Alice in Wonderland is a coming of age story. It is the growth of Alice from an undisciplined child to a wise young woman. The principle arrangement of this growth is two-parted. First Alice must learn that rules are essential to civil, adult life. Then she must learn that if rules are adhered to blindly, and without a merciful sense of justice, then society becomes worse than childish anarchy, it becomes a tyranny. These truths are played out in the metaphors of children's games and rhymes.

In the end, Alice must overcome the nonsense of the young and the old before she truly understands what adulthood is all about.