The Queen of Wonderland

This is the reason why I have chosen the Adventure in Wonderland theme to illustrate the nature of anorexia nervosa:

Like the anorexic, Lewis Carroll’s Alice was quite clueless about why she felt compelled to follow the white rabbit down the hole into a maddening underworld adventure. Alice’s story isn’t one of those ancient myths that some analysts like to use as an example of how archetypal symbolism can appear in mental disorders. One of the most popular myths that Jungian theorists like to use to illustrate the fate of the anorexic is the abduction of Persephone into the underworld. Although I could have based the theme of my book upon the Persephone myth, I personally prefer Alice’s style of curious serendipity to Persephone’s style of surrendering to fate. Nonetheless, I also use the Persephone myth in my book to illustrate some archetypal concepts because it introduces important characters such as the archetypal mother, Hecate the Wise Woman, and the Demon Lover. The Demon Lover in a prominent figure in many anorexic’s fantasies, and he is also behind the omnipotent voice that told Alice that she was fat and ugly.

The ancient Greek story of Persephone was one of the original myths that personify the archetypal quest to become a Queen of the Underworld. For Persephone, becoming the Queen of the Underworld was a matter of fate because she had no choice in the matter. Alice, on the other hand, was quite determined to become the Queen of her Wonderland. Wonderland symbolizes the unconscious realm of the psyche where dreams and fantasies originate. It is also that dark realm where superstitions, delusions, compulsions and madness originate whenever the ego is not in harmony with one’s inner being.