Far From the Tree

Over the course of the novel, Grace, Maya, and Joaquin all draw allusions to the story Alice in Wonderland, particularly during instances of high stress or confusion. The popular fairy tale follows a young girl as she explores a strange world of riddles and reality-bending situations, and Alice’s adventure becomes overwhelming and even frightening. The story is often interpreted as an allegory for the loss of order and structure, and the small child thrust into the upside-down world of Wonderland points towards the chaos and confusion associated with growing up and leaving childhood behind to deal with adult problems.

Maya remembers watching Alice in Wonderland when she was a little girl, and at the time, she “loved the idea of falling down a rabbit hole, of plummeting into something that she wasn’t expecting” (16), and exploring the world of Wonderland. Maya’s favorite scene in the 1951 Disney film is when Alice grows so big that she can’t fit in a house anymore, and the walls of the house leap up and out of the way. However, as a teenager, Maya listens as her parents fight every night, and now “the walls on her house [feel] too small and she wishe[s] she could smash the glass windows and escape,” and “the idea of a house blowing apart didn’t seem so funny” (16).