Historical Context

The Victorian Age in England

According to his own account, Lewis Carroll composed the story that became Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland on a sunny July day in 186! "e created it #or the Liddell
sisters while on a boating trip up the Thames $i%er! Although the boo& and its se'uel
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There ha%e since become timeless
classics, they nonetheless clearly re#lect their Victorian origins in their language, their
class(consciousness, and their attitude toward children! The Victorian age, named #or the
long rule o# )ritain*s +ueen Victoria, spanned the years 18,- to 1./1!
The early Victorian era mar&ed the emergence o# a large middle(class society #or the #irst
time in the history o# the 0estern world! 0ith this middle(class population came a spread
o# so(called 1#amily %alues12 polite society a%oided mentioning se3, se3ual passions,
bodily #unctions, and in e3treme cases, body parts! They also #ollowed an elaborate code
o# manners meant to distinguish one class #rom another! )y the 186/s, the result, #or most
people, was a &ind o# sti## and gloomy prudery mar&ed by a #eeling that #reedom and
en4oyment o# li#e were sin#ul and only to be indulged in at the ris& o# immorality! 5odern
critics ha%e mostly condemned the Victorians #or these repressi%e attitudes!
The tone #or the late Victorian age was set by +ueen Victoria hersel#! 6he had always
been a %ery serious and sel#(important person #rom the time she too& the throne at the age
o# eighteen7 it is reported that when she became 'ueen, her #irst resolution was, 18 will be
good!1 A#ter the death o# her husband Albert in 1861, howe%er, Victoria became more
and more withdrawn, retreating #rom public li#e and entering what became a li#elong
period o# mourning! 5any middle(class Englishmen and women #ollowed her e3ample,
see&ing to #ind morally upli#ting and mentally stimulating thoughts in their reading and
other entertainments!
Victorian Views o# Childhood
5any upper(middle(class Victorians had a double %iew o# childhood! Childhood was
regarded as the happiest period o# a person*s li#e, a simple and uncomplicated time! At the
same time, children were also thought to be 1best seen and not heard!1 6ome Victorians
also neglected their children, gi%ing them wholly o%er into the care o# nurses, nannies and
other child(care pro#essionals! )oys o#ten went away to boarding school, while girls were
usually taught at home by a go%erness! The emphasis #or all children, but particularly
girls, was on learning manners and how to #it into society! 1Children learned their
catechism, learned to pray, learned to #ear sin 9 and their boo&s were meant to aid and
abet the process,1 states 5orton :! Cohen in his critical biography Lewis Carroll! 1They
were o#ten #rightened by warnings and threats, their wa&ing hours burdened with
homilies! 5uch o# the children*s literature were purpose#ul and dour! They instilled
discipline and compliance!1 Although the end o# the century saw a trend toward
educating women in sub4ects taught to men, such as Latin and mathematics, this change
a##ected only a small portion o# the population, speci#ically the upper classes!
This emphasis on manners and good breeding is re#lected in Alice*s ad%entures! 6he is
always apologetic when she disco%ers she has o##ended someone, and she scolds the
5arch "are #or his rude beha%ior! :e%ertheless, Carroll seems to share the %iew that
childhood was a golden period in a person*s li#e! "e re#ers in his %erse pre#ace to the
no%el to the 1golden a#ternoon1 that he shared with the three 5iss Liddells! "e also
concludes the boo& with the prediction that Alice will someday repeat her dream o#
0onderland to her own children and 1#eel with all their simple sorrows, and #ind a
pleasure in all their simple 4oys, remembering her own child(li#e, and the happy summer
days!1 ;n the other hand, Alice*s own e3periences suggest that Carroll #elt that children*s
#eelings and emotions were #ully as comple3 as any adult emotions! )y the end o# the
no%el, she is directly contradicting adults7 when she tells the +ueen 16tu## and nonsense<1
she is acting contrary to Victorian dictates o# proper children*s beha%ior!
The Early =e%elopment o# Children*s Literature
1Children*s literature1 #irst emerged as a genre o# its own in the mid(1-//s, when English
boo&seller John :ewbery created some o# the #irst boo&s designed speci#ically to
entertain children! >"e is honored today in the ?nited 6tates by the American Library
Association, who awards the annual John :ewbery 5edal to the best children*s wor& o#
the year!@ Arior to that time, wor&s published #or children were strictly educational, using
stories merely to impart a moral message! 8# children wished to read #or entertainment,
they had to turn to 1adult1 wor&s, such as =aniel =e#oe*s 1-1. classic Robinson Crusoe!
=espite :ewbery*s groundbrea&ing wor&, #ew wor&s o# entertainment #or children
appeared o%er the hundred years!
5ost early Victorian #airy(stories and other wor&s #or children were intended to promote
what contemporaries belie%ed was 1good1 and 1moral1 beha%ior on the part o# children!
Carroll*s 1Alice1 boo&s ta&e a swipe at this Victorian morality, in part through their
uninhibited use o# nonsense and wordplay >a #a%orite Victorian pastime@ and in part
through direct parody! Alice recalls in Chapter 1 o# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
that 1she had read se%eral nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten
up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the
simple rules their #riends had taught them!1 5ost o# the %erses and poems Carroll
included in the story are parodies o# popular Victo(rian >i!e!, morally upli#ting@ songs and
ballads, twisted so that their didactic points are lost in the pleasure o# wordplay!
Carroll*s 1Alice1 boo&s were part o# a #lourishing mo%ement throughout the world to
write entertaining boo&s #or children! English translations o# the #airy tale collections o#
the Berman brothers Brimm #irst appeared in the mid(18/s! The tales o# =anish writer
"ans Christian Andersen appeared in English in 18C6! The ?nited 6tates saw Louisa
5ay Alcott*s Little Women in 1868 D 6., part o# a mo%ement to publish realistic stories
#or children! 8n England, many noted authors #or adults published wor&s #or children,
including Charles =ic&ens and $obert Louis 6te%enson, whose 188, wor& Treasure
Island is considered a classic children*s ad%enture story! The ground bro&en by Carroll
and other children*s authors o# the nineteenth century led the way #or today*s huge mar&et
#or children*s boo&s, which ha%e their own publishers, critical scholars and 4ournals, and
librarians!
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym o# Charles Lutwidge =odgson, a lecturer in mathematics at
Christ Church, ;3#ord"is diary is #illed with mysterious, scathing sel#(reproaches and desperate
prayers to Bod to #ree his soul #rom sin! "e ne%er e3plains the origin o# these intense #eelings o#
guilt, !!!!the Alice boo&s, with their charmingly e3aggerated presentation o# the child*s 'uest to
sur%i%e and e%entually become part o# the adult world, are #illed with thinly(%eiled re#erences to
Carroll*s a##ection #or his young #riend and deep sorrow at losing her to the onset o# adulthood!
Alice ( An English girl o# about se%en with an acti%e imagination and a #ondness #or showing
o## her &nowledge >which o#ten is lac&ing@! 6he is polite and &ind(hearted and genuinely
concerned about others! )ra%e and headstrong, she always #ollows(through when she gets an
idea! 6he is more con#ident with her words and sure o# her identity in the second boo&!
Alice in Wonderland Cheshire-Cat ( A grinning cat with the ability to appear and disappear at
will! "e claims to be mad7 ne%ertheless, he is one o# the most reasonable characters in
0onderland! "e listens to Alice and becomes something o# a #riend to her!
White Rabbit ( A ner%ous character o# somewhat important ran& >though not aristocratic@ in
0onderland! "e generally is in a hurry! "e is capable and sure o# himsel# in his 4ob, e%en to the
point o# contradicting the Eing!
Queen of Hearts ( A monstrous, %iolently domineering woman! 6he seems to hold the
ultimate authority in 0onderland, although her continuous death sentences are ne%er actually
carried out, leading us to conclude that she is at least partly delusional!
King of Hearts ( An incompetent and ine##ectual ruler almost entirely dominated by his wi#e!
"e is sel#(centered, stubborn and generally unli&able!
Duchess ( An odd, spite#ul woman who mistreats her baby and submits to a shower o# abuse
#rom her coo&! 6he is horribly ugly! 8n her an3iety to remain in the good graces o# the 'ueen, she
can be super#icially sweet to someone she thin&s can aid her socially while simultaneously
causing her the utmost discom#ort!
Mad Hatter ( The craFy hat(seller trapped in a perpetual tea(time! "e is o#ten impolite and
seemingly #ond o# con#using people! "e reappears in Looking Glass as one o# the Anglo(6a3on
messengers!
March Hare ( The 5ad "atter*s #riend and companion, e'ually craFy and discourteous! "e
also reappears as an Anglo(6a3on messenger!
Dormouse ( The "are and the "atter*s lethargic, much(abused companion!
Caterpillar ( "oo&ah(smo&ing insect who gi%es Alice the means to change siFe at will! "e is
se%ere and somewhat un#riendly, but at least he o##ers assistance!
Through the Looking Glass Red Queen ( =omineering and o#ten unpleasant, but not
incapable o# ci%ility! 6he e3pects Alice to abide by her rules o# proper eti'uette, e%en when it
should be apparent that she does not &now what is happening!
White Queen ( 6weet, but #airly stupid! 6he allows hersel# to be dominated in the presence o#
her red counterpart!
Red King ( Asleep! Tweedledum and Tweedledee claim that he is the dreaming architect o#
Loo&ing(Blass world as we &now it!
White King ( )umbling and ine##ectual, but not altogether unpleasant! "e honors his promise
to send all o# his horses and all o# his men with amaFing swi#tness when "umpty =umpty
>presumably@ #alls o## his wall!
Tweedledum and Tweedledee ( Two little #at brothers dressed as schoolboys who are
#ond o# dancing and poetry! They are %ery a##ectionate with one another, but #ight o%er an
e3tremely tri%ial matter! They are petty and cowardly!
Humpt Dumpt ( A pompous and easily(o##ended sort who #ancies himsel# a master o#
words! "e is rude and #oolish and deser%es what he gets!
White Knight ( Eind, gentle, and strangely noble, despite his e3treme clumsiness! "e tries to
be %ery cle%er, but #ails in the end! "e is terribly sentimental and en4oys Alice*s company
immensely! "e o#ten is read as Carroll*s parody o# himsel#!
Alice in 0onderland2 Chapter 18n the introductory poem, Carroll recreates the story o# a boat trip
with three girl on the ri%er where he #irst created the Alice stories!
As the boo& opens, Alice, bored and sleepy, sits on the ri%erban& with her sister! 6he sees a 0hite
$abbit run by, wearing a waistcoat and carrying a watch and tal&ing about his lateness! 6he gets
up and runs a#ter him and #ollows him down a rabbit(hole! 6he #alls down a deep well inside the
rabbit(hole, the sides o# which are #urnished with cupboards and shel%es! 6he #alls #or a long time
and postulates that she may #all right through the earth! Just as she begins to doFe o## and dream
o# ha%ing a con%ersation with her cat, she lands on a pile o# dry lea%es and stic&s! ?nhurt, she
sees the 0hite $abbit running o## along a corridor and chases a#ter him! 6he loses trac& o# him
and #inds hersel# in a long, low hall #ull o# loc&ed doors! 6he #inds a little &ey on a glass table and
#inds that it #its a tiny door behind a curtain leading to a lo%ely garden!
Alice cannot #it through the doorway, but she muses that perhaps she might shut hersel# up li&e a
telescope i# only she &new how! 6he returns to the table and #inds a bottle there labeled 1=$8:E
5E!1 Ginding the taste a %ery pleasant mi3ture o# odd #la%ors, 'uic&ly she #inishes the li'uid in
the bottle and shrin&s to a siFe suitable to wal& through the door into the garden! 6he #inds that
she has le#t the &ey on the tabletop, howe%er, and can no longer open the door, so she sits down
and cries! 6he #inds a glass bo3 containing a ca&e with 1EAT 5E1 written on it in currants and
eats it!
Commentary
! The three children in the boat are the Liddell sisters, Lorina, Alice, and Edith! Alice, Carroll*s
clear #a%orite, is here re#erred to as 6ecunda, as she is the second oldest >Carroll is employing the
Latin method o# numbering girls@! Also present that day was Carroll*s #riend, the $e%erend E!
$obinson =uc&worth, who appears later in the story >at the caucus(race@ as a duc&! Carroll was
o#ten in the habit o# in%enting stories #or the girls on their #re'uent rowing trips up the Thames7 it
was only at Alice*s insistence that he e%entually turned this story into a boo&!
At the opening o# the #irst chapter, Alice loo&s into her sister*s boo& and is annoyed to #ind that it
contains no pictures or con%ersations! Carroll caters amply to the child*s wishes by #illing his
boo& with whimsical con%ersations and illustrations by the #amous unch magaFine cartoonist,
John Tenniel!Carroll gradually builds the absurdity o# the story with a master#ul touch, #irst with
the unremar&able e%ent o# the 0hite $abbit running by7 ne3t, with the addition o# its agitated >yet
strangely human@ speech, which Alice #ails to recogniFe as unusual at #irst7 and #inally, with the
0hite $abbit*s reading a watch which he ta&es out o# his waistcoat(poc&et! The encounter with
the 0hite $abbit highlights the sluggish wor&ings o# Alice*s heat(addled brain, which recogniFes
things gradually >#ocusing, #or e3ample, on the waist(coat poc&et and the watch instead o# the
larger #act that the rabbit is clothed@! This techni'ue also allows #or a more acceptable transition
#rom the real to the unreal! Alice is 'uic& to act and throws hersel# impetuously down the rabbit(
hole, 1ne%er once considering how in the world she was to get out again!1 8n this way, the
opening pro%ides something o# a guide #or readers! Li&e Alice, the reader must suspend disbelie#,
accept each detail #or its particular charm, and plunge headlong into the un#amiliar without
lingering on ties to the e%eryday world! As she #alls, Alice shows remar&able composure and
presence o# mind by placing the empty marmalade 4ar on a shel# as she #alls to a%oid hitting
someone below! Carroll shows #or the #irst time here the dar& edge o# his humor with his
parenthetical a##irmation o# Alice*s statement, 10hy, 8 wouldn*t say anything about it, e%en i# 8
#ell o## the top o# the house<1 The narrator agrees that this is 1%ery li&ely true,1 implying that she
would not say anything because she would be dead >this is the #irst o# many death 4o&es in the
two boo&s@!
The narrator po&es #un at Alice*s tendency to show o## her intelligence as she attempts to #igure
out how close she is to the center o# the earth as she #alls, and uses the words 1latitude1 and
1longitude1 without &nowing what they mean because 1she thought they were nice grand words
to say!1 6he continues to show the super#icial nature o# her &nowledge as she speculates that she
will #all right through the earth and come out among the people who wal& with their heads
downwards, whom she calls 1antipathies!1 6he is grate#ul that no one is around to hear that she
does not &now e3actly what she is tal&ing about! 6he shows hersel# to be %ery concerned with
eti'uette as she attempts to curtsey as she #alls >Carroll addresses the reader parenthetically here
to as& i# he((or presumably she((could manage a thing li&e that@, and decides that she cannot as&
what country she is in when she gets there #or #ear o# appearing ignorant!
Things immediately ta&e on a dream(li&e 'uality inside the rabbit hole! E%en the landscape shi#ts
about2 things such as the curtain and the 1drin& me1 bottle appear out o# nowhere! Alice
demonstrates the incompleteness o# her common sense, gleaned #rom stories about children who
came to nasty ends, by not remembering simple rules their #riends taught them about red(hot
po&ers, &ni%es, and poison! Carroll touches again on death with Alice*s musings on what would
happen i# she continued to shrin& and went out li&e a candle7 she then tries to imagine what a
candle #lame loo&s li&e a#ter being e3tinguished! Alice 'uic&ly adapts to the rules o# 0onderland,
and is e%en disappointed when she doesn*t change immediately a#ter eating a little o# the ca&e, as
she has come to e3pect strangeness and regards regular things as 1dull and stupid!1
Alice grows to o%er nine #eet tall and muses that she will ha%e to send shoes as presents to her
#eet by mail! 6he returns to the garden door and #inds passing through e%en more hopeless than
e%er! 6he begins to cry and creates a pool o# tears in the hall! The 0hite $abbit approaches
hurriedly, #inely dressed and muttering about how sa%age the =uchess will be i# he &eeps her
waiting! "e is startled and runs away when Alice as&s him #or help! Alice pic&s up his glo%es and
#an, which he dropped, and begins to #an hersel#! 6he sits and wonders what it is that has made
this day so di##erent #rom e%ery other! 6he decides she must ha%e been changed into someone else
in the night! 6he thin&s o# all the children her age she &nows and decides she must be a poor girl
named 5abel, #or she cannot remember her multiplication tables or geography correctly, or recite
a poem properly! 6he decides she does not want to be 5abel and that she will stay down in the
hole i# anyone calls #or her until she can be someone more to her li&ing!
Just as she begins to #eel %ery lonely, she realiFes that the #an she has been holding has been
causing her to shrin& and 'uic&ly drops it! 6he runs bac& to the garden door, only to #ind it shut
again and the &ey out o# reach on the table once more! 6he slips and is immersed in the pool o#
tears! 6he as&s a 5ouse #or help, and decides it must be Grench when it doesn*t answer! 6he uses
the #irst sentence #rom her Grench lesson(boo&, 10here is my catH1 and #rightens the mouse,
which protests in English that it does not li&e cats! 6he o##ends it when she tal&s a##ectionately o#
her cat, and again when she changes the sub4ect to a neighbor*s dog! Ginally, she promises not to
tal& o# dogs or cats to &eep the 5ouse #rom swimming o## angrily! The 5ouse promises to tell its
history and Alice leads a band o# birds and animals that had #allen into the pool to the shore! The
animals gather on shore, and Alice con%erses #amiliarly with them about how best to get dry!
The 5ouse, which seems to ha%e some authority, begins to recite a %ery dry history o# 0illiam
the Con'ueror! The =odo soon gets up and suggests a Caucus(race to dry(o##! The Caucus(race is
a con#used a##air with no clear beginning or end >until the =odo arbitrarily announces one a#ter
e%eryone has stopped@, and no one &nows who has won until the =odo announces that e%eryone
has, and e%eryone must ha%e priFes! They loo& to Alice #or these, so she distributes com#its which
she #inds in her poc&et! The 5ouse declares that she must ha%e her own priFe, but all Alice has
le#t is a thimble, which the =odo ceremoniously presents to her! The 5ouse begins to tell its long
and sad tale, which Alice*s mind shapes into the image o# its physical tail! 8t becomes angry and
storms o## when it realiFes that she is not really paying attention! The rest o# the party disperses
hastily when Alice begins tal&ing about her cat, =inah, again, and how good =inah is at catching
birds and mice!
Alice is terribly concerned that she has lost her identity and become a poor girl with #ew toys, so
she decides to wait and hopes that she will e%entually become someone else! The idea o# losing
her identity is less pain#ul to her than the prospect o# losing her social status! +uestions o# class
were %ery important in Victorian England, and Carroll himsel# was something o# a snob! Alice*s
#re'uent struggles with issues o# identity, especially when tied to physical change, could also be
interpreted as representati%e o# e%ery child*s search #or sel# as he or she passes into adulthood!
Alice*s recitation o# 1"ow =oth the Little Crocodile1 is a parody o# theologian and hymn(writer
8saac 0atts* poem, 1Against 8dleness and 5ischie#,1 which begins, 1"ow doth the little busy
bee!1 This is the #irst o# Carroll*s many brilliant parodies o# the o%erly educational children*s
literature o# the day!
The hall has now %anished as Alice sees the 0hite $abbit approach, searching #or his glo%es and
#an! The $abbit mista&es her #or his maid, 5ary Ann, and sends her to #etch a pair o# glo%es and
a #an #rom his house! 6he goes into a house with a brass plate on the door which reads2 10!
$A))8T,1 and #inds the glo%es and #an, along with a bottle! 6he drin&s #rom it and begins to
grow rapidly, and soon #ills the whole house! The $abbit comes angrily loo&ing #or 5ary Ann,
and Alice &noc&s him down with her hand when he tries to get through the window! "e calls #or
Aat and tells him to get the arm out o# his window, and they soon collect a number o# others with
e'uipment to help! They send the liFard, )ill, down the chimney, but Alice &ic&s him bac& up and
out! They throw a barrow#ul o# pebbles in through the window at her, which change into ca&es as
they lie on the #loor! 6he eats one and shrin&s down small enough to get through the door! 6he
runs o## past the group o# animals into a wood, where she #inds a puppy! 6he is now much smaller
than it, and narrowly a%oids being trampled as it tries to play with her! 6he runs o##, determined
to grow bac& to her proper siFe and #ind her way to the garden!
Alice loo&s about #or something to eat or drin&, and #inds a large mushroom, with a large blue
Caterpillar sitting on top smo&ing a hoo&ah! The Caterpillar as&s Alice who she is, and she
replies that she does not &now anymore! The Caterpillar demands #or her to e3plain hersel#! 6he
replies that she cannot because she is so con#used by all the changes she has been through! They
ha%e a brie# con%ersation, in which the Caterpillar shows himsel# to be 'uite testy and demanding
0hen Alice complains that she &eeps changing siFe and cannot remember things anymore, the
caterpillar tells her to recite 1Iou are old, Gather 0illiam!1 6he unintentionally recites a parody
o# the intended poem, and the caterpillar declares that it is entirely wrong! "e as&s her what siFe
she would li&e to be, argues with her a little more, smo&es silently #or awhile, and then tells her
that one side o# the mushroom will ma&e her taller and the other side will ma&e her shorter, as he
crawls away into the grass!
6he tries the mushroom, and ends up shrin&ing and then e3tending %iolently, until her head and
nec& shoot #ar abo%e the treetops and is mista&en by a pigeon #or a serpent in search o# eggs!
Alice remar&s hesitatingly that she is a little girl! The pigeon doesn*t belie%e her and argues that
little girls must be a &ind o# serpent anyway i# they eat eggs! E%entually, Alice manages to shrin&
bac& to her proper height and sets o## to #ind the garden! 6he comes across a little house and
shrin&s hersel# down to nine inches to approach it!
Critical Analysis0onderland*s dreamy 'uality re(emerges with the sudden disappearance o# the
hall! Alice has mi3ed #eelings about 0onderland! 6he is adapting well, a#ter #iguring(out the
relation between eating and drin&ing and changing siFe! )ut all this change has become tiresome,
she is intimidated by the creatures and tired o# being ordered around! At the same time, she #inds
her situation peculiarly interesting and decides there should be a boo& about her!
The 'uestion o# what it means to grow up arises again! >The #irst time was when Alice told
hersel#, in the pre%ious section, that such a 1great girl1 li&e her should not be crying((1great1
meaning both mature and, literally, large@! Alice*s odd habit o# pretending to be two people and
ha%ing con%ersations with hersel# allows her to see both sides o# an issue, and perhaps helps to
&eep her calm and open(minded >e%en when she does not ta&e the ad%ice she gi%es hersel#@!
Alice*s con#usion about her identity, induced by all her changes in siFe, comes to the #ore#ront
once again when the Caterpillar demands to &now who she is, and also in her con#rontation with
the pigeon when she hesitates e%en to say she is a little girl!The connection between physical
changes and identity again brings to mind Alice*s struggle with issues o# sel# as she passes into
adulthood! 8n contrast, the Caterpillar, a traditional symbol o# change >as Alice hersel# points
out@, claims that physical change has no disorienting e##ect on him! Alice*s growth is more an
e3tension than a simple enlargement >i!e! she stretches out, as opposed to becoming a giant@, and
it grants her un#oreseen abilities, as when she #inds she can twist her nec& around li&e a sna&e!
The Caterpillar*s seeming &nowledge o# what Alice is thin&ing is belie%able, gi%en that this is all
a dream7 the Caterpillar is merely a part o# Alice*s psyche! 1Iou Are ;ld, Gather 0illiam1 is a
parody o# 1The ;ld 5an*s Com#orts and "ow "e Bained Them1 by $obert 6outhey!
The house belongs to the =uchess! The #ootman >who happens to be a #rog@ tells Alice not to
&noc& and that he plans to sit there on the doorstep #or the ne3t #ew days or so! The door opens
and a plate #lies out and graFes the #ootman*s nose! Alice enters through the door into a smo&e(
#illed &itchen, and sees the =uchess nursing a baby while the Coo& stirs a cauldron o# soup! The
air is #ull o# pepper, which causes e%eryone but the Coo& and a large grinning cat to sneeFe, while
the =uchess* baby howls continuously! Alice as&s why the cat grins, and the =uchess e3plains
that it is a Cheshire(Cat, be#ore screaming 1Aig<1 at the baby in her arms! Alice tries to start up a
con%ersation about how she had no idea that cats could grin, and the =uchess tells her she must
not &now much! The Coo& ta&es the cauldron o## the #ire and starts throwing e%erything in her
reach at the =uchess and the baby! Alice protests, and the =uchess growls that the world would
go around much #aster i# e%eryone minded his own business! Alice seiFes the opportunity to show
o## her &nowledge by e3plaining how that would ma&e the night and day go by too 'uic&ly with
the motion o# the earth on its a3is!
The =uchess hears the word 1a3es1 and orders Alice*s beheading! The coo& pays no attention, and
the =uchess begins to sing a brutal lullaby to the baby, sha&ing him and tossing him about the
whole while! A#terward, she lea%es to get ready to play cro'uet and hurls the baby at Alice to
nurse! Alice has trouble holding it, and it changes into a pig in her arms and runs o##! 6he as&s the
Cheshire(Cat which way she should go! "e in#orms her that in one direction she will #ind a "atter
and, in the other, she will #ind the 5arch "are, both o# whom are mad! The Cheshire(Cat argues
that e%eryone there is mad, including Alice and himsel#! "e says she will see him later i# she
plays cro'uet with the +ueen, then disappears! "e reappears, a moment later, to as& what
happened to the baby! 0hen she tells him that the baby turned into a pig, he says he e3pected as
much and %anishes again!
Alice turns toward the 5arch "are*s house, when the Cheshire(Cat reappears and as&s i# she said
1pig1 or 1#ig!1 Alice arri%es at the 5arch "are*s house >a#ter eating a little more o# the enlarging
mushroom@ and #inds the "are and the "atter sitting at a large table outside, drin&ing tea with a
=ormouse((which they use as a cushion(( asleep between them! They yell, 1:o room< :o room<1
as Alice approaches, but she sits down in one o# the many empty chairs, anyway!The "are o##ers
her some wine, and when she protests that it is unci%il to o##er wine when there is none, he replies
that it wasn*t %ery ci%il o# her to sit down unin%ited! The "atter tells her she needs a haircut! Alice
is unable to answer the riddle, and the "atter as&s her what day o# the month it is! 0hen she
replies 1the #ourth1 >she pre%iously has said the month is 15ay1@, he loo&s at his watch, which
tells the day o# the month but not the time, and laments that it is two days o##! "e complains to
the "are that the butter was not good #or its wor&s, as some crumbs must ha%e gotten into it when
he put it in with the bread(&ni#e! The "are gloomily dips it into his tea!
Alice remar&s how odd it is to ha%e a watch that tells the day o# the month but not the hour! The
"atter as&s i# her watch tells the year, to which she replies, 1;# course not,1 and he retorts that his
is the same way, which she does not understand! The "atter as&s i# she has the answer to the
riddle! 6he says no, and the "atter and the "are say they don*t &now, either! 6he says they
shouldn*t waste time by as&ing riddles with no answers! The "are replies that Time is a 1him1 and
not an 1it!1 Alice doesn*t understand this either, but remar&s that she has to beat time when she
learns music! The "atter says Time doesn*t li&e to be beaten and e3plains that, i# she were on
better terms with him, he would do whate%er she li&ed with the cloc&! The "atter tells her that he
'uarreled with Time, last 5arch, when he sang 1Twin&le, twin&le, little bat1 at the +ueen*s
concert, and now he &eeps it perpetually at si3 o*cloc&, tea(time, so that they must always ha%e
the things out #or tea and ne%er ha%e time to wash them!They wa&e the =ormouse and ma&e him
tell them a story! "e tells the story o# three sisters who li%ed at the bottom o# a well, li%ing on
treacle >molasses@ and learning to draw things that start with 5! Alice interrupts him periodically,
and her three hosts sub4ect her to a continual barrage o# %erbal abuse! Ginally, she becomes
o##ended and wal&s o##! 6he #inds a tree with a door in it, through which she #inds the long hall
with the glass table! 6he ta&es the &ey, eats a bit o# the reducing mushroom, and goes through the
door into the garden!
Alice says she is glad that she now &nows what the word means, as i# she had heard the
parenthetical comment hersel# >although her response could concei%ably ha%e been to someone in
the courtroom using the word and then seeing the subse'uent action@! Alice gains courage as she
grows, her con#idence tied to physical power! The mechanics o# Alice*s dream become apparent
in the last chapter, as #ragments o# her dream(world are gi%en real counterparts! 6he e'uates the
upset 4urors with the earlier real(li#e e%ent o# upsetting a bowl o# gold#ish, and the shower o#
#alling cards turns out to be a #lutter o# dead lea%es that had #allen into her #ace! As Alice*s sister
reli%es her dream, the sounds o# the #arm yard become the sounds o# 0onderland7 presumably the
same process too& place #or Alice while she was dreaming!As the boo& closes, Alice*s sister
imagines her growing up to entertain her children with stories drawn #rom the simple and lo%ing
heart o# childhood!
These passages share the same theme, that times past are irretrie%ably lost but haunt our
memory #ore%er! The time #rame o# this nostalgic >and slightly morbid@ theme is not
e3actly the same in each passage2 Carroll*s nostalgia is that o# an adult #or childhood >and
speci#ically, the #ather #igure represented by the older, 1&indly1 Enight@, and while
=ic&ens* nostalgia is that o# an 1old man1 #or 1the pleasures o# his youth,1 the implication
seems to be that o# an early adulthood or middle age >as the Aic&wic&ians are in the
middle o#@! )ut both passages share a similar and somewhat unusual structure (( they s&ip
ahead in time to predict a #uture nostalgia #rom present e%ents! Carroll*s nostalgia comes
1years a#terwards,1 =ic&ens* ta&es place 1many miles distant!1 And both ultimately
portray this 1melancholy1 remembrance as positi%e, i# bittersweet!
This bittersweet characteriFation o# nostalgia is brought about through remar&ably similar
imagery in the two passages! )oth =ic&ens and Carroll concentrate on images o# light2
Carroll describes 1the setting sun gleaming through his hair, and shining on his armour in
a blaFe,1 =ic&ens mentions 1the loo&s that shone so brightly!!!the eyes we sought, their
lustre!1 Carroll*s image is e3plicitly that o# a sunset, and =ic&ens* implies the same, with
loo&s that 1ha%e ceased to glow1 and eyes that 1hid their lustre!1 8n addition to this sunset
imagery, both passages ha%e #oreboding images that predict the loss o# this happy time!
Carroll describes the 1blac& shadows o# the #orest,1 and =ic&ens* descriptions all end in
death (( 1grown cold,1 1in the gra%e!1 )oth passages contrast the positi%e and the
negati%e imagery to create the bittersweet e##ect attributed to nostalgia!
)oth Charlotte )rontJ and Lewis Carroll in#use their wor& with elements o# the #antastic2
a #act e%ident in both Jane Eyre and Alice in Wonderland! "owe%er, a common use o#
the #antastic does not mean these authors stri%e #or identical imaginati%e e##ects! Grom the
moment Alice #alls down the hole into 0onderland, many realistic constraints do not
apply to her, not e%en the law o# gra%ity! ?nli&e "umpty =umpty, a great #all brings her
no harm7 in #act she has su##icient time to obser%e her surroundings while she tumbles!
To represent the discombobulating nature o# the way children e3perience li#e, Carroll
creates an entire world in which reality appears slippery! Children mo%e in and out o#
#airy tales! 8ndeed, they mo%e in and out o# their own s&ins, in a way that simply cannot
be e3plained! 8n part, Carroll uses the #antastic in Alice in Wonderland to highlight the
absurdity that underlies many supposedly rational adult beha%iors!
)rontJ incorporates #antastic elements into a more realistic narrati%e structure by
wea%ing in re#erences to #airy tales, prophetic dreams, mythic imagery and e3traordinary
plot twists! 8n part, she uses the #antastic to in#orm the reader o# concealed emotional
subte3ts in the no%el! "er prophetic dreams pro%ide the reader with %ital in#ormation
regarding the state o# Jane*s emotional health! This use o# the #antastic pplays a ma4or
role in Jane Eyre , which is not merely a parable or morality tale2 Jane*s success as a
)ildungsroman heroine depends upon satis#ying her emotional and spiritual needs, in
addition to securing the sa#e domestic en%ironment re'uisite at that time #or #emale
sur%i%al! )rontJ*s departure #rom a realistic plot might deri%e #rom Emotionalist moral
philosophy, a school o# moral philosophy which signi#icantly a##ected nineteenth(century
intellectual li#e in )ritain! )rontJ uses the #antastic to e3pand the parameters o# societal
conceptions o# what is comprised by reality! Landow notes the implications o# these
ideas, 1Gor psychology and theories o# human nature2 #or the #irst time, philosophers no
longer urged that the healthy human mind is organiFed hierarchically with reason, li&e a
&ing, ruling will and passions! $eason now shares rule with #eelings or emotions!1 )y
ele%ating the importance o# emotion in Jane*s maturation, )rontJ creates a
)ildungsroman not e3clusi%ely rooted in mastery o# the e3ternal world, but #ocused as
well on the %itality o# the interior li#e!
Education plays a large role in the Alice boo&s, contributing both to Carroll*s
characteriFation o# Alice and to our perceptions o# Victorian England! Throughout the
Alice boo&s, as in this passage, Alice re#ers to her lessons and her education, usually %ery
proud o# the learning that she has ac'uired! 8t seems, howe%er, that the in#ormation that
she remembers #rom her lessons is usually either completely useless or wrong! Gor
e3ample, although she can remember the how many miles down until the center o# the
earth, she mista&enly belie%es that e%erything will be upside down when she passes
through to the other side!
Lewis Carroll seems implicitly to criticise Victorian attitudes towards race, gender, and
class throughout Through the Looking Glass. Gor e3ample, he both created all o#
0onderland*s characters with a degree o# e'uality and then demonstrates the absurdity o#
stereotyping in Alice*s tre& through the 1wood where things ha%e no names1 when Alice
and the #awn 1wal&ed on together through the wood, Alice with her arms wrapped
lo%ingly round the so#t nec& o# the Gawn, till they came out into another open #ield, and
here the Gawn ga%e a sudden bound into the air, and shoo& itsel# #ree #rom Alice*s arm!
18*m a Gawn<1 it cried out in a %oice o# delight! 1And, dear me< you*re a human child<1 A
sudden loo& o# alarm came into its beauti#ul brown eyes, and in another moment it had
darted away at #ull speed >Chapter ,@! 0hile in the #orest, they are blind to names and can
#ind com#ort in each other! As soon as Alice and the Gawn lea%e the #orest, howe%er, the
Gawn recogniFes Alice #or what she is (( a human child (( and it scurries away in #ear!
Carroll ma&es his point that, as in Victorian England, distinctions were drawn not upon
&nowledge, but upon ignorance and a label!
Style
Aarody
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was originally told to entertain a little girl! ;ne o# the
de%ices Lewis Carroll uses to communicate with Alice Liddell is parody, which adopts
the style o# the serious literary wor& and applies it to an inappropriate sub4ect #or
humorous e##ect! 5ost o# the songs and poems that appear in the boo& are parodies o#
well(&nown Victorian poems, such as $obert 6outhey*s 1The ;ld 5an*s Com#orts and
"ow "e Bained Them1 >1Iou Are ;ld, Gather 0illiam1@, 8saac 0atts*s 1"ow =oth the
Little )usy )ee1 >1"ow =oth the Little Crocodile1@, and 5ary "owett*s 1The 6pider and
the Gly1 >10ill Iou 0al& a Little Gaster1@! 6e%eral o# the songs were ones that Carroll
had heard the Liddell sisters sing, so he &new that Alice, #or whom the story was written,
would appreciate them! There are also a number o# 1inside 4o&es1 that might ma&e sense
only to the Liddells or Carroll*s closest associates! The 5ad "atter*s song, #or instance,
>1Twin&le, Twin&le, Little )at1@ is a parody o# Jane Taylor*s poem 1The 6tar,1 but it also
contains a re#erence to the ;3#ord community! 1)artholomew Arice,1 writes 5artin
Bardner in his The Annotated Alice, 1a distinguished pro#essor o# mathematics at ;3#ord
and a good #riend o# Carroll*s, was &nown among his student by the nic&name *The )at!*
"is lectures no doubt had a way o# soaring high abo%e the heads o# his listeners!1
0hat ma&es Carroll*s parodies so special that they ha%e outli%ed the originals they moc&
is the #act that they are e3cellent humorous %erses in their own right! They also ser%e a
purpose within the boo&2 they emphasiFe the underlying senselessness o# 0onderland
and highlight Alice*s own sense o# displacement! 5any o# them Alice recites hersel#
under pressure #rom another character! 1*Tis the Voice o# the Lobster1 is a parody o# the
didactic poem 1The 6luggard1 by 8saac 0atts! 8t is notable that most o#ten Alice is cut o##
by the same characters that re'uire her to recite in the #irst place!
:arrator
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland opens with Alice*s complaint, 1Gor what is the use o# a
boo& without pictures or con%ersationsH1 6o most o# the story is told through pictures and
dialogue! "owe%er, there is another %oice besides those o# Alice and the characters she
encounters! The third(person >1heKsheKit1@ narrator o# the story maintains a point o# %iew
that is %ery di##erent #rom that o# the heroine! The narrator steps in to e3plain Alice*s
thoughts to the reader! The narrator e3plains who =inah is, #or instance, and also
highlights Alice*s own state o# mind! "e #re'uently re#ers to Alice as 1poor Alice1 or 1the
poor little thing1 whene%er she is in a di##icult situation!
Aoint o# View
Although the narrator has an impartial %oice, the point o# %iew is %ery strongly connected
with Alice! E%ents are related as they happen to her and are e3plained as they a##ect her!
As a result, some critics belie%e that the narrator is not in #act a separate %oice, but is a
part o# Alice*s own thought process! They base this interpretation on the statement in
Chapter 1 that Alice 1was %ery #ond o# pretending to be two people!1 Alice, they suggest,
con(sists o# the thoughtless child who carelessly 4umps down the rabbit(hole a#ter the
0hite $abbit, and the well(brought(up, responsible young girl who remembers her
manners e%en when con#ronted by rude people and animals!
