroll used to appeal both children and adults and answers the question of how he addresses to dual audience in his works, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass