The Portal

Alice in Wonderland begins wonderfully. Alice is a small girl who is bored with her sister reading a book. She abandons her sister all together when she sees a rabbit hopping around with a clock. Curiosity leads her to a hole that happens to be big enough for her to enter. Upon entering the whole, she falls down into a land that will bring many incredible adventures. The rabbit hole acts as a portal. Portals are common in fairy tales. In the Little Mermaid, the exit from the ocean onto the land represents a portal. In Jack and the Bean Stalk, the Bean Stalk acts as a portal for Jack. In,Rapunzel, Rapunzel's hair acts as a portal for the prince. Portals are everywhere in fairy tales. It gives children the chance to easily imagine transcendence from the normal world into a world of make-believe. It lets children easily accept abstract ideas once the character has entered the portal into the realm of "the make-believe.