Language
Aart o# the way Carroll shows 0onderland to be a strange place is the way the inhabitants
twist the meaning o# words! Carroll plays with language by including many puns and
other #orms o# word play! 8n Chapter ,, #or instance, the 5ouse says he can dry e%eryone
who was caught in the pool o# tears! "e proceeds to recite a bit o# history 9 1the driest
thing 8 &now!1 "ere, o# course, the 5ouse means 1dry1 as in dull7 the 5ouse*s words
ha%e no ability to ease the dampness o# the creatures! 0hen Alice meets the 5ad "atter
and the 5arch "are, they play with synta3 9 the order o# words 9 to con#use Alice!
0hen she says 18 say what 8 mean1 is the same thing as 18 mean what 8 say,1 the others
immediately contradict her by bringing up totally unrelated e3amples2 1*:ot the same
thing a bit<* said the "atter! *Iou might 4ust as well say that 18 see what 8 eat1 is the same
thing as 18 eat what 8 see1<*1 The power o# language is also e%ident in the way Alice
continually o##ends the inhabitants o# 0onderland, o#ten 'uite unintentionally! Gor
instance, she dri%es away the creatures at the pool o# tears 4ust by mentioning the word
1cat!1 E%entually Alice learns to be care#ul o# what she says, as in Chapter 8 when she
changes how she is about to describe the +ueen a#ter noticing the woman behind her
shoulder!
Lewis Carroll !seudonym o" Charles Lutwidge #odgson$
%&'()*&'+',
http2KKwww!online(literature!comKcarrollK
)orn Charles Lutwidge =odgson in Cheshire, on January -, 18,, the man who would
become Lewis Carroll was an eccentric and an eclectic whose %aried wor&s ha%e
entertained, edi#ied, enlightened, and e%aded readers #or o%er a century! The son o# a
%icar and his #irst cousin, =odgson was a precocious child who showed early interest in
both writing and mathematics! A#ter studying mathematics at Christ Church, ;3#ord,
#rom 18L/(18LC, =odgson was appointed to a lectureship there, where he was to continue
studying, remain unmarried, and prepare #or holy orders #or almost ,/ years! Although he
ne%er reached the priesthood, he did reach the le%el o# deacon! =uring his %ery success#ul
academic career, he wrote e3tensi%ely on mathematics and logic, among other sub4ects!
"owe%er, it is not #or his academic wor& that he is best remembered, but rather the wor&s
#or children which he created under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll!
=odgson*s relationship to children has been 'uestioned by recent scholarship, as his
photography o# young girls is undeniably erotic, and all his close and enduring
#riendships throughout his li#e were with young children, mostly girls! =odgson was
intensely interested in and an ad%ocate #or the #reedom and wisdom o# childhood, and
wrote his boo&s as pleasurable amusements #or he people he admired! "is muse, Alice
Liddell was the young daughter o# the =ean o# Christ Church, who he wrote Alice*s
Ad%entures in 0onderland #or in 186L! The wor& started out as an oral tale which he
later wrote down as Alice*s Ad%entures ?nderground, but later re%ised into Alice*s
Ad%entures in 0onderland! 8n 18-, Carroll published Through the Loo&ing Blass, the
se'uel to 0onderland! The boo&s were illustrated by 6ir John Tenniel, a top political
illustrator o# the day, whose crisp etchings wor& with Carroll*s sly te3t to create the world
o# 0onderland still &nown today! These boo&s brought Carroll great #ame and renown
during his li#etime, but the shy =odgson made a great e##ort to distance himsel# #rom the
#ame o# his alterego Carroll! An intensely aw&ward and intro%erted man, he was almost
unable to ha%e interactions or #riendships with adults, but was happy and at peace when
around children! "e spent most o# his later years in the company o# young children who
he entertained with his stories and documented in his #amous photography!
Along with the Alice boo&s, Carroll published Ahantasmagoria and ;ther Aoems in 186.,
The "unting o# the 6nar& in 18-6, and 6yl%ie and )runo in 18.,, though none o# his
other wor&s were e%er nearly as popular as the Alice duo either in his li#etime or
a#terwards! "e died January 1C, 18.8 in Buil#ord, 6urrey!
Context
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym o# $e%erend Charles Lutwidge =odgson, a lecturer in
mathematics at Christ Church, ;3#ord, who li%ed #rom 18, to 18.8! CarrollMs physical
de#ormities, partial dea#ness, and irrepressible stammer made him an unli&ely candidate
#or producing one o# the most popular and enduring childrenMs #antasies in the English
language! CarrollMs unusual appearance caused him to beha%e aw&wardly around other
adults, and his students at ;3#ord saw him as a stu##y and boring teacher! "e held strict
religious belie#s, ser%ing as a deacon in the Anglican Church #or many years and brie#ly
considering becoming a minister! ?nderneath CarrollMs aw&ward e3terior, howe%er, lay a
brilliant and imaginati%e artist! A gi#ted amateur photographer, he too& numerous
portraits o# children throughout his adulthood! CarrollMs &een grasp o# mathematics and
logic inspired the linguistic humor and witty wordplay in his stories! Additionally, his
uni'ue understanding o# childrenMs minds allowed him to compose imaginati%e #iction
that appealed to young people!
Carroll #elt shy and reser%ed around adults but became animated and li%ely around
children! "is crippling stammer melted away in the company o# children as he told them
his elaborately nonsensical stories! Carroll disco%ered his gi#t #or storytelling in his own
youth when he ser%ed as the uno##icial #amily entertainer #or his #i%e younger sisters and
three younger brothers! "e staged per#ormances and wrote the bul& o# the #iction in the
#amily magaFine! As an adult, Carroll continued to pre#er the companionship o# children
to adults and tended to #a%or little girls! ;%er the course o# his li#etime he made
numerous child #riends whom he wrote to #re'uently and o#ten mentioned in his diaries!
8n 18L6, Carroll became close with the Liddell children and met the girl who would
become the inspiration #or Alice, the protagonist o# his two most #amous boo&s! 8t was in
that year that classics scholar "enry Beorge Liddell accepted an appointment as =ean o#
Christ Church, one o# the colleges that comprise ;3#ord ?ni%ersity, and brought his three
daughters to li%e with him at ;3#ord! Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell 'uic&ly became
CarrollMs #a%orite companions and photographic sub4ects! =uring their #re'uent a#ternoon
boat trips on the ri%er, Carroll told the Liddells #anci#ul tales! Alice 'uic&ly became
CarrollMs #a%orite o# the three girls, and he made her the sub4ect o# the stories that would
later became AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland and Through the Loo&ing(Blass! Almost
ten years a#ter #irst meeting the Liddells, Carroll compiled the stories and submitted the
completed manuscript #or publication!
AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland recei%ed mostly negati%e re%iews when #irst published
in 186L! Critics and readers ali&e #ound the boo& to be sheer nonsense, and one critic
sneered that the boo& was Ntoo e3tra%agantly absurd to produce more di%ersion than
disappointment and irritation!O ;nly John TennielMs detailed illustrations garnered praise,
and his images continue to appear in most reprints o# the Alice boo&s! =espite the boo&Ms
negati%e reception, Carroll proposed a se'uel to his publisher in 1866 and set to wor&
writing Through the Loo&ing(Blass! )y the time the second boo& reached publication in
18-1, AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland had #ound an appreciati%e readership! ;%er
time, CarrollMs combination o# sophisticated logic, social satire, and pure #antasy would
ma&e the boo& a classic #or children and adults ali&e! Critics e%entually recogniFed the
literary merits o# both te3ts, and celebrated authors and philosophers ranging #rom James
Joyce to Ludwig 0ittgenstein praised CarrollMs stories!
8n 1881, Carroll resigned #rom his position as mathematics lecturer at ;3#ord to pursue
writing #ull time! "e composed numerous poems, se%eral new wor&s #or children, and
boo&s o# logic puFFles and games, but none o# his later writings attained the success o#
the Alice boo&s! Carroll continued to ha%e close #riendships with children! 6e%eral o# his
child #riends ser%ed as inspiration #or the 6yl%ie and )runo boo&s! Li&e the Alice stories,
6yl%ie and )runo >188.@ and 6yl%ie and )runo Concluded >18.8@ relied hea%ily on
childrenMs silly sayings and absurd #antasies! Carroll died in 18.8 at the age o# si3ty(si3,
soon a#ter the publication o# the 6yl%ie and )runo boo&s! "e passed away in his #amilyMs
home in Build#ord, England!
CarrollMs sudden brea& with the Liddell #amily in the early 186/s has led to a great deal
o# speculation o%er the nature o# his relationship with Alice Liddell! 6ome boo&s indicate
that the split resulted #rom a disagreement between Carroll and =ean Liddell o%er Christ
Church matters! ;ther e%idence indicates that more insidious elements e3isted in
CarrollMs relationships with young children and with Alice Liddell in particular! This
possibility seems to be supported by the #act that 5rs! Liddell burned all o# CarrollMs
early letters to Alice and that Carroll himsel# tore pages out o# his diary related to the
brea&! "owe%er, no concrete e%idence e3ists that Carroll beha%ed inappropriately in his
numerous #riendships with children! $ecords written by CarrollMs associates and Alice
Liddell hersel# do not indicate any untoward beha%ior on his part!
CarrollMs #eelings o# intense nostalgia #or the simple pleasures o# childhood caused him to
#eel deep discom#ort in the presence o# adults! 8n the company o# children, Carroll #elt
understood and could temporarily #orget the loss o# innocence that he associated with his
own adulthood! 8ronically, Carroll mourned this loss again and again as he watched each
o# his child #riends grow away #rom him as they became older! As he wrote in a letter to
the mother o# one o# his young muses, N8t is %ery sweet to me, to be lo%ed by her as
children lo%e2 though the e3perience o# many years ha%e now taught me that there are
#ew things in the world so e%anescent P#leetingQ as a childMs lo%e! :ine(tenths o# the
children, whose lo%e once seemed as warm as hers, are now merely on the terms o#
e%eryday ac'uaintance!O The sentiment o# #leeting happiness per%ades CarrollMs
seemingly lighthearted #antasies and in#uses the Alice boo&s with melancholy and loss!
A-out Alice in Wonderland
The Alice boo&s were written during the Victorian era, a time now remembered #or its
sti#ling propriety and constricti%e morals! Carroll had something o# an outsider*s
perspecti%e on this world7 he was pain#ully shy, and he o#ten stuttered! "is #ondness #or
little girls has raised more than a #ew eyebrows, although it is un&nown i# Carroll e%er
acted on this obsession! At any rate, these #eelings o# his ser%ed to accentuate his #eelings
o# isolation!
)ut his position ga%e him tremendous perspecti%e on his world! The creatures o#
wonderland ha%e many arbitrary customs! Their beha%iors are all de#ensible with strange
logic, but the customs are still silly or e%en cruel! There are ob%ious echoes o# the
Victorian world, as the animals are opinionated and ha%e strong ideas about what
constitutes appropriate beha%ior! The creatures* preciousness and their arbitrary
sensiti%ities moc& the #astidiousness o# the Victorian era!
The Alice boo&s also moc& the children*s literature o# the day! 8n &eeping with the
character o# the time, children*s literature was #ull o# simplistic morals and hea%y(handed
attempts to educate the young! 6ome o# the boo&s supposedly #or children were 'uite dry,
and at the least su##ered #rom a lac& o# imagination!
Alice*s Ad%entures in 0onderland was #irst published in 186L, and it was an immediate
success! Carroll*s sense o# the absurd and his amaFing gi#t #or games o# logic and
language ha%e made the Alice boo&s popular with both adults and children, and they ha%e
remained some o# the best(&nown children*s boo&s written in English! The well(&nown
=isney adaptation draws #reely #rom both boo&s, while retaining the basic structure o# the
#irst boo& and remaining #aith#ul to the #la%or and central themes o# the story!
The Alice boo&s deal with the sometimes precarious world o# children7 the reader should
&eep in mind that at the time o# their writing, the ad%ent o# industrialiFation had raised
people*s consciousness o# child labor and e3ploitation! Carroll sees the world o# children
as a dangerous place, shadowed by the threat o# death and the presence o# adults who are
power#ul but o#ten absurd!
The boo& is re#reshingly comple3, re#using to ta&e patroniFe its young audience with
simplistic morals or perspecti%es! A point o# comparison is Antoine de 6t! E3upHry*s The
Little Arince2 while the The Little Arince sets up a rather simplistic binary between
children >who are good, wise and innocent@ and 1the big people1 >who are mean, shallow,
and #oolish@, the Alice boo&s satiriFe the absurdities o# adults while a%oiding pat
conclusions about the di##erence between adults and children! Childhood is seen as a state
o# danger, and although Carroll has an e%ident #ondness #or children he ne%er idealiFes
them! Alice*s challenge is to grow into a strong and compassionate person despite the
idiosyncrasies o# the creatures she meets >the creatures symboliFing the adult world@! 6he
has to learn the rules o# each new encounter, but in the end she must also retain a sense o#
4ustice and de%elop a sense o# hersel#! $ather than set childhood and adulthood as simple
opposites, %aloriFing the #ormer and disparaging the latter, Carroll shows the process by
which a good child can become a strong adult! Alice is also not without 1adult1 #riends
along the way2 in the #irst boo&, #or e3ample, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat are two
enigmatic creatures who seem to understand how 0onderland wor&s! They help Alice at
&ey points!
The boo&s always retain a sense o# mystery and a #ondness #or the sinister7 e%en the
characters who aid Alice ha%e a dar& edge to them! The hints o# mortality and the sense
o# #ear in the boo&s ha%e only contributed to their popularity! The boo&s stand as
e%idence that children*s literature need not tal& down to its audience! 8n #act, it is the
depth and sophistication o# the Alice boo&s that has won them recognition as some o# the
best children*s literature e%er written!
Character List
Alice. The heroine o# the story! "er ad%entures begin with her #ate#ul 4ump down the
rabbit hole, and the tale is an e3tended metaphor #or the challenges she will #ace as she
grows into an adult! 6he possesses unusual composure #or a child, and she seems bright
but ma&es many charming mista&es! 6he grows more con#ident as the boo& progresses!
White /a--it. Alice*s ad%entures begin when she #ollows the 0hite $abbit down the
rabbit(hole! "e is a messenger and a herald at the Court o# the Eing and +ueen o# "earts!
"e wears a waist(coat and carries a poc&et watch!
0ouse. Alice meets the mouse while swimming in the pool o# tears! "e hates cats and
dogs, and he begins to tell Alice a disturbing story about being put on trial! "e is %ery
sensiti%e!
1ill. A liFard in the ser%ice o# the 0hite $abbit! 0hen Alice is a giant and stuc& in the
0hite $abbit*s house, she &ic&s )ill out o# the chimney! )ill is also one o# the 4urors at
the trial at the end o# the boo&!
Cater!illar. 0ise, enigmatic, and unsha&ably mellow, the Caterpillar gi%es Alice some
%aluable ad%ice about how to get by in 0onderland! "e smo&es a hoo&ah and sits on a
mushroom! "e gi%es Alice the %aluable gi#t o# the mushroom >one side ma&ing her
bigger, and the other ma&ing her small@, which gi%es her control o# her siFe in
0onderland!
The 2igeon. The Aigeon is a#raid #or her eggs, and mista&es Alice #or a serpent! Alice
tries to reason with her, but the Aigeon #orces her away!
#uchess. 0hen Alice #irst meets the =uchess, she is a disagreeable woman nursing a
baby and arguing with her coo&! Later, she is put under sentence o# e3ecution! The
=uchess seems di##erent when Alice meets her a second time, later in the boo&, and Alice
notices that the =uchess spea&s only in pat morals!
Cook. Argumentati%e, and con%inced that pepper is the &ey ingredient in all #ood! 6he
#irst appears at the house o# the =uchess, where she is throwing e%erything in sight at the
=uchess and the baby! Later, she is a witness at the trial o# the Ena%e o# "earts!
1a-y. The baby the =uchess nurses! Alice is concerned about lea%ing the child in such a
%iolent en%ironment, so she ta&es him with her! "e turns into a pig!
Cheshire Cat. Aossessing remar&ably sharp claws and alarming sharp teeth, the Cheshire
cat is courteous and help#ul, despite his #rightening appearance! "is #ace is #i3ed in an
eerie grin! "e can ma&e any and all parts o# his body disappear and reappear!
Hatter. A madman who sits always at tea, e%ery since Time stopped wor&ing #or him!
"e ta&es his tea with the 5arch "are and the =ormouse! Alice is temporarily their guest,
although she #inds the e%ent to be the stupidest tea party she has e%er attended! Later, the
ner%ous hatter is #orced to be a witness at the trial!
0arch Hare. Alaying with the e3pression, 15ad as a 5arch "are,1 Carroll puts him in
the company o# the mad "atter and the narcoleptic =ormouse! Their strange tea party is
at the 5arch "are*s house!
The #ormouse. Another guest at the mad tea party! "e can*t seem to stay awa&e! "e is
also one o# the obser%ers at the trial!
Two3 4i5e3 and Se5en. These three un#ortunate gardeners are struggling to repaint the
+ueen*s roses, as they planted white roses by mista&e and now #ear #or their li%es! Li&e
the other people wor&ing #or the 'ueen, they are shaped li&e playing cards! 0hen the
+ueen orders their beheading, Alice hides them!
6ueen o" Hearts. :asty, brutal, and loud, the +ueen delights in ordering e3ecutions,
although e%eryone seems to get pardoned in the end! The people o# 0onderland are
terri#ied o# her! Although Alice initially thin&s she is silly, she grows #rightened o# her! 8n
the end, howe%er, a giant(siFe Alice is able to stand up to the +ueen*s temper and her
threats!
7ing o" Hearts. 6omewhat o%ershadowed by his loudmouthed wi#e, the Eing o# "earts
is a remar&ably dense #igure! "e ma&es terrible 4o&es, and cannot seem to say anything
cle%er! Alice outreasons him 'uite nicely at the trial!
Gry!hon. The Bryphon, mythical animal that is hal# eagle and hal# lion, ta&es Alice to
sea the 5oc& Turtle! "e attended undersea school with the 5oc& Turtle!
The 0ock Turtle. The 5oc& Turtle is always crying, and he and the Bryphon tells
stories loaded with puns! "is name is another play on words >moc& turtle soup is a soup
that actually uses lamb as its meat ingredient@!
The 7na5e o" Hearts. The un#ortunate Ena%e is the man on trial, accused o# stealing the
tarts o# the +ueen o# "earts! The e%idence produced against him is un4ust!
Alice8s sister. 6he helps to anchor the story, appearing at the beginning, be#ore Alice
begins her ad%entures, and at the end, a#ter Alice wa&es up #rom her strange dream! "er
presence lets us &now that Alice is once again in the real world, in the com#ort o# home
and #amily!
0a9or Themes
Growth into Adulthood. This theme is central to both boo&s! Alice*s ad%entures parallel
the 4ourney #rom childhood to adulthood! 6he comes into numerous new situations in
which adaptability is absolutely necessary #or success! 6he shows mar&ed progress
throughout the course o# the boo&7 in the beginning, she can barely maintain enough
composure to &eep hersel# #rom crying! )y the end o# the no%el, she is sel#(possessed and
able to hold her own against the most ba##ling 0onderland logic!
Si:e change. Closely connected to the abo%e theme, siFe change is another recurring
concept! The dramatic changes in siFe hint at the radical changes the body undergoes
during adolescence! The &ey, once again, is adaptability! Alice*s siFe changes also bring
about a change in perspecti%e, and she sees the world #rom a %ery di##erent %iew! 8n the
last trial scene, her growth into a giant re#lects her interior growth! 6he becomes a much
stronger, sel#(possessed person, able to spea& out against the nonsensical proceedings o#
the trial!
#eath. This theme is e%en more present in the second Alice boo&, Through the Loo&ing
Blass! Alice #re'uently ma&es re#erences to her own death without &nowing it! Childhood
is a state o# peril in Carroll*s %iew2 children are 'uite %ulnerable, and the world presents
many dangers! Another aspect o# death is its ine%itability! 6ince the Alice boo&s are at
root about change >the transition #rom childhood to adulthood, the passage o# time@,
mortality is inescapable as a theme! =eath is the #inal step o# this process o# growth!
0hile death is only hinted at in the #irst boo&, the second boo& is saturated with
re#erences to mortality and macabre humor!
Games; Learning the /ules. E%ery new encounter is something o# a game #or Alice7
there are rules to learn, and conse'uences #or learning or not learning those rules! Bames
are a constant part o# li#e in 0onderland, #rom the Caucus race to the strange cro'uet
match to the #act that the royal court is a li%ing dec& o# cards! And e%ery new social
encounter is li&e a game, in that there are biFarre, apparently arbitrary rules that Alice has
to master! Learning the rules is a metaphor #or the adaptations to new social situations
that e%ery child ma&es as she grows older! 5astering each challenge, Alice grows wiser
and more adaptable as time goes on!
Language and Logic;<llogic.
Carroll delights in puns! The Alice boo&s are choc&#ull o# games with language, to the
reader*s delight and Alice*s con#usion! The games o#ten point out some inconsistency or
slipperiness o# language in general and English in particular! The boo&s point out the
pains and ad%antages o# language! Language is a source o# 4oy and adaptability7 it can
also be a source o# great con#usion!
Just as ba##ling is the biFarre logic at wor& in 0onderland! E%ery creature can 4usti#y the
most absurd beha%ior, and their arguments #or themsel%es are o#ten #airly comple3! Their
strange reasoning is another source o# delight #or the reader and challenge #or Alice! 6he
has to learn to discern between unusual logic and utter nonsense!
2lot =5er5iew
Alice sits on a ri%erban& on a warm summer day, drowsily reading o%er her sisterMs
shoulder, when she catches sight o# a 0hite $abbit in a waistcoat running by her! The
0hite $abbit pulls out a poc&et watch, e3claims that he is late, and pops down a rabbit
hole! Alice #ollows the 0hite $abbit down the hole and comes upon a great hallway lined
with doors! 6he #inds a small door that she opens using a &ey she disco%ers on a nearby
table! Through the door, she sees a beauti#ul garden, and Alice begins to cry when she
realiFes she cannot #it through the door! 6he #inds a bottle mar&ed N=$8:E 5EO and
downs the contents! 6he shrin&s down to the right siFe to enter the door but cannot enter
since she has le#t the &ey on the tabletop abo%e her head! Alice disco%ers a ca&e mar&ed
NEAT 5EO which causes her to grow to an inordinately large height! 6till unable to enter
the garden, Alice begins to cry again, and her giant tears #orm a pool at her #eet! As she
cries, Alice shrin&s and #alls into the pool o# tears! The pool o# tears becomes a sea, and
as she treads water she meets a 5ouse! The 5ouse accompanies Alice to shore, where a
number o# animals stand gathered on a ban&! A#ter a NCaucus $ace,O Alice scares the
animals away with tales o# her cat, =inah, and #inds hersel# alone again!
Alice meets the 0hite $abbit again, who mista&es her #or a ser%ant and sends her o## to
#etch his things! 0hile in the 0hite $abbitMs house, Alice drin&s an unmar&ed bottle o#
li'uid and grows to the siFe o# the room! The 0hite $abbit returns to his house, #uming
at the now(giant Alice, but she swats him and his ser%ants away with her giant hand! The
animals outside try to get her out o# the house by throwing roc&s at her, which
ine3plicably trans#orm into ca&es when they land in the house! Alice eats one o# the
ca&es, which causes her to shrin& to a small siFe! 6he wanders o## into the #orest, where
she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smo&ing a hoo&ah >i!e!, a water pipe@!
The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but be#ore the Caterpillar crawls away in
disgust, he tells Alice that di##erent parts o# the mushroom will ma&e her grow or shrin&!
Alice tastes a part o# the mushroom, and her nec& stretches abo%e the trees! A pigeon sees
her and attac&s, deeming her a serpent hungry #or pigeon eggs!
Alice eats another part o# the mushroom and shrin&s down to a normal height! 6he
wanders until she comes across the house o# the =uchess! 6he enters and #inds the
=uchess, who is nursing a s'uealing baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Coo&
who tosses massi%e amounts o# pepper into a cauldron o# soup! The =uchess beha%es
rudely to Alice and then departs to prepare #or a cro'uet game with the +ueen! As she
lea%es, the =uchess hands Alice the baby, which Alice disco%ers is a pig! Alice lets the
pig go and reenters the #orest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat again! The Cheshire Cat
e3plains to Alice that e%eryone in 0onderland is mad, including Alice hersel#! The
Cheshire Cat gi%es directions to the 5arch "areMs house and #ades away to nothing but a
#loating grin!
Alice tra%els to the 5arch "areMs house to #ind the 5arch "are, the 5ad "atter, and the
=ormouse ha%ing tea together! Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party,
unin%ited! 6he learns that they ha%e wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea(time!
A#ter a #inal discourtesy, Alice lea%es and 4ourneys through the #orest! 6he #inds a tree
with a door in its side, and tra%els through it to #ind hersel# bac& in the great hall! 6he
ta&es the &ey and uses the mushroom to shrin& down and enter the garden!
A#ter sa%ing se%eral gardeners #rom the temper o# the +ueen o# "earts, Alice 4oins the
+ueen in a strange game o# cro'uet! The cro'uet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are
li%e #lamingos and hedgehogs, and the +ueen tears about, #rantically calling #or the other
playerMs e3ecutions! Amidst this madness, Alice bumps into the Cheshire Cat again, who
as&s her how she is doing! The Eing o# "earts interrupts their con%ersation and attempts
to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently dismisses the Eing! The Eing ta&es o##ense
and arranges #or the Cheshire CatMs e3ecution, but since the Cheshire Cat is now only a
head #loating in midair, no one can agree on how to behead it!
The =uchess approaches Alice and attempts to be#riend her, but the =uchess ma&es Alice
#eel uneasy! The +ueen o# "earts chases the =uchess o## and tells Alice that she must
%isit the 5oc& Turtle to hear his story! The +ueen o# "earts sends Alice with the
Bryphon as her escort to meet the 5oc& Turtle! Alice shares her strange e3periences with
the 5oc& Turtle and the Bryphon, who listen sympathetically and comment on the
strangeness o# her ad%entures! A#ter listening to the 5oc& TurtleMs story, they hear an
announcement that a trial is about to begin, and the Bryphon brings Alice bac& to the
cro'uet ground!
The Ena%e o# "earts stands trial #or stealing the +ueenMs tarts! The Eing o# "earts leads
the proceedings, and %arious witnesses approach the stand to gi%e e%idence! The 5ad
"atter and the Coo& both gi%e their testimony, but none o# it ma&es any sense! The 0hite
$abbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to the witness stand! The Eing goes nowhere with
his line o# 'uestioning, but ta&es encouragement when the 0hite $abbit pro%ides new
e%idence in the #orm o# a letter written by the Ena%e! The letter turns out to be a poem,
which the Eing interprets as an admission o# guilt on the part o# the Ena%e! Alice
belie%es the note to be nonsense and protests the EingMs interpretation! The +ueen
becomes #urious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge siFe and
&noc&s o%er the +ueenMs army o# playing cards!
All o# a sudden, Alice #inds hersel# awa&e on her sisterMs lap, bac& at the ri%erban&! 6he
tells her sister about her dream and goes inside #or tea as her sister ponders AliceMs
ad%entures!
Themes3 0oti"s > Sym-ols
Themes
Themes are the "undamental and o"ten uni5ersal ideas ex!lored in a literary work.
The Tragic and <ne5ita-le Loss o" Childhood <nnocence
Throughout the course o# AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland, Alice goes through a
%ariety o# absurd physical changes! The discom#ort she #eels at ne%er being the right siFe
acts as a symbol #or the changes that occur during puberty! Alice #inds these changes to
be traumatic, and #eels discom#ort, #rustration, and sadness when she goes through them!
6he struggles to maintain a com#ortable physical siFe! 8n Chapter 8, she becomes upset
when she &eeps #inding hersel# too big or too small to enter the garden! 8n Chapter V, she
loses control o%er speci#ic body parts when her nec& grows to an absurd length! These
constant #luctuations represent the way a child may #eel as her body grows and changes
during puberty!
Li"e as a 0eaningless 2u::le
8n AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland, Alice encounters a series o# puFFles that seem to
ha%e no clear solutions, which imitates the ways that li#e #rustrates e3pectations! Alice
e3pects that the situations she encounters will ma&e a certain &ind o# sense, but they
repeatedly #rustrate her ability to #igure out 0onderland! Alice tries to understand the
Caucus race, sol%e the 5ad "atterMs riddle, and understand the +ueenMs ridiculous
cro'uet game, but to no a%ail! 8n e%ery instance, the riddles and challenges presented to
Alice ha%e no purpose or answer! E%en though Lewis Carroll was a logician, in AliceMs
Ad%entures in 0onderland he ma&es a #arce out o# 4o&es, riddles, and games o# logic!
Alice learns that she cannot e3pect to #ind logic or meaning in the situations that she
encounters, e%en when they appear to be problems, riddles, or games that would normally
ha%e solutions that Alice would be able to #igure out! Carroll ma&es a broader point about
the ways that li#e #rustrates e3pectations and resists interpretation, e%en when problems
seem #amiliar or sol%able!
#eath as a Constant and ?nderlying 0enace
Alice continually #inds hersel# in situations in which she ris&s death, and while these
threats ne%er materialiFe, they suggest that death lur&s 4ust behind the ridiculous e%ents o#
AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland as a present and possible outcome! =eath appears in
Chapter 8, when the narrator mentions that Alice would say nothing o# #alling o## o# her
own house, since it would li&ely &ill her! Alice ta&es ris&s that could possibly &ill her, but
she ne%er considers death as a possible outcome! ;%er time, she starts to realiFe that her
e3periences in 0onderland are #ar more threatening than they appear to be! As the +ueen
screams N;## with its head<O she understands that 0onderland may not merely be a
ridiculous realm where e3pectations are repeatedly #rustrated! =eath may be a real threat,
and Alice starts to understand that the ris&s she #aces may not be ridiculous and absurd
a#ter all!
0oti"s
0oti"s are recurring structures3 contrasts3 or literary de5ices that can hel! to
de5elo! and in"orm the text@s ma9or themes.
#ream
AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland ta&es place in AliceMs dream, so that the characters
and phenomena o# the real world mi3 with elements o# AliceMs unconscious state! The
dream moti# e3plains the abundance o# nonsensical and disparate e%ents in the story! As
in a dream, the narrati%e #ollows the dreamer as she encounters %arious episodes in which
she attempts to interpret her e3periences in relationship to hersel# and her world! Though
AliceMs e3periences lend themsel%es to meaning#ul obser%ations, they resist a singular
and coherent interpretation!
Su-5ersion
Alice 'uic&ly disco%ers during her tra%els that the only reliable aspect o# 0onderland
that she can count on is that it will #rustrate her e3pectations and challenge her
understanding o# the natural order o# the world! 8n 0onderland, Alice #inds that her
lessons no longer mean what she thought, as she botches her multiplication tables and
incorrectly recites poems she had memoriFed while in 0onderland! E%en AliceMs
physical dimensions become warped as she grows and shrin&s erratically throughout the
story! 0onderland #rustrates AliceMs desires to #it her e3periences in a logical #ramewor&
where she can ma&e sense o# the relationship between cause and e##ect!
Language
Carroll plays with linguistic con%entions in AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland, ma&ing
use o# puns and playing on multiple meanings o# words throughout the te3t! Carroll
in%ents words and e3pressions and de%elops new meanings #or words! AliceMs
e3clamation NCurious and curiouser<O suggests that both her surroundings and the
language she uses to describe them e3pand beyond e3pectation and con%ention! Anything
is possible in 0onderland, and CarrollMs manipulation o# language re#lects this sense o#
unlimited possibility!
Curious3 Aonsense3 and Con"using
Alice uses these words throughout her 4ourney to describe phenomena she has trouble
e3plaining! Though the words are generally interchangeable, she usually assigns curious
and con#using to e3periences or encounters that she tolerates! 6he endures is the
e3periences that are curious or con#using, hoping to gain a clearer picture o# how that
indi%idual or e3perience #unctions in the world! 0hen Alice declares something to be
nonsense, as she does with the trial in Chapter R88, she re4ects or criticiFes the e3perience
or encounter!
Sym-ols
Sym-ols are o-9ects3 characters3 "igures3 or colors used to re!resent a-stract ideas
or conce!ts.
The Garden
:early e%ery ob4ect in AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland #unctions as a symbol, but
nothing clearly represents one particular thing! The symbolic resonances o# 0onderland
ob4ects are generally contained to the indi%idual episode in which they appear! ;#ten the
symbols wor& together to con%ey a particular meaning! The garden may symboliFe the
Barden o# Eden, an idyllic space o# beauty and innocence that Alice is not permitted to
access! ;n a more abstract le%el, the garden may simply represent the e3perience o#
desire, in that Alice #ocuses her energy and emotion on trying to attain it! The two
symbolic meanings wor& together to underscore AliceMs desire to hold onto her #eelings
o# childli&e innocence that she must relin'uish as she matures!
The Cater!illar@s 0ushroom
Li&e the garden, the CaterpillarMs mushroom also has multiple symbolic meanings! 6ome
readers and critics %iew the Caterpillar as a se3ual threat, its phallic shape a symbol o#
se3ual %irility! The CaterpillarMs mushroom connects to this symbolic meaning! Alice
must master the properties o# the mushroom to gain control o%er her #luctuating siFe,
which represents the bodily #rustrations that accompany puberty! ;thers %iew the
mushroom as a psychedelic hallucinogen that compounds AliceMs surreal and distorted
perception o# 0onderland!
Analysis o" 0a9or Characters
Alice
Alice is a sensible prepubescent girl #rom a wealthy English #amily who #inds hersel# in a
strange world ruled by imagination and #antasy! Alice #eels com#ortable with her identity
and has a strong sense that her en%ironment is comprised o# clear, logical, and consistent
rules and #eatures! AliceMs #amiliarity with the world has led one critic to describe her as a
Ndisembodied intellect!O Alice displays great curiosity and attempts to #it her di%erse
e3periences into a clear understanding o# the world!
Alice approaches 0onderland as an anthropologist, but maintains a strong sense o#
noblesse oblige that comes with her class status! 6he has con#idence in her social
position, education, and the Victorian %irtue o# good manners! Alice has a #eeling o#
entitlement, particularly when comparing hersel# to 5abel, whom she declares has a
Npo&y little house,O and no toys! Additionally, she #launts her limited in#ormation base
with anyone who will listen and becomes increasingly obsessed with the importance o#
good manners as she deals with the rude creatures o# 0onderland! Alice maintains a
superior attitude and beha%es with solicitous indulgence toward those she belie%es are
less pri%ileged!
The tension o# AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland emerges when AliceMs #i3ed
perspecti%e o# the world comes into contact with the mad, illogical world o# 0onderland!
AliceMs #i3ed sense o# order clashes with the madness she #inds in 0onderland! The
0hite $abbit challenges her perceptions o# class when he mista&es her #or a ser%ant,
while the 5ad "atter, 5arch "are, and Aigeon challenge AliceMs notions o# urbane
intelligence with an un#amiliar logic that only ma&es sense within the conte3t o#
0onderland! 5ost signi#icantly, 0onderland challenges her perceptions o# good
manners by constantly assaulting her with dismissi%e rudeness! AliceMs #undamental
belie#s #ace challenges at e%ery turn, and as a result Alice su##ers an identity crisis! 6he
persists in her way o# li#e as she percei%es her sense o# order collapsing all around her!
Alice must choose between retaining her notions o# order and assimilating into
0onderlandMs nonsensical rules!
The Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is uni'ue among 0onderland creatures! Threatened by no one, it
maintains a cool, grinning outsider status! The Cheshire Cat has insight into the wor&ings
o# 0onderland as a whole! 8ts calm e3planation to Alice that to be in 0onderland is to be
NmadO re%eals a number o# points that do not occur to Alice on her own! Girst, the
Cheshire Cat points out that 0onderland as a place has a stronger cumulati%e e##ect than
any o# its citiFens! 0onderland is ruled by nonsense, and as a result, AliceMs normal
beha%ior becomes inconsistent with its operating principles, so Alice hersel# becomes
mad in the conte3t o# 0onderland! Certainly, AliceMs burning curiosity to absorb
e%erything she sees in 0onderland sets her apart #rom the other 0onderland creatures,
ma&ing her seem mad in comparison!
The 6ueen o" Hearts
As the ruler o# 0onderland, the +ueen o# "earts is the character that Alice must
ine%itably #ace to #igure out the puFFle o# 0onderland! 8n a sense, the +ueen o# "earts is
literally the heart o# AliceMs con#lict! ?nli&e many o# the other characters in 0onderland,
the +ueen o# "earts is not as concerned with nonsense and per%ersions o# logic as she is
with absolute rule and e3ecution! 8n 0onderland, she is a singular #orce o# #ear who e%en
dominates the Eing o# "earts! 8n the +ueenMs presence, Alice #inally gets a taste o# true
#ear, e%en though she understands that the +ueen o# "earts is merely a playing card! The
Bryphon later in#orms Alice that the +ueen ne%er actually e3ecutes anyone she sentences
to death, which rein#orces the #act that the +ueen o# "eartsMs power lies in her rhetoric!
The +ueen becomes representati%e o# the idea that 0onderland is de%oid o# substance!
7ey 4acts
Alice@s Ad5entures in Wonderland
"ull title S AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland
author S Lewis Carroll
ty!e o" work S :o%ella
genre S Gairy tale7 childrenMs #iction7 satire7 allegory
language S English
time and !lace written S 186D186,, ;3#ord
date o" "irst !u-lication S 186L
!u-lisher S 5acmillan T Co!
narrator S The narrator is anonymous and does not use many words to describe e%ents in
the story!
!oint o" 5iew S The narrator spea&s in third person, though occasionally in #irst and
second person! The narrati%e #ollows Alice around on her tra%els, %oicing her thoughts
and #eelings!
tone S 6traight#orward7 a%uncular
tense S Aast
setting %time, S Victorian era, circa publication date
setting %!lace, S England, 0onderland
!rotagonist S Alice
ma9or con"lict S Alice attempts to come to terms with the puFFle o# 0onderland as she
undergoes great indi%idual changes while entrenched in 0onderland!
rising action S Alice #ollows the 0hite $abbit down a well and pursues him through
0onderland!
climax S Alice gains control o%er her siFe and enters the garden, where she participates in
the trial o# the Ena%e o# "earts!
"alling action S Alice realiFes that 0onderland is a sham and &noc&s o%er the playing
card court, causing her to wa&e up and dispel the dream o# 0onderland!
themes S The tragic and ine%itable loss o# childhood innocence7 Li#e as a meaningless
puFFle7 =eath as a constant and underlying menace
moti"s S =ream7 sub%ersion7 language7 Ncurious,O Nnonsense,O and Ncon#usingO
sym-ols S The garden7 the mushroom
"oreshadowing S The 5ouseMs history about Gury and the 5ouse #oreshadows the trial at
the end o# the story!
Summary and Analysis o" Cha!ters &*(
The boo& begins with a poem about a golden a#ternoon spent rowing on a ri%er7 the
spea&er o# the poem is pressed by three girls >Arima, 6ecunda, and Tertia@ to tell them a
#antastic story! Each time he tries to ta&e a brea& and lea%e the rest #or 1ne3t time,1 the
girls insist that it is already 1ne3t time17 in this way, the spea&er tells us, the story o#
Alice*s ad%entures in 0onderland too& shape!
Ioung Alice is sitting by the ri%er ban& with her older sister, #eeling bored7 her sister*s
boo& has no pictures or con%ersation, and thus holds no interest #or Alice! 6uddenly, a
white rabbit scampers bac&, proclaims that it is %ery late, and pulls a poc&et watch out o#
its waistcoat! Though she initially does not notice the strangeness o# a tal&ing rabbit,
when she sees the rabbit*s clothes and watch, she becomes %ery interested! 6he #ollows
the rabbit, hopping right down a deep rabbit hole a#ter him, gi%ing no thought o# how she
plans to get out again!
6he seems to #all 'uite slowly, ha%ing time to obser%e the things around her! There are
shel%es and maps and pictures hung on pegs7 at one point, she pic&s up a 4ar o# orange
marmalade and puts it bac& into place on another shel#! 6he seems to #all #or an
interminable amount o# time, and begins to worry that she might #all straight through to
the other side o# the earth! Although she has no one to tal& to, she practices some o# the
#acts she learned in school2 she &nows the distance #rom one end o# the earth to the other,
and she says some o# the grand words she has heard in her lessons! 6he worries about
missing her cat, =inah, at dinner! Ginally, she reaches the bottom o# the hole! 6he is in a
long hallway, and she is 4ust in time to see the white rabbit hurrying away!
The hallway is lined with doors, but all o# them are loc&ed! ;n a three(legged table made
o# glass, Alice #inds a &ey, but it is #ar too small #or any o# the loc&s! Then, Alice #inds a
tiny door hidden behind a curtain! The &ey wor&s, but the door is #ar too small! Through
the door there is a miniature passageway, leading to a lo%ely garden7 the sight o# the
garden ma&es Alice more determined than e%er to #ind a way to get through! Alice goes
bac& to the table, where a little bottle has appeared! The label says 1=$8:E 5E,1 and
a#ter chec&ing to see i# it mar&ed 1poison,1 Alice drin&s it all! 6he shrin&s to a siFe small
enough #or the door, but she soon realiFes that she has le#t the &ey on top o# the glass
table! 6he is now to short to reach it7 seeing her dilemma and #ooling #oolish #or her
mista&e, she begins to cry! )ut she then #inds a piece o# ca&e, on which is a little slip o#
paper that says 1EAT 5E!1 Alice eats, and waits #or the results!
Analysis
The poem at the beginning o# the boo& is a reasonably accurate account o# how the boo&
came to be! The three girls in the boat are the Lidell sisters, o# whom Alice is the second
oldest! Carroll o#ten entertained the girls with #antastic stories he made up on the spot! ;n
Alice Lidell*s insistence, he too& one o# his longer tales and wrote it down!
The central theme o# Alice*s Ad%entures in 0onderland is Alice*s struggle to adapt to the
rules o# this new world7 metaphorically, it is Alice*s struggle to adapt to the strange rules
and beha%iors o# adults! The rabbit, with his watch and his concern #or schedules and
appointments, is a representati%e o# this adult world! Alice*s story starts when she #ollows
him down the hole!
6he is characteriFed as a bright child who o#ten says or does #oolish things7 in other
words, Alice has much in common with any child who is trying to beha%e li&e someone
older than she is! "er blunders come about because o# un#amiliarity rather than stupidity!
6he is also an unusually conscientious child7 note the moment when she is #alling down
the hall, and she puts the marmalade care#ully bac& on the shel# #or #ear that the 4ar might
&ill someone i# she were to drop it!
As Carroll sees it, the world o# children is a dangerous one! :ot &nowing the rules,
howe%er #oolish or arbitrary those rules may be, is a source o# great peril! Alice*s
Ad%entures in 0onderland is shadowed by hints o# death, and death is a recurring theme
o# both o# Carroll*s boo&s! Through the Loo&ing Blass, the second boo& about Alice*s
ad%entures, is an e%en dar&er story7 in Through the Loo&ing Blass, reminders o# death are
inescapable! )ut e%en here, at the start o# Alice*s ad%enture, we are reminded o# the
#railty o# humans and o# children in particular! The #irst hint o# mortality comes with
Alice*s concern about the marmalade 4ar7 her worry shows that 0onderland is not an
escape #rom all o# the limitations o# the real world! =eath is still a possibility! A moment
later, Carroll treats us to a %ery macabre 4o&e! 0hen Alice is #alling, she ta&es pride in
her composure2 1U0ell<* thought Alice to hersel#, Ua#ter such a #all as this, 8 shall thin&
nothing o# tumbling down stairs< "ow bra%e they*ll all thin& me at home< 0hy, 8
wouldn*t say anything about it, e%en i# 8 #ell o## the top o# the house<*1 >1,@! The narrator
adds, grimly, 10hich was %ery li&ely true!1 The narrator agrees with Alice, but not #or
the reason she might thin&2 a#ter #alling o## a house, the reason why she would not say
anything is because she would be dead! Alice ma&es another un&nowing allusion to her
own death when she peers into the tiny door! 6he realiFes that she cannot e%en #it her
head through the opening, and e%en i# she could, her head 1would be o# %ery little use
without my shoulders1 >16@! 6he is re#erring, un&nowingly, to her own decapitation! The
moment is both an allusion to death and a bit o# #oreshadowing! At the end o# the boo&,
the +ueen o# "earts will try her best to separate Alice*s head #rom her shoulders!
8n Alice*s treatment o# the little drin&, we are reminded o# the speci#ic perils that #ace
children! Carroll writes2 1! ! ! PGQor she had read se%eral nice little histories about children
who had got burnt, and eaten up be wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because
they would not remember the simple rules their #riends had taught them1 >1-(8@! The
challenge o# mastering the 1simple rules1 is going to be Alice*s main struggle in
0onderland, and this passage hints at some o# worst conse'uences o# not &nowing the
rules! 8nnocence is closely connected to ignorance2 in this boo&, it is not an idealiFed or
sa#e state! 0hile we are charmed by Alice*s blunders and &now that she will ma&e it
home in the end, Carroll is constantly reminding us o# the conse'uences o# not &nowing
the rules! Childhood is partially a state o# peril, and Carroll names a #ew o# those perils
directly2 poison bottles that the child cannot read, #alls, burns, wounds #rom blades that
the child is too young to handle >18@! :ot least o# these dangers is an adult world that
ba##les and con#uses! Alice is trained enough to read the bottle be#ore she drin&s it! 6he
&nows the simple rule in this case, and &nows well enough to a%oid the label 1poison!1
"er challenge will be to learn more comple3 rules, reading not only labels but also
situations and people as she ma&es her way through 0onderland!
Cha!ter ). The 2ool o" Tears
Summary.
As the ca&e ta&es e##ect, Alice #inds hersel# growing larger! This time, she &eeps growing
until she is the siFe o# a giant! :ow, getting through the door to the garden will be more
di##icult than e%er, and Alice begins to cry again! The white rabbit comes scurrying down
the hall7 at the sight o# him, Alice dries her tears and tries to tal& to him, but one loo& at
Alice and the rabbit runs away in terror! "e lea%es behind his #an and his white &id
glo%es! Alice begins to wonder how so many strange things could happen to her!
Iesterday was a day li&e any other, and Alice begins to consider the possibility that she
might ha%e changed during the night! 8# she has changed, there*s no telling who she might
be! 6he wonders i# she*s been changed into 5abel, a girl who is less a##luent and less
bright than Alice2 when she tries to recite her lessons and #ails, she #ears that she must be
5abel!
6uddenly, Alice realiFes that she has put on the rabbit*s glo%es2 i# they #it, she must be
shrin&ing again! 6he soon learns that the cause is the #an that she is holding, which she
drops hastily be#ore she shrin&s away completely! 6he is now the right siFe #or the door
to the garden, but she has le#t the &ey, once again, on the glass table! 6he soon slips and
#alls into a %ast body o# salt water! 8t is the pool o# tears that she cried when she was a
giant! 6he sees a mouse swimming through the little sea, and tries to tal& to him, but she
unintentionally o##ends and #rightens the creature by tal&ing about her cat! The mouse can
tal&! Alice o##ends him again by bringing up a dog that &ills rats, and the mouse seems to
be swimming away, but when Alice calls out to him and apologiFes, the mouse swims
bac& and tells her to swim to shore with him! "e promises to tell her his story, a#ter
which she will understand why he hates and #ears cats! They swim towards the shore, and
Alice #inds hersel# swimming at the head o# a curious party o# animals who ha%e #allen in
the water2 a =uc&, a =odo, a Lory, an Eaglet, and a #ew other animals!
Analysis.
Alice*s shi#ts in siFe and in'uiries into her own identity re#lect the di##iculties o# growing
up! Just as children on the %erge o# adulthood sometimes #ind themsel%es too small #or
adult pri%ileges while being #orced to tal& on the no(#un world o# adult responsibilities,
Alice #inds her body thrown bac& and #orth between two e3tremes o# siFe! The abrupt,
almost %iolent physical changes might also suggest the sudden physical changes that
come with the onset o# adolescence!
"er in'uiries into her own identity parallel a child*s search #or hersel# as she grows older!
Alice worries that her identity has been displaced7 her #ears parallel any child*s
uncertainty about her place in the world! :ote that Alice loathes the idea o# being 5abel
not only because 5abel is less bright, but because 5abel is less a##luent! Alice is aware
o# di##erences in wealth, but she is still a young child7 she sees class only in terms o# how
many material ob4ects a little girl is allowed to ha%e!
Cha!ter (. A Caucus /ace and a Long Tale
Summary.
The animals and Alice ma&e it to the shore, wet and grouchy! The mouse tries to dry
them o## by telling a dry story2 he recites English history in #lat, uninspired prose! At
some point, he uses the word 1it1 without an antecedent, which causes con#usion as the
animals argue about what 1it1 is! The =odo suggests another method o# getting dry, as
e%eryone seems to be as wet as o%er! The animals are initially reluctant to #ollow the
=odo*s ad%ice, as his speech is #ull o# grand words that the other animals don*t
understand2 the Eaglet con%inces the =odo o# not understanding them either!
The =odo suggests a Caucus $ace! Alice and the animals line up and race around in
circles, starting and stopping whene%er they please! A#ter a hal#(hour or so, they are all
'uite dry! The =odo declares that they are all winners! Alice is charged with the
responsibility o# gi%ing priFes to all o# them2 all she has is a container o# little candies!
6he gi%es them one candy each! Gor her priFe, the =odo awards her the thimble that was
in Alice*s poc&et! 6he thin&s it*s all totally absurd, but she dares not laugh #or #ear o#
o##ending them!
6he as&s the mouse to tell his tale, and he begins! )ut Alice is trans#i3ed by the mouse*s
tale, and she loo&s at it as he spea&s! "er impression o# the tale is merged with her
impression o# his tale, and on the page the mouse*s story, in %erse, is written in the shape
o# a mouse*s tail! The mouse accuses her o# being inattenti%e, and wanders o## in a hu##!
Alice is 'uite upset, and admits that she wishes that =inah were with her! =inah could
#etch the mouse bac& so that he might #inish his story! The birds as& who =inah is, and
Alice, eager as always to tal& about her cat, tal&s about =inah*s many talents and %irtues
as a pet! 6he mentions that =inah is 'uite good at catching birds, and at this bit o# news
the birds all begin to lea%e! Alice #eels 'uite lonely, and begins to cry again! 6oon, she
hears the sound o# little #ootsteps coming towards her!
Analysis.
Auns abound! The two meanings o# 1dry1 are played on at the start o# the chapter, as the
mouse recites #rom "a%illand Chapmell*s 6hort Course o# "istory! Carroll*s taste #or puns
and the play#ul side o# language is a constant source o# amusement throughout the boo&!
The mouse 'uotes a passage where the antecedent #or the word 1it1 is missing >though the
meaning is still 'uite clear@, and the result is general con#usion among the animals7 this is
one o# many moments where the creatures o# 0onderland create con#usion by ta&ing
language at absolute #ace(%alue! They allow themsel%es to be con#used by pronouns
without antecedents7 they also ta&e #igurati%e language literally, or con#use homonyms!
5uch o# one*s ability to understand language comes #rom the ability to ignore its
inconsistencies and incoherencies2 #or e3ample, the listener can understand the meaning
o# 1it1 without hearing its antecedent! The creatures o# 0onderland are not merely silly2
they always ha%e their own logic, a certain sense and reasoning behind their absurd
beha%ior! Their strange reactions to language point out the potential pit#alls o# English,
and their biFarre rules and sensiti%ities parallel the arbitrary nature o# any culture*s
customs and habits! Alice*s ad%entures are wonder#ul training #or adapting to the absurd
beha%ior o# adults!
The Caucus $ace parodies political process2 the participants run around in con#used
circles, ne%er accomplishing anything! 8# we can ta&e Alice as a symbol #or the a%erage
citiFen, we see that the $ace does %ery little to bene#it her! At the end, Alice is #orced to
gi%e e%eryone a priFe! Although Alice also recei%es a priFe, she is gi%en something that
she already had! 5ore humor comes #rom the contrast between the animals* sober #aces
and Alice*s secret con%iction that the whole process is absurd!
Carroll puns with the homonyms 1tale1 and 1tale,1 as the shape o# the mouse*s tail
becomes the shape o# the mouse*s printed story! The pun is play#ul, and Alice*s
#ascination with the animal*s tale ma&es #or a charming moment2 the charm o# her
wandering attention, the shape o# the printed words, and the rhyme scheme mas& some o#
the dar&ness o# the mouse*s story! "e is tal&ing about being cornered by a dog and #orced
to go on trial! The dog >whose name is Gury@ wanted to be prosecutor, 4udge, and 4ury7 he
also wanted to condemn the mouse to death! 0e ne%er hear the end o# the story, as the
5ouse, realiFing that Alice is paying less than total attention to the meaning o# his words,
runs o## in a hu##!
Alice ma&es more un&nowing allusions to death, this time to the death o# others! 6he
wishes her cat =inah was there, so that the cat might #etch the mouse bac& to #inish his
story! 6he seems unaware o# the #act that this would mean the mouse*s death! And she
unthin&ingly tal&s about =inah*s amaFing talent #or catching birds, not realiFing that this
&ind o# tal& will o##end all o# her new a%ian #riends!
Summary and Analysis o" Cha!ters B*C
The 0hite $abbit comes, #retting about his missing things and the wrath o# the =utchess!
Alice loo&s around #or the 0hite $abbit*s glo%es and #an, but e%erything has changed2
she sees that hall with its many doors ha%e disappeared completely! The 0hite $abbit
sees Alice and mista&es him #or his maid! 0hen he orders her bac& to his home to #etch
his glo%es and #an, she hurries o## without correcting him! 8n the 0hite $abbit*s house,
she #inds a #an and glo%es and a tiny bottle, similar to the one she dran& #rom be#ore!
There is no sign instructing her to drin&, but she begins to drin& anyway! 6uddenly, she
has grown so large that she can barely #it in the house! There is no apparent way out! 6he
hears the rabbit outside the house, calling #or 5ary Ann! The door is bloc&ed, so the
rabbit resol%es to go in through the window! Alice, ner%ous about being caught in her
present state reaches out the window with her hand and ma&es a grab at the air! 6he hears
a shattering o# glass7 the rabbit must ha%e #allen through a cucumber(#rame! The rabbit
calls #or one o# his ser%ants, Aat, and demands that the arm be remo%ed! Alice ma&es
another grab at the air, and this time she hears both animals crash down into a cucumber(
#rame!
The animals decide to send )ill, another ser%ant, down the chimney! Alice manages to
wedge her #oot into the chimney, and when she hears )ill scuttling down, she gi%es a
good solid &ic&! )ill goes #lying! The animals and Alice are at a stando##! 0hen she hears
them planning to set the house on #ire, she calls out that they*d better not! )e#ore long, the
launch a barrow#ul o# little pebbles in through the window, some o# which hit Alice in the
#ace! )ut a#ter they land, the pebbles turn into little ca&es! Alice eats one o# them, and it
shrin&s her down to the siFe o# the little animals7 she runs as #ast as she can out o# the
house and beyond! As she runs away, she sees )ill >who is a liFard@ being supported by
two guinea pigs!
6he #inds hersel# in a dense #orest, and she decides to search #or something to restore her
to her normal siFe, a#ter which she will go and #ind that lo%ely garden she saw through
the little door >Chapters 1(@! 6uddenly, Alice #inds hersel# #ace(to(#ace with a puppy!
6he starts to play #etch with it, but she soon realiFes that at her present siFe, the puppy
poses a considerable threat! Alice barely manages to escape being trampled!
0andering through #ields o# giant #lowers and blades o# grass, Alice searches #or
something to eat or drin& that will restore her to her #ull siFe! 6he comes upon a
mushroom, on which is sitting a blue caterpillar smo&ing a hoo&ah!
Analysis
5ore growing! The story plays again with the de#inition o# 1growing up!1 Alice tal&s to
hersel# when she is stuc& in the house, and resol%es to write a boo& about her strange
ad%entures when she is grown up, but then realiFes mourn#ully that she is 1grown up1
already, in terms o# siFe! 8n Chapter , she made a similar statement when she berated
hersel#, 1a great girl,1 #or crying so much! )ut Alice*s siFe is 4u3taposed to her naV%e
comments and worries7 these moments emphasiFe that growing up is more than a matter
o# siFe!
8n #act, many o# Alice*s %ictories come when she is small, and being large is o#ten a great
hindrance! Against the puppy, Alice has nothing but her wits to help her against the
animal! 6he manages to escape! And note that in the house she is impeded by her giant
siFe, and is only able to escape when she shrin&s down again! 6iFe doesn*t matter as much
as adaptability, and Alice*s true 1growing up1 comes with her adaptation to each new
challenge!
A recurring theme is Alice*s desire to see the garden! 0onderland is in this way similar to
dreams with an un#ul#illed desire! )ut the garden itsel# merely structures Alice*s 4ourney2
a#ter each new ad%enture, she presses on toward the garden, but it is the incidents along
the way that are ma&ing her into a wiser person!
Cha!ter D. Ad5ice 4rom a Cater!illar
Summary.
The Caterpillar as&s Alice who she is, and she can gi%e no satis#actory reply7 she has
changed so many times in one day that she #eels she can no longer answer the 'uestion
with certainty! The Caterpillar tells her it is not so con#using to change! They ha%e a
con%ersation in which the %ery mellow Caterpillar gi%es important ad%ice to the irritable
Alice2 she must &eep her temper! "e as&s her to recite 1Iou are old, Gather 0illiam,1
which Alice does, although a#terward they agree that she recited incorrectly! "e also tells
her that she will grow accustomed to the sensiti%ity o# the animals! Alice e3presses a
wish to be larger! The Caterpillar contradicts Alice repeatedly, with absolute composure!
A#ter a while he crawls o## through the grass, telling her that one side o# the mushroom
will ma&e her grow taller, and the other side will ma&e her grow shorter!
Alice is not sure which side is which, so she bites into one morsel! 6he is suddenly
s'uashed down, her chin against her #eet7 she hastily eats the other morsel, and her body
elongates tremendously! "er nec& becomes so long that she cannot see her shoulders, and
she #inds she can use her nec& as i# she were a serpent! "er head ma&es its way through
the li%es o# a tree, and she happens on a Aigeon, who mista&es Alice #or a serpent! The
Aigeon #ears #or her eggs! Alice tries to assure the Aigeon that she is not a serpent, but
Alice must answer truth#ully when the Aigeon as&s i# she has eaten eggs! The Aigeon
argues that e%en i# Alice is a little girl, i# little girls eat eggs then they must be a &ind o#
serpent! Alice is silenced by the no%el idea! A#ter some more arguing, the Aigeon shoos
Alice o##!
Alice eats #rom each o# the mushroom bits, using them to balance each other, until she
brings hersel# to her normal siFe! 6he #eels strange to be her correct siFe again, but she is
pleased that one part o# her plan is now complete! 6he resol%es to go #ind the garden, but
she comes across a charming miniature house! Alice wants to go inside, and she
considerately opts not to #righten them with her normal siFe7 she eats mushroom until she
is nine inches high!
Analysis.
The con%ersation between Alice and the Caterpillar is worth a close loo&, and ma&es #or
an e3cellent paper topic! The discussion brings into #ocus the themes o# change and
growing up7 #or the Caterpillar, #or whom dramatic trans#ormation is a natural part o# li#e,
change is neither upsetting nor surprising! "e is unsha&ably calm, with the e3ception o#
when Alice complains o# being only three inches tall >the Caterpillar is e3actly three
inches tall@! "e also seems to be less belligerent than many o# the creatures o#
0onderland, e%en though he contradicts almost e%erything Alice says! "e is a sage(
#igure, whose mysterious silences and terse responses pro%ide a sharp contrast to Alice*s
e3asperation and con#used replies! The game in 0onderland is change and
trans#ormation, and the Caterpillar understands the game that Alice is trying to learn how
to play!
The poem Alice recites, 1Iou Are ;ld, Gather 0illiam,1 is a parody o# 1The ;ld 5an*s
Com#orts and "ow "e Bained Them,1 by $obert 6outhey! The poem is in line with the
theme o# change and growth2 a young man as&s his #ather how he has maintained so
many astounding abilities despite his old age!
The Aigeon*s classi#ication o# little girls as a type o# serpent is one o# many humorous
logical e3ercises by the creatures o# 0onderland! $emember that Carroll was a
mathematician with a lo%e o# logic puFFles! The creatures o# 0onderland always ha%e a
reason and a method to their nonsense! They are constantly reasoning their way to absurd
conclusions, to the reader*s delight and to Alice*s con#usion!
Cha!ter C. 2ig and 2e!!er
Summary.
As Alice loo&s at the house and tries to decide what to do ne3t, a #ish dressed as a
#ootman arri%es and &noc&s on the door! A #rog dressed as a #ootman answers, and the
Gish(Gootman deli%ers an in%itation #rom the +ueen to the =uchess to play cro'uet!
0hen the two #ootmen bow, their curls become entangled, and Alice laughs so hard she
has to lea%e7 when she returns the Gish is gone and the Grog(Gootman is sitting on the
ground! 0hen Alice goes to &noc& on the door the Grog(Gootman tells her that it*s no use!
Alice tries to tal& with him, but she #inds him 'uite contrary, and so she goes into the
house hersel#! 6he*s now in the &itchen, where the =uchess is sitting in the middle o# the
room, nursing a baby, and the coo& is busying hersel# o%er a large cauldron o# soup!
There is also a cat, sitting on the hearth, grinning widely! The air is #ull o# pepper, and the
baby is crying!
Alice as&s why the cat is grinning, and the =uchess responds that he grins because he is a
Cheshire cat! Alice tries to tal& to the =uchess, but the =uchess is 'uite rude! The coo&
begins to throw e%erything within reach at the =uchess and the baby, and the =uchess
ta&es no notice, e%en when the ob4ects hit her! Alice is terri#ied #or the child, but the
=uchess tells her to mind her business! Alice answers her smartly! The =uchess begins to
throw the baby into the air, singing a song about beating children, be#ore she #inally
tosses the baby to Alice and tells her to nurse the child hersel# i# she li&es! The =uchess
heads o## to get ready #or her cro'uet match! Alice, concerned #or the child*s wel#are,
ta&es it with her when she lea%es the house, but be#ore long the baby has turned into a
pig! 6he puts it down and it trots away into the woods!
Alice soon runs into the Cheshire cat, whom she as&s #or directions! "e points the way to
the "atter*s home, and to the 5arch "are*s place, but he warns her that they*re both mad!
"e also says that e%eryone around these parts is 'uite mad, including himsel# and Alice7
i# she weren*t mad, she wouldn*t ha%e come! They tal&, the Cheshire cat disappearing and
reappearing the whole while! "e #inally disappears a #inal time, tail #irst and grin last!
Alice decides to go the 5arch "are*s place, but she #eels a sense o# #oreboding when she
reaches his home! 8t is co%ered with #ear and has two great ears! 6he uses the mushroom
to rise her height to two #eet, but she still #eels 'uite an3ious as she enters!
Analysis.
Alice shows a considerable amount o# composure in this chapter! 6he ne%er brea&s down
crying, and she somehow manages to &eep her temper despite the argumentati%e
creatures she meets! The theme o# growing up wor&s its way through this chapter! 0e
meet the =uchess, who almost at #irst glance tells Alice that she &nows %ery little >-1@7
Alice is 'uite displeased by the insult, but she holds her own! A moment later, she shows
she is adapting to 0onderland*s logic when she answers the =uchess smartly! The
=uchess says pointedly that the world would go around #aster i# e%eryone minded his
own business7 Alice responds, in 0onderland #ashion, that the world going around #aster
would not be a good thing! The days would become too short! 6he literaliFes the #igure o#
speech and wins another little %ictory!
6ome more o# the ris&s o# growing up are apparent in the trans#ormation o# the little
baby! ;ne o# the greatest dangers o# ma&ing the transition #rom childhood to adulthood is
growing into a disagreeable adult! The child*s trans#ormation into a pig >the pig being a
symbol #or an unpleasant person@ is played on #or it*s #ull %alue as a metaphor! The
Cheshire cat as&s also what became o# the child7 when Alice tells him that the baby
turned into a pig, the cat responds coyly that he thought it would! 0hen the pig trots o##
into the woods, she thin&s o# other children she &nows who might ma&e good pigs!
5any characters ta&e their names #rom old e3pressions! The Cheshire cat*s name comes
#rom the phrase, 1to grin li&e a Cheshire cat,1 an e3pression o# uncertain origin! The
5arch "are is insane7 an old phrase is 1mad as a 5arch hare,1 re#erring to the animal*s
wild beha%ior during mating season! The "atter*s madness ma&es allusion to the real(li#e
tendency o# hatters to go mad7 hatters sometimes went insane because o# the poisonous
mercury used to cure #elt!
Summary and Analysis o" Cha!ters E*+
Alice #inds the 5arch "are, the "atter, and the =ormouse sitting all together at one end
o# a large table! The =ormouse sits between the other two, #ast asleep! They are
disagreeable #rom the start, and Alice*s con%ersation with them is con#using e%en by
0onderland standards! They contradict Alice at e%ery turn, correcting her with con#using
arguments that ha%e their own strange logic! 5uch o# the con%ersation is about time! The
"atter*s watch, which only tells the day o# the month, is bro&en! The "atter also tells
Alice that Time >which he tal&s about as i# it were a person@ stopped wor&ing #or him
about a month ago, when the +ueen o# "earts accused the "atter o# murdering the time!
6ince then, it*s always been si3 o*cloc&, which is why they sit at tea all the time! All the
places at the table are set, because they don*t ha%e time to do the dishes! 0hen they want
a clean plate, they 4ust mo%e to another spot!
The =ormouse begins to tell a strange story about three sisters who li%e in a well7 Alice*s
'uestions and contradictions anger the =ormouse, and the "atter and 5arch "are grow
increasingly rude to her! Ginally, Alice lea%es, disgusted, turning around as she goes to
see the "atter and the "are trying to stu## the =ormouse into a pot o# tea!
Alice wanders in the woods until she #inds a tree with a door in it! 6he goes inside, and
#inds hersel# in the long hallway again! This time, she*s prepared2 she ta&es the &ey #rom
the table and unloc&s the door to the garden! 6he then eats 4ust enough mushroom to step
through the door, and she #inds hersel# in the lo%ely garden!
Analysis
The 5ad Tea party is an important scene, as the logicKillogic o# the 5arch "are, the
"atter, and the =ormouse re%eals some o# the peculiarities o# language! They are some o#
the most argumentati%e o# the creatures Alice meets in 0onderland, and their strange
remar&s show Carroll*s talent #or word games and logic puFFles! >The readers should ta&e
a moment to loo& at some o# these important scenes up(close, as analyFing e%ery pun and
bit o# mad reasoning would be too time(consuming #or this summary! ;# particular note
are the scenes with the caterpillar, the Cheshire cat, and the 5ad Tea Aarty!@ The illogic
o# language and the relationship between sense, nonsense, and words is an important
theme o# the boo&! At one point, Alice protests that she says what she means, or at least,
she means what she says! 6he insists that the two are the same thing! )ut the creatures
correct, using e3amples o# similar #lipped sentences where the meanings are totally
di##erent! >E3ample2 18 li&e what 8 get1 and 18 get what 8 li&e!1@
Alice is participating in that most adult o# acti%ities, a tea party, and she comes up against
some o# the most di##icult creatures she has e%er met! )ut she generally maintains her
composure, holding her own against the three tea(ta&ers and managing to anticipate some
o# their conclusions and rules! 6he also is smart enough to lea%e when she*s had enough!
The themes o# growing up and learning the rules come up in Alice*s triumphant entry into
the garden! ?nli&e the #irst time, when she cried and couldn*t maintain control o# hersel#,
she remains calm and uses her head to get to the garden!
Cha!ter '. The 6ueen8s CroFuet Ground
Summary.
Alice enters the garden and #inds three gardeners, shaped li&e playing cards, hurriedly
painting the white roses o# a rose tree! Alice as&s why they are painting the roses red, and
one o# the gardeners >the Two@ admits to her that the tree was supposed to be a red rose
tree! 8# the +ueen learned about the error, she would cut o## their heads!
The procession o# the 'ueen arri%es! There are a good many soldiers shaped li&e cards,
li&e the gardeners7 there are also the royal children, %arious guests, and the white rabbit!
Last come the Ena%e o# "earts and the Eing and +ueen! The procession stops opposite o#
Alice, and the +ueen demands to &now Alice*s identity! Alice politely introduces hersel#,
but she thin&s boldly that she has nothing to #ear2 they are only a pac& o# cards! "er
replies to the +ueen are sassy, and she re#uses to be intimidated by the +ueen*s bluster!
The +ueen demands to &now the identities o# the three gardeners, who ha%e thrown
themsel%es, #acedown, onto the ground! 6he has the un#ortunate gardeners turned o%er, so
that their numbers and suits are re%ealed, and when she sees the roses she orders their
beheading! The soldiers come #orward, and the gardeners run to Alice #or protection!
Alice secretly hides them in a large #lowerpot!
The soldiers report that the gardeners are gone, and the +ueen seems to #orget about
them! 6he in%ites Alice to play cro'uet! Alice #ollows the +ueen and tal&s to the 0hite
$abbit2 #rom him, she learns that the =uchess is under a sentence o# e3ecution! Alice
soon learns that cro'uet in 0onderland is 'uite di##icult! The balls are li%e hedgehogs,
the mallets are li%e #lamingoes, and the hoops are the card(people, bent o%er so that their
bodies ma&e arches! :o one is waiting their turn, and the +ueen is soon in a #ury! Alice
begins to worry that the +ueen*s #ury will be turned against her!
The head o# the Cheshire cat appears, to Alice*s relie#! Ginally, she has someone ci%il to
tal& to! 6he complains to him about the 'uarrelsome players and the di##icult game! 0hen
the cat as&s how she li&es the +ueen, Alice admits she doesn*t li&e her much at all! 0hen
Alice notices that the +ueen is ea%esdropping, she smoothly ma&es a sa%e and the +ueen
wal&s away, satis#ied! The &ing as&s whom Alice is tal&ing to, and #rom the start the
Eing and Cheshire cat don*t get along! The &ing demands its e3ecution and goes to #etch
the e3ecutioner himsel#! Alice tries to play cro'uet some more, but #inds it hopeless7 she
returns to #ind the e3ecutioner, the Eing, and the +ueen arguing, with the Cheshire cat
calmly watching! The e3ecutioner argues that since the cat is only a head, he cannot be
beheaded! The &ing argues that anything that has a head can be beheaded! The +ueen
threatens to behead e%eryone i# they don*t #ind a solution! They as& Alice to mediate, and
Alice recommends that they #etch the =uchess7 it*s her cat, a#ter all! )y the time the
=uchess is brought #orth, the cat has %anished!
Analysis.
Alice initially #aces the Court o# Cards with great con#idence7 she boldly says to hersel#
that they are only a pac& o# cards, and she has nothing to #ear! 6he is much stronger than
when she #irst arri%ed in 0onderland! "er con#idence comes through when she sa%es the
li%es o# the three gardeners!
)ut Alice soon realiFes that although the people o# the Court are only a pac& o# cards,
their nature does not ma&e them any less dangerous! The Court o# Cards, li&e people o#
power in real li#e, rely on ran& and costume #or their status! Carroll turns ran& and
costume into a game, moc&ing it7 howe%er, he does not deny that ridiculous people can
be #rightening or dangerous! Alice begins by thin&ing she has nothing to #ear, but as she
spends more time with the +ueen o# "earts she becomes increasingly an3ious!
The theme o# games, and learning their rules, is central in this chapter! Alice is learning
to get along in a social set o# power#ul people7 Carroll ma&es this adaptation into a &ind
o# game by turning the court into a dec& o# cards! Alice also has to adapt to a %ery
di##icult game o# cro'uet! Aart o# her problem is realiFing that no one else is paying any
attention to the rules7 sometimes, learning to play means more than learning the rules!
The argument about beheading the Cheshire cat is more #un with nonsense, as the &ing
argues that anything that has a head can be beheaded and the e3ecutioner argues that
being beheaded actually re'uires ha%ing a body! Alice is composed enough to mediate!
The Cheshire cat is one o# the #ew animals in 0onderland who treats Alice with courtesy!
"e is a #igure similar to the Caterpillar, in that he seems tran'uil and unbothered by the
con#usion o# 0onderland! "e is unimpressed by the Eing*s threats, and he easily escapes
when his sa#ety is threatened!
Cha!ter +. The 0ock Turtle8s Story
Summary.
The =uchess is strangely ci%il to Alice7 she wal&s with her and engages her in
con%ersation! Alice #inds it 'uite unpleasant, as the =uchess &eeps digging her sharp chin
into Alice*s shoulder! The =uchess also tal&s almost e3clusi%ely in clichW morals7 she
manages #ind a moral in e%erything Alice says or notices! They reach the +ueen, who
tells the =uchess to run o## or lose her head! The =uchess runs! Alice returns ner%ously to
the cro'uet game! The +ueen &eeps shouting 1;## with herKhis head,1 and within hal# an
hour, all o# the other players ha%e been ta&en into custody and put under sentence o#
e3ecution! 6ince the Card(6oldiers were acting as the arches #or cro'uet, there are no
arches le#t! The +ueen announces that they shall go #ind the 5oc& Turtle >the &ind o#
turtle one uses to ma&e 5oc& Turtle 6oup@ so that he can tell Alice his story! As they
lea%e, Alice hears the Eing 'uietly pardon all o# the prisoners!
Alice and the +ueen come upon the Bryphon, whom the +ueen wa&es! 6he orders the
animal to ta&e Alice to the 5oc& Turtle! The +ueen goes bac& to see a#ter her e3ecutions,
and the Bryphon assures Alice that they ne%er really e3ecute anybody! 6he comes to the
5oc& Turtle, whose eyes are #ull o# tears! "e begins to tell his story! ;nce, he was a real
turtle! "e and the Bryphon digress and tal& about the strange school that they went to at
the bottom o# the sea! The description is #ull o# puns! Alice*s 'uestions irritate the
Bryphon and the Turtle, who are at times 'uite disagreeable!
Analysis.
The =uchess seems di##erent, but her change in beha%ior actually re#lects how Alice has
changed! 6he is no longer the intimidating #igure who acted imperiously to Alice7 she is
instead a rather silly woman, #ull o# clichW wisdom that degenerates into nonsense! Alice
is now able to see her clearly! The =uchess* tendency to #ind a moral in e%erything
satiriFes the simplistic moraliFing children*s literature o# Carroll*s time7 but now, Alice
has grown enough to %iew the =uchess critically!
5oc& Turtle is another game with language! 5oc& turtle soup is actually made o# %eal,
which is why the original illustrations #or the boo& show a turtle with a cal#*s head! The
description o# the school is #ull o# puns, with se%eral moment o# real cle%erness! The
5oc& Turtle says that the turtle who taught the others was called a Tortoise7 Alice as&s
why he was called a Tortoise i# he was a Turtle! The answer is that he was called a
Tortoise because he taught the others! This 4o&e is actually an illustration o# the
disconnection between sign and signi#ied7 language, in other words, is arbitrary! Tortoise
is an arbitrary sound, and it need not mean the animal! To the Bryphon and the 5oc&
Turtle, teaching is part o# the de#inition o# 1Tortoise!1 The Grench thin&er =errida writes
about this 'uality o# language, and his wor& has had a great in#luence on linguistics and
literary theory!
Summary and Analysis o" Cha!ters &G*&)
The 5oc& Turtle and the Bryphon tal& with non(stop puns! They tal& to Alice about the
dances they used to ha%e2 among them was the Lobster +uadrille, a dance that sounds
somewhat li&e a s'uare dance, e3cept e%eryone has a lobster #or a partner! They
demonstrate #or Alice, without using the lobsters, and Alice attends politely but is 'uite
relie%ed when it*s all o%er! They e3plain some o# the parts o# the song, puns raging out o#
control, and then they as& Alice to tell them about her story! 0hen she gets to the part
about not being able to recite her lessons correctly, they as& her to recite7 as be#ore, the
poems come out completely di##erent #rom how they were when she memoriFed them!
The 5oc& Turtle sings a song about Turtle 6oup, tears in his eyes the whole while! "e is
about to repeat the chorus when they hear someone shouting that the trial is about to
begin! The Bryphon ta&es Alice by the hand and runs o## to watch the trial! As she is
dragged o## by the Bryphon, she can hear the 5oc& Turtle continue his song!
Analysis
The puns are two numerous to go through here7 the Bryphon and the 5oc& Turtle are
good characters to e3amine i# writing a paper on language and wordplay! The sea where
they grew up is a place where e%ery possible pun is e3ploited!
Alice continues to show how she has grown! 0hen she #irst arri%ed in 0onderland, she
managed to o##end e%eryone by tal&ing about how her cat catches and eats certain
animals7 although she almost mentions that she has eaten lobster to the Bryphon and the
5oc& Turtle, she catches hersel# 4ust in time! 6he also stops hersel# #rom saying that she
has had whiting #or dinner! 6he has learned #rom her pre%ious mista&es, and so she is able
to &eep things ci%il between her and her peculiar entertainers!
The 5oc& Turtle is a strange #igure! "e is always crying, although the Bryphon says
con#identially to Alice in Chapter . that the 5oc& Turtle*s sadness is mostly in his own
head! )ut his tears coupled with his song ma&e #or a rather eerie moment! Aerhaps his
sadness comes #rom the #act that 5oc& Turtle is meant to be consumed7 in real li#e, it
only e3ists as part o# the name o# a soup, and in 0onderland 5oc& Turtles only e3ists to
be made into soup! $emember that the 5oc& Turtle tear#ully told Alice that he was once
a real turtle! Though a real turtle need not be eaten, a 5oc& Turtle probably &nows how
he will end up! The 5oc& Turtle*s song is about beauti#ul turtle soup, and e%en as Alice
runs o## to the trial she can hear his melancholy chorus! The song is yet another moment
that touches on the theme o# death!
Cha!ter &&. Who Stole the TartsH
Summary.
The Eing o# "earts is the 4udge, and the 4urors are %arious animals, some o# whom Alice
has already met! The 0hite $abbit recites the nursery rhyme about the &na%e o# hearts
stealing tarts #rom the +ueen o# "earts7 this is the accusation against the de#endant!
The #irst witness is the "atter! The &ing threatens the "atter all through the cross
e3amination, and that "atter becomes more and more ner%ous! =uring the cross
e3amination, Alice #eels hersel# starting to grow! Also, two guinea pigs, at di##erent
points, ma&e noise and are suppressed! The narrator e3plains that 1suppressed1 means
being stu##ed into a large sac& and then sat upon! Alice is 'uite glad to witness it, because
she had read the word many times in newspapers and ne%er &new what it meant! The
"atter is e3cused, and he ta&es o## to go bac& to his tea! 0hen he gets outside, the +ueen
calls #or him to be e3ecuted, but the "atter manages to escape!
The Coo& is the ne3t witness! 6he is most uncooperati%e! The =ormouse pipes up during
the Coo&*s cross(e3amination, and the 'ueen #uriously calls #or the =ormouse*s
suppression, e3pulsion, beheading, etc!7 during the scu##le in%ol%ed in turning the
=ormouse out o# court, the coo& escapes! The &ing as&s the 'ueen to conduct the ne3t
cross(e3amination! The 0hite $abbit calls the ne3t witness2 it*s Alice!
Analysis.
Carroll*s e3planation o# 1suppression1 is another amusing moment o# wordplay! "e ta&es
ad%antage o# the word*s broad range o# meanings, as played o## against the %ery speci#ic
meaning the word has in the conte3t o# newspaper articles reporting trials! Alice ma&es
the mista&e >as children o#ten do@ o# using a %ery speci#ic e3ample o# 1suppression1 as
the best de#inition o# a word!
The proceedings o# the trial are ob%iously un4ust, and Carroll is lightly satiriFing the
4ustice system! 8t is not a speci#ic satire o# 4ustice as it e3isted in Victorian England7 it can
more accurately be read as a satire o# some o# the dangers in%ol%ed in trials! The 4udge
and the e%er(present 'ueen are tyrannical7 the 4urors are simpletons who barely &now
their own names! Alice is appalled by the in4ustice o# the proceedings7 it is one o# the
mar&s o# her basic compassion and her growth as a person that she will re#use to be
intimidated or won o%er by the wor&ings o# this court! The theme o# growing up is central
here! :ote that without eating any mushrooms, Alice begins to grow! 6he also barely
notices it! "er growth here is a metaphor #or gradually growing into an adult! 6he entered
0onderland as a tiny %ersion o# hersel#, but she will lea%e a giant!
Cha!ter &).
Summary.
Alice gets up, #orgetting how large she has grown7 she &noc&s o%er the 4ury bo3 by
accident! 6he puts the bo3 upright again, and puts all the 4urors bac& into place! The &ing
begins to cross(e3amine her, bombarding her with bad logic7 but Alice remains
completely composed, and is able to point out some o# the inconsistencies in what he
says! The 0hite $abbit presents a completely ambiguous poem, in an unmar&ed letter
that purportedly was written by the Ena%e o# "earts! The letter is unsigned, and the
characters and ob4ects in the poem are only re#erred to in pronoun #orm! 0hat*s more, the
situation does not seem to #it the Ena%e*s situation! )ut the Eing and the others interpret
the letter as damning e%idence against the Ena%e!
Alice spea&s up through the presentation o# this e%idence! 6he denies that there is any
meaning in the letter, and she re#uses to pipe down! 0hen the +ueen calls out #or her
beheading, Alice declares that she is not a#raid7 a#ter all, they are only a pac& o# cards!
6uddenly all the cards rise up and #ly into her #ace ! ! !
And Alice wa&es up, with her head in her older sister*s lap! 6he has been dreaming! 6he
tells her sister about all o# her strange ad%entures in 0onderland, and then runs into her
house to ha%e her tea!
"er sister remains, hal#(dosing, dreaming hersel# about Alice*s ad%entures in
0onderland! 6he also dreams o# Alice in years to come, a grown woman who will retain
her childli&e goodness and compassion! The adult Alice will ha%e children o# her own,
and perhaps she will entertain them with the story o# 0onderland!
Analysis.
0e see Alice at the trial as one who cannot be intimidated, or e%en outreasoned! 6he
manages to #ight her way through the &ing*s poor reasoning, and she also stands up
against the un4ust e%idence! 6he has grown, in all senses2 in siFe, but also in her capacity
#or thin&ing independently! 6he also has a sense o# 4ustice, and she re#uses to tolerate the
terrible proceedings o# the un4ust trial! The letter, with its poem #ull o# pronouns, plays
again with the ambiguity o# pronouns! 8t also satiriFes the use o# e%idence, not only in
trials, but in all situations7 as people o#ten do in real li#e, the people in the trial
e3trapolate the conclusions they want #rom e%idence that is #ar #rom su##icient!
The dream ends dar&ly, as the cards rise up and #ly into her #ace! Although Alice is then a
giant and perhaps has little to #ear, this moment still hints at some o# the di##iculties o# the
world! Alice ma&es enemies o# the Card Court because she re#uses to play their games as
they want her to7 in a boo& where Alice learns game a#ter game, this #inal game is one
where Alice must learn the rules but then sub%ert them! 8n re#using to be bound by the
un4ust proceedings o# the court, she comes into her own as a de%eloped person with a
sense o# 4ustice and a capacity #or independent thought! The #inal moment o# the dream
suggest di##iculty, but also Alice*s ability to stand up #or hersel#! 0hen the cards #ly in
her #ace, she screams, but Carroll tells us that the scream is hal#(#ear and hal#(anger! The
attac& is #rightening, but Alice is prepared to #ight bac&! The wa&ing world continues
with this theme o# growth, as Alice*s sister imagines Alice in the years to come, a strong
adult who retains some o# her child(li&e innocence and compassion!
ESSAY
Trapped in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll*s Ad%entures in 0onderland pro%ides a physical remo%al #rom reality by
creating a #antastical world and ad%enture in the mind o# a young girl! 8n this separation,
Carroll is able to bend the rules o# the temporal world! Although this is sel#(e%ident in
Alice*s physical trans#igurations, language and con%entions pro%ide additional means to
test i# a world can de#y the rules which are didactically #ed to children and become
second nature to adults! Aerhaps it might be an inescapable outcome gi%en that Carroll
has been educated in a world that operates within structured set o# rules, but the
1wonder#ul dream1 seems to be peculiarly similar to the 1dull reality1 which Carroll
attempts to escape >.8@! Gantasies seem to be #ore%er bounded by what reality allows the
mind to imagine!
The opening scene pro%ides a possible metaphor #or Carroll*s artistic endea%or in the #ace
o# these constraints2
Alice opened the door and #ound that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a
rat(hole2 she &nelt down and loo&ed along the passage into the lo%eliest garden you e%er
saw! "ow she longed to get out o# the dar& hall, and wander about among those beds o#
bright #lowers and those cool #ountains, but she could not get her head through the
doorway >1/@!
Alice seems 'uite capable o# seeing that a more beauti#ul world e3ists beyond the
con#ines o# her en%ironment! )y ma&ing a distinction that it is her head, the physical
location o# the mind, which pre%ents her #rom proceeding, Carroll suggests that the mind
pro%ides the barrier to entering the Eden(li&e grounds o# pure beauty! Alice*s subse'uent
struggle to physically trans#orm hersel# to s'ueeFe within these boundaries mirrors
Carroll*s endea%or to gain entry into the unbounded imagination! Adult consciousness
becomes comparable to the 1rat(hole1 in which Alice #inds hersel# trapped! )y grounding
the narrati%e in the eyes and imagination o# Alice, who is 4ust beginning to be inculcated
with lessons and physically remo%ing her #rom the temporal world, Carroll ad4usts the
conditions o# his adult world to e3plore i# childhood presents the only opportunity or the
1&ey1 to the access the imagination! Iet e%en as he changes the parameters o# the world
and the eyes o# the beholder, his endea%or appears doomed to #ailure7 when Alice #inally
locates the garden, she #inds that her conception o# per#ection is tainted! As the gardeners
paint the red rose(tree white, Carroll*s %ision o# beauty becomes sub4ect to the same
#orces that dominate reality!
Alice*s youth creates the possibility o# %iewing an alternate world through eyes not
completely corrupted by the social con%entions o# reality, but her e##orts to retain
Victorian manners when her new en%ironment creates no pressures to do so, suggest how
deeply the rules o# the world are impressed upon the mind during childhood! Alice*s
language is steeped in the arti#iciality o# her world! "er stilted words, 1Iou sh*n*t be
beheaded,1 re#lect that the training o# her schooling is not e%en abandoned in a moment
o# apparent crisis >6L@! 8n many instances, Alice e%en tries to trans#er her conception o#
proper manners to this new en%ironment! 6he #inds it 1decidedly unci%il1 that the
Gootman loo&s up at the s&y all the time he is spea&ing >C6@! 6he seems to be almost
willing to #orgi%e his rudeness i# only he could answer her 'uestion, 1)ut what am 8 to
doH1 >C6@! Alice*s re4ection o# the Gootman*s response, 1Anything you li&e,1 represents
Alice*s willingness to e3change one set o# beha%iors #or another under the condition that
she is told how to beha%e and act, indicating that it is not the actual manners that she
%alues but the #reedom #rom deciding what to do >C6@! 8t is at this moment that Alice
seems to be re4ecting the opportunity #or #reedom o# the imagination and instead opting
#or the sa#er boundaries created by the dictates o# reality!
Although Carroll succeeds in altering the content o# Alice*s new education, her
systematic attempt to recall her schooling #urther indicates that her mind has become so
conditioned to being told how to act and respond to situations, that it is unable to brea&
out o# this trap, e%en when the possibility presents itsel#! Just a#ter Alice recalls, 10hen 8
used to read #airy tales, 8 #ancied that this &ind o# thing ne%er happened, and now here 8
am in the middle o# one< There ought to be a boo& written about me,1 she realiFes that
1there*s no room to grow up any more here1 and concludes that this means that will
always 1ha%e lessons to learn1 >.@! The transition o# Alice*s thought #rom #antastic
stories directly to lessons and boo&s suggests that her imagination is ne%er able to escape
the con#ines o# a instruction7 she belie%es that as a child it is her duty to be concerned
with schooling >.@! 6he e%en sel#(imposes lessons as she 1crossPesQ her hands on her lap
as i# she were saying lessons and began to repeat it!1 >16@! Aerhaps Alice will achie%e
grown(up status when she has been so conditioned that the mantras o# the educational
systems become immediate responses! 8t is almost as i# in pro4ecting his conception o# a
nonsensical world, that the child, simply by being a product o# what Carroll despises,
namely a world o# socially constructed regulations, #orms an obstacle to escaping reality!
Carroll #aces a di##iculty in allowing his own imagination to escape reality! "e creates a
moc&ing parody o# the lessons o# Alice*s reality in the 5oc& Turtle*s in#ormati%e speech
o# the educational material o# the 0onderland, but ne%er is able to transcend the idea that
a world must be ruled by instruction! Carroll*s new world might study 1$eeling and
0rithing1 or 1Arithmetic(Ambition, =istraction, ?gli#ication, and =erision,1 instead o#
the traditional sub4ects, but inhabitants o# 0onderland are still trapped by the process o#
rote which remo%es #ree thought #rom the educational e3perience >-6@! The rules, as the
lessons, are certainly di##erent in this imaginary place, but only to be replaced by an
entire set o# new ones! The cro'uet game epitomiFes how Carroll can only create an
alternati%e reality by constructing a world based upon oppositions to that in which he
li%es! Gor instance, in normal cro'uet there are distinct rules, whereas, in 0onderland
1they don*t seem to ha%e any rules in particular2 at least, i# there are, nobody attends to
them1 >6-@! The new rules consist o# disobeying the old ones! Aerhaps #antasy can ne%er
escape man*s tendency to use his own e3perience as a starting point to cra#t change! 8n
this case, an author*s imagination as well as those o# his characters will be #ore%er
grounded by reality! 8n order to e3amine what a world loo& li&e without rules, one must
#irst understand what a world loo&s li&e with rules! Alice*s preoccupation with rules
materialiFes in her comment 1that*s not a regular rule2 you Pthe EingQ in%ented it 4ust
now1 >.,@! Thus, e%en i# Carroll changes the rules, Alice remains trapped in her desire to
de#ine them, creating a #urther obstacle to e3ploring how an unlegislated land would
operate!
All o# the characters which Alice encounters simply seem to be replacements o# the
adults that Alice encounters in reality, and it is these #igure who ser%e as the teachers o#
these new lessons and rules! The characters continually change the rules and use language
as a weapon which Alice seems to be continually trying to understand! The =uchess is
contradictory, condescending, and hopelessly pedagogical! As the 5oc& Turtle stands on
the ledge o# a roc& to tell his story while Alice sits in #ront o# him, the en%ironment
mirrors that o# Alice*s classroom in which a teacher positions himsel# in #ront to deli%er
lessosn! Tuttle e%en adopts a schoolmasterish tone o# %oices as he tells Alice, 1$eally you
are %ery dull!1 >-L@! Leach suggests that 1PtQhey beha%e to her as adults beha%e to a child(
they are peremptory and patroniFing1 >Leach .@! 8n creating these characters, Carroll is
unable to escape the notion that children re'uire instruction and need adult(li&e #igures to
en#orce rules! Carroll*s criticiFes the tradition educational system by using 0onderland to
parody its #laws, suggesting that e%en in his mind he #inds issues o# the imagination and
reality inseparable!
The sardonic tone which accompanies Alice*s obser%ation o# 0onderland*s inhabitants
and customs, re#lects that Carroll is only too aware o# the #act that his dreamland is only a
distorted %ersion o# reality! Aeter Co%eney suggests that the 1dream ta&es on a 'uality o#
horror because Carroll 1is pain#ully awa&e in his own dream1 >Co%eney ,,C@! Although
Carroll attempts to %eil his dissatis#action with reality in Alice*s innocence, he almost
seems to be testing Alice*s consciousness o# his su##ering2
8t was all %ery well to say, 1drin& me,1 but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in
a hurry! 1:o, 8*ll loo& #irst,1 she said, 1and see whether it*s mar&ed *poison* or not17 #or
she had read se%eral nice little stories about children who had got burnt, and eaten by
wild beasts, and other unpleasant things, all because the would not remember the simple
rules their #riends had taught them2 such as, that a red(hot po&er will burn you i# you hold
it too long7 i# you cut your #inger %ery deeply with a &ni#e, it usually bleeds7 and she had
ne%er #orgotten that, i# you drin& much #rom a bottle mar&ed 1poison,1 8t is almost certain
to disagree with you, sooner or later! >11@!
The insinuation o# both suicide and sel#(in#licted pain seems an incongruous re#lection
#or a se%en(year(old7 Alice becomes a %ehicle through which Carroll re%eals his
preoccupation with such tortuous thoughts! As Alice proceeds to drin& the bottle that is
mysteriously labeled 1drin& me,1 Carroll toys with a distorted %ersion o# attempted
suicide >11@! "e is able to guise his attempt in Alice*s innocence, re%ealed in her childli&e
recollections o# poisoning, which lea%es her unaware o# the gra%ity o# the conse'uences
o# drin&ing bottle that might contain poison! 8t seems 'uite morbid that Carroll chooses to
place Alice in a situation which would cause her to e%en contemplate such %iolent
images! $ac&in suggests that Carroll*s particular genius 1depends hea%ily on his uncanny
ability to enter #ully the mind o# childhood, to become the child who dreams our adult
dreams1 >$ac&in 11,@! E%en i# Alice can not #ully comprehend the suggestions that
Carroll plants in her head, the author appears #ully conscious o# the conse'uences o#
poisoning!
0hile the incident with the mysterious bottle mar&s Alice*s initiation to 0onderland,
Carroll*s decision to culminate his tale o# 0onderland in a legal courtroom creates a
#itting en%ironment to #or his #inal attempt to use youth#ul imagination to escape reality!
The narrati%e e%en admits 1%ery #ew girls o# her PAlice*sQ age &new the meaning o# it all,1
and by placing Alice in the pinnacle o# worldly law, he implies that she too, e%en in her
imagination, is answerable to the rules o# reality >86@! The courtroom scene seems more
o# a trial o# the imagination rather than an in%estigation o# the identity o# the tart thie#!
The +ueen*s directi%e, 16entence #irst(%erdict a#terwards,1 >.6@ re%eals Carroll*s own
#eelings o# entrapment! "e has been sentenced to growing older and li%ing within the
rules o# society only to ac&nowledge that the %erdict has always been against the
imagination7 his construction o# 1stu## and nonsense1 appears to be precluded by a
societal conditioning against the imagination >.-@! 8t seems odd that Alice awa&es to
declare this as a 1wonder#ul dream,1 when moments earlier she is o%ercome with anger
about the in4ustice o# the +ueen and Eing*s tyrannical court, potentially creating a serious
indictment o# the reality she awa&es to! A second possibility is that it is Carroll %oice
pronouncing the word 1wonder#ul,1 wishing 4ust li&e Alice that he could respond to
society*s dictates, 1"old your tongue<1(1 8 won*t1 >.-@ 4ust as Alice had done minutes
earlier!
Alice*s continued determination to perse%ere in this world o# nonsense, and more
speci#ically, her willingness to point out its wea&nesses might help to e3plain why Carroll
underta&es what he consciously seems to belie%e to be an impossible mission( to escape
reality! Grom the outset, Alice is characteriFed as belie%ably human( she is rude,
impatient, and repeatedly naX%e in her obser%ations! Iet it is her #laws that allow us to
identi#y with her as a representati%e o# our own entrapment in reality! "er youth presents
an opportunity #or the audience and Carroll to re%isit the naX%e belie# that there is an
escape to our e%eryday e3perience and #urthermore, that with a methodical, logical
approach it is possible to understand our en%ironment! Although Alice is #rustrated by the
new reality that she encounters and its resistance to her systematic way to comprehend it,
in spite o# all o# her di##iculties she optimistically continues her pursuit o# the garden! ;n
her second attempt, she con#idently asserts with the little golden &ey in hand, 1:ow, 8*ll
manage better this time1 >61@! 8n her search #or escape and understanding, she becomes
1the naX%e champion o# the doomed human 'uest #or meaning and lost Edenic order1
>$ac&in .6@!
Aerhaps Carroll is suggesting that in the #ace o# an earthly sur#ace peppered with
disappointment, anger, and #rustration, adults must retain the resiliency and una##ected
consciousness o# Alice! "er ability to awa&e and immediately go to tea, 1thin&ing while
she ran, as well she might what a wonder#ul dream it had been1 pro%ides a demonstration
o# this sur%i%al mechanism in operation >.8@! There seems to be no distinction between
her dreamli&e world and her li%ing world7 her imagination neatly blends into reality,
suggesting that we too must #ollow Alice*s e3ample o# how to deal with nonsense as we
transition #rom Alice*s world to our own reality! Alice*s inability to re#lect upon
0onderland is what allows her to energetically proceed to her ne3t encounter! "er retort,
10ho cares #or youH1Y1Iou*re nothing but a pac& o# cards<,1 #unctions as an immediate
dismissal o# un#airness and in4ustice and brings the issues to a close >.-@!
8# there was indeed a moral o# Alice in 0onderland, belie%ing that Carroll is only trying
to tell us that we must all retain our nai%e innocence in the #ace o# reality, would be to
collapse the interpretation o# his wor& into one o# the ma3ims espoused by the =uchess!
Carroll appears to recogniFe the impossibility o# such a 'uest and interestingly enough it
is one o# the =uchess* statements that pro%ides complications to this hypothesiFed moral2
*)e what you would seem to be*(or, i# you*d li&e it put it more simply(*:e%er imagine
yoursel# otherwise that what is might appear to others that what you were or might ha%e
been was not otherwise than what you had been would ha%e appeared to them to be
otherwise* >-@!
The use o# the world 1imagine1 recalls the di##iculty o# a%oiding the reality that childhood
cannot be an eternal state, and despite our attempt to escape the e3periences o# reality,
they will always pre%ent us #rom recreating a state o# innocence! The reality is the #orce
that re'uires us to be true to oursel%es7 we cannot pretend to be children and Carroll*s
suicidal #rustrations create conse'uence enough to a%oid this disillusion!
Carroll ma&es a #utile attempt to model Alice*s optimistic beha%ior! Although it is Alice*s
sister who underta&es the e##ort to enter 0onderland, Carroll*s narrati%e %oice appears to
per%ade her thoughts! Carroll ac&nowledges that an adult realiFes that the dream is based
in reality! 8t is in this way that he creates the relationship between childhood and the
imagination! As discussed earlier, li&e an adult, a child is unable to imagine li#e much
di##erent than his current reality, but the di##erence is the consciousness o# these
restraints! ?nli&e Alice, her elder sister, Lorena, can only 1hal# belie%e hersel# in
0onderland,1 and 'uic&ly identi#ies all o# the elements and sounds o# 0onderland as
ones originating in her own world >.8(..@! Alice*s 0onderland contains these same
elements, but she is able to e3plore them without the awareness that each illusion has a
mundane real li#e parallel7 she is unable to see that the +ueen*s shrill cries is really the
%oice o# the shepherd(boy! 8t is with a mi3ture o# nostalgia and bitterness that Carroll
guarantees that Alice will someday #ind hersel# remo%ed #rom these #antasies2 1she would
#eel with all their simple sorrows, and #ind a pleasure in all their simple 4oys,
remembering her own child(li#e, and the happy summer days1 >..@! This is the only
passage that Carroll truly belie%es it is possible to imagine anything remo%ed #rom his
immediate en%ironment, and ironically, this %ision ser%es as an attac& on imagination
because it pro4ects the ine%itable end o# Alice*s dreamli&e #antasies! As Lorena #alters in
her attempt, it appears that childhood presents the opportunity to belie%e that one has the
#reedom to imagine be#ore it becomes e%ident that the only illusion is that which the child
possesses2 the belie# the imagination is separate #rom reality!
TH/=?GH THE L==7<AG*GLASS
2lot =5er5iew
Alice sits in her armchair at home, drowsily watching her pet &itten, Eitty, as she
unra%els a ball o# string! 6he snatches Eitty up and begins telling her about NLoo&ing(
Blass "ouse,O an imaginary world on the other side o# the mirror where e%erything is
bac&ward! Alice suddenly #inds hersel# on the mantelpiece and steps through the mirror
into Loo&ing(Blass "ouse! ;n the other side o# the mirror, Alice disco%ers a room
similar to her own but with se%eral strange di##erences! The chessmen stand in the
#ireplace in pairs, obli%ious to AliceMs presence! 6he comes to the aid o# the 0hite
+ueenMs daughter, Lily, but realiFes that the chess pieces cannot see her! Alice becomes
distracted by a boo& on the shel#, in which she reads a nonsensical poem entitled
NJabberwoc&y!O Grustrated by the strange poem, she sets o## to e3plore the rest o# the
house!
Alice lea%es the house and spots a beauti#ul garden in the distance, but e%ery time she
tries to #ollow the path to the garden she #inds hersel# bac& at the door to the house!
Con#used, she wonders aloud how to get to the garden, and to her surprise a Tiger(lily
responds! ;ther #lowers 4oin in the con%ersation, and se%eral o# them start to insult Alice!
Alice learns #rom the #lowers that the $ed +ueen is nearby, and Alice sets o## to meet
her! Alice meets the $ed +ueen, and the two engage in con%ersation, but the $ed +ueen
constantly corrects AliceMs eti'uette! Alice loo&s out o%er a #ield, sees a great game o#
chess in progress, and tells the $ed +ueen that she would li&e to 4oin! The $ed +ueen
tells Alice she can stand in as a 0hite Aawn and mar&s a course #or Alice, e3plaining that
when she reaches the end o# the game, Alice will become a +ueen!
Alice ine3plicably #inds hersel# on a train with a Boat, a )eetle, and a man dressed in
white paper! They each nag Alice until the train e%entually lurches to a halt! Alice #inds
hersel# in a #orest, con%ersing with a chic&en siFed Bnat, who tells her about the di##erent
insects o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! A#ter learning the names o# the insects, Alice sets o##
again and disco%ers that she has #orgotten the names o# things, e%en her own name! 6he
comes across a Gawn, who has also #orgotten the names o# things, and the two press on
through the #orest!
0hen Alice and the Gawn emerge #rom the #orest, their memories o# names come bac&,
and the Gawn runs away in #ear o# Alice! Alice soldiers on alone until she meets
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, an identical pair o# hea%yset men! The twins ignore
AliceMs repeated re'uests #or directions and recite a poem instead! Tweedledum and
Tweedledee notice the $ed Eing sleeping nearby and e3plain to Alice that she e3ists only
as a #igment o# the $ed EingMs dream! ?pset at #irst, Alice decides that the two o# them
spea& nonsense! A #ight spontaneously erupts between Tweedledum and Tweedledee
o%er a bro&en rattle! A giant crow swoops down and interrupts the #ight, sending
Tweedledum and Tweedledee running!
Alice slips away and encounters the 0hite +ueen, who e3plains that time mo%es
bac&ward in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! As they spea&, the 0hite +ueen plasters her #inger,
then screams in pain, and #inally pric&s her #inger on a brooch! A#ter e3plaining to Alice
that she used to practice the impossible daily, she trans#orms into a sheep in a shop! The
6heep as&s a disoriented Alice what she would li&e to buy! Though the shop is #ull o#
curious things, Alice #inds that she cannot #i3 her eye on any one thing! The 6heep as&s
Alice i# she &nows how to row! )e#ore she &nows it, Alice #inds hersel# in a boat with the
6heep, rowing down a stream! The boat crashes into something and sends Alice tumbling
to the ground! 0hen she stands she #inds hersel# bac& in the shop! 6he purchases an egg
#rom the 6heep, who places the egg on a shel#! Alice reaches #or the egg and #inds hersel#
bac& in the #orest, where the egg has trans#ormed into "umpty =umpty!
"umpty =umpty sits on a wall and criticiFes Alice #or ha%ing a name that doesnMt mean
anything, e3plaining that all names should mean something! "umpty =umpty treats Alice
rudely, boasting that he can change the meanings o# words at will! 0hen Alice learns
this, she as&s "umpty =umpty to e3plain the words o# the nonsense poem
NJabberwoc&yO to her! "e de#ines the words o# the #irst stanFa and then recites a portion
o# his own poem! "e abruptly bids her goodbye, and Alice storms o##, annoyed! All o# a
sudden, a loud crash sha&es the #orest and she watches soldiers and horsemen run by!
Alice comes across the 0hite Eing, who e3plains to her that he has sent all o# his horses
and men, presumably to put the shattered "umpty =umpty bac& together again! The
EingMs messenger "aigha approaches and in#orms them that the Lion and the ?nicorn are
doing battle in the town! Alice sets o## with her new companions toward the town to
watch the battle! They catch up with another o# the EingMs messengers, "atta, who
e3plains the e%ents o# the #ight thus #ar! The Lion and ?nicorn stop battling and the
0hite Eing calls #or re#reshments to be ser%ed! The 0hite Eing tells Alice to cut the
ca&e, but she #inds that e%ery time she slices the ca&e the pieces #use bac& together! The
?nicorn instructs Alice that Loo&ing(glass ca&es must be passed around #irst be#ore they
are sliced! Alice distributes the ca&e, but be#ore they begin eating, a great noise
interrupts, and when Alice loo&s up, she #inds hersel# alone again!
The $ed Enight gallops up to Alice and ta&es her as a prisoner! The 0hite Enight arri%es
at AliceMs side and %an'uishes the $ed Enight! Alice and the 0hite Enight wal& and tal&
together, and Alice #inds a #riend in the eccentric chessman! "e promises to bring her
sa#ely to the last s'uare where she will become a 'ueen! As they wal&, he tells her about
all o# his in%entions be#ore sending her o## with a song! 6he crosses the #inal broo& and
#inds hersel# sitting on the ban& with a crown on her head!
Alice #inds hersel# in the company o# the $ed +ueen and the 0hite +ueen, who 'uestion
her relentlessly be#ore #alling asleep in her lap! The sound o# their snoring resembles
music! The sound is so distracting that Alice doesnMt notice when the two 'ueens
disappear! Alice disco%ers a castle with a huge door mar&ed N+?EE: AL8CE!O Alice
goes through the door and #inds a huge ban'uet in her honor! 6he sits and begins eating,
but the party 'uic&ly de%ol%es into total chaos! ;%erwhelmed, Alice pulls away the
tablecloth and grabs the $ed +ueen!
Alice wa&es up #rom her dream to #ind hersel# holding Eitty! 6he wonders aloud whether
or not her ad%entures where her own dream or the dream o# the $ed Eing!
Character List
Alice ( The se%en(and(a(hal#(year(old protagonist o# the story! AliceMs dream leads to her
ad%entures in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! Alice has set perceptions o# the world and becomes
#rustrated when Loo&ing(Blass 0orld challenges those perceptions! Alice has good
intentions, but has trouble be#riending any o# the creatures that populate Loo&ing(Blass
0orld!
/ed 6ueen ( A domineering, o##icious woman who brings Alice into the chess game!
The $ed +ueen is ci%il but unpleasant, hounding Alice about her lac& o# eti'uette and
general &nowledge!
White 6ueen ( An untidy, disorderly mess o# a woman! The 0hite +ueen e3plains the
properties o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, including the re%ersal o# time and the need to belie%e
in the impossible!
/ed 7ing ( The sleeping Eing! Tweedledum and Tweedledee tell Alice that she is not
real and e3ists only as part o# the $ed EingMs dream!
White 7ing ( The 0hite Eing sends his horses and men a#ter "umpty =umpty a#ter his
#all! The 0hite Eing ta&es words literally! "e is completely helpless and is terri#ied o#
the Lion and the ?nicorn!
White 7night ( A &ind and noble companion who rescues Alice #rom the $ed Enight
and leads her to the #inal s'uare! The 0hite Enight is old with shaggy hair, pale blue
eyes, and a gentle #ace! "e is an eccentric who has in%ented many biFarre contraptions!
Hum!ty #um!ty ( A contemptuous, egg(li&e man based on the nursery rhyme character!
"umpty =umpty sits on a wall and treats Alice rudely! "e e3plains the meaning o#
NJabberwoc&yO to Alice but changes the meanings o# words!
Tweedledum and Tweedledee ( A pair o# identical little #at men dressed as schoolboys!
Tweedledum and Tweedledee get along well and #inish each otherMs thoughts, but wind
up #ighting each other o%er a bro&en rattle!
?nicorn ( A mythical beast that resembles a horse with a long horn! The ?nicorn battles
the Lion! The ?nicorn belie%es Alice to be a monster and tells Alice that he will belie%e
in her i# she agrees to belie%e in him!
The Lion ( The Lion does battle with the ?nicorn in the town! The LionMs actions imitate
AliceMs nursery rhyme about the Lion and the ?nicorn!
Haigha and Hatta ( The 0hite EingMs messengers! "aigha is the 5arch "are and "atta
is the 5ad "atter #rom AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland! Their madness is under
control in this story!
The Shee! ( An old shop&eeper! The 6heep is cran&y and rude to Alice! The 0hite
+ueen trans#orms into the 6heep!
The Gnat ( AliceMs companion on the train and in the wood! The Bnat grows #rom
normal insect siFe to become as large as a chic&en! "e points out potential puns and
wordplay to Alice and always seems to be sad!
The 4awn ( AliceMs companion through her tra%els through the wood, where she #orgets
the names o# things! The Gawn is beauti#ul but runs away when it realiFes that Alice is a
human and might pose a threat!
The /ed 7night ( A &night who attempts to capture Alice! The $ed Enight is captured
by the 0hite Enight!
The Tiger*lily ( A tal&ing #lower! The Tiger(lily spea&s ci%illy to Alice and has some
authority o%er the other #lowers!
The /ose ( A tal&ing #lower that spea&s rudely to Alice!
The Iiolet ( A tal&ing #lower that also spea&s rudely to Alice!
The #aisies ( Tal&ing #lowers! The =aisies are e3tremely chatty and only 'uiet down
when Alice threatens to pic& them!
Lily ( The 0hite +ueenMs daughter! Alice ta&es LilyMs place as the 0hite Aawn in the
chess game!
The Goat ( A passenger on the train with Alice!
The man in white !a!er ( A passenger on the train with Alice!
4rog ( The old #ootman at AliceMs castle!
Analysis o" 0a9or Characters
Alice
8n Through the Loo&ing(Blass, Alice is a child not yet eight years old! 6he has been
raised in a wealthy Victorian household and is interested in good manners, which she
demonstrates with her pet, Eitty! Alice treats others with &indness and courtesy, as
e%idenced in her %arious interactions with the Loo&ing(Blass creatures! 6he has an
e3tremely acti%e imagination but see&s order in the world around her! Alice #ights to
understand the #antastic dream world that has sprung #rom her own imagination, trying
her best to order her li#e e3periences and connect them to the unusual situations she
encounters in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! AliceMs maturation trans#orms into a game o# chess,
in which her growth into womanhood becomes a 'uest to become a 'ueen!
Alice #eels lonely, which moti%ates her to see& out company that she can sympathiFe and
identi#y with! 6he creates a structured imaginary world that she can control, and creates
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld in order to connect with other indi%iduals and see& out company
that she #eels com#ortable with! 6he desires a #amily and in the beginning o# the boo&
uses her pets as a substitute #amily in the NrealO world! Alice &nows that these are not
genuine relationships, as seen when she brea&s o## con%ersation with her cats to ha%e an
aside to hersel#! Alice creates Loo&ing(Blass 0orld and desires to become a 'ueen
because she cra%es a sense o# control o%er her surroundings! 6he relates to the residents
o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld in the same way that she relates to her pets, ta&ing on the
manner o# a good(natured mother #igure who beha%es with solicitude and de#erence
despite her authority! Alice has occasional bouts o# sadness and loneliness throughout her
tra%els, when she ac&nowledges to hersel# that the characters that populate Loo&ing(Blass
0orld are not real and cannot show her true compassion or pro%ide her with real
companionship!
The /ed 6ueen
The $ed +ueen beha%es li&e the 'uintessential Victorian go%erness! 6he is o%erbearing,
meticulously obsessi%e about manners, and ci%il in a sel#(righteous and supercilious way!
Li&e the %ast ma4ority o# the characters in Through the Loo&ing(Blass, the $ed +ueen
ma&es de#initi%e statements with little regard #or an abiding logic that would support
them! "er assertions are o#ten arbitrary recitations o# strict beha%ioral ad%ice, such as,
N6pea& when youMre spo&en to<O 0hen Alice re%eals the inade'uacy o# the logic behind
the $ed +ueenMs statements, the $ed +ueen asserts her arbitrary position o# authority as a
4usti#ication! The $ed +ueenMs constant badgering o# and competition with Alice
indicates pro#ound #eelings o# antagonism! 6he #its into the #ramewor& o# AliceMs dream
as representati%e arbitrary authority, ser%ing as a caricature o# an o%erbearing go%erness
#igure at odds with her young charges!
The White 7night
Carroll modeled the character o# the 0hite Enight a#ter himsel#, and the 0hite EnightMs
compassionate beha%ior toward Alice demonstrates CarrollMs #eelings toward the real(li#e
Alice Liddell! Li&e the 0hite Enight, Carroll had shaggy hair, blue eyes, and a mild #ace!
Also li&e Carroll, the 0hite Enight has a penchant #or in%enting and compulsi%ely
preparing #or any &ind o# contingency, no matter how ridiculous! The 0hite Enight
sweeps in at a moment o# crisis to rescue Alice #rom the clutches o# the $ed Enight,
be#ore he help#ully escorts her to the point at which she no longer needs protection and
can claim her new title o# 'ueen! As he guides her, he sings a song that con4ures up
#eelings o# wist#ul longing, calling attention to the idea o# AliceMs trans#ormation into a
'ueen as a metaphor #or her se3ual awa&ening into womanhood! The 0hite Enight
represents a #igure #rom her childhood who can bring her to the point at which she
reaches adulthood be#ore he must let go! The scene between the 0hite Enight and Alice
is mar&ed by #eelings o# nostalgia tinged with regret, since Alice must e%entually lea%e
the 0hite Enight and claim her new role alone!
Themes3 0oti"s > Sym-ols
Themes
Themes are the "undamental and o"ten uni5ersal ideas ex!lored in a literary work.
Chess as 0eta!hor "or 4ate
AliceMs 4ourney through Loo&ing(Blass 0orld is guided by a set o# rigidly constructed
rules that guide her along her path to a preordained conclusion! 0ithin the #ramewor& o#
the chess game, Alice has little control o%er the tra4ectory o# her li#e, and outside #orces
in#luence her choices and actions! Just as Alice e3erts little control o# her mo%ement
toward becoming a 'ueen, she has no power o%er her ine%itable maturation and
acceptance o# womanhood! At the beginning o# the game, Alice acts as a pawn with
limited perspecti%e o# the world around her! 6he has limited power to in#luence outcomes
and does not #ully understand the rules o# the game, so an unseen hand guides her along
her 4ourney, constructing di##erent situations and encounters that push her along toward
her goal! Though she wants to become a 'ueen, she must #ollow the predetermined rules
o# the chess game, and she #re'uently disco%ers that e%ery step she ta&es toward her goal
occurs because o# outside #orces acting upon her, such as the mysterious train ride and
her rescue by the 0hite Enight! )y using the chess game as the guiding principle o# the
narrati%e, Carroll suggest that a larger #orce guides indi%iduals through li#e and that all
e%ents are preordained! 8n this deterministic concept o# li#e, #ree will is an illusion and
indi%idual choices are bound by rigidly determined rules and guided by an o%erarching,
unseen "orce.
Language as a 0eans to =rder the World
8n Through the Loo&ing(Blass, language has the capacity to anticipate and e%en cause
e%ents to happen! Alice recites nursery rhymes on se%eral occasions, which causes
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, "umpty =umpty, and the Lion and the ?nicorn to
per#orm the actions that she describes in her rhymes! $ather than recording and
describing e%ents that ha%e already happened, words gi%e rise to actions simply by being
spo&en! Tweedledum and TweedledeeMs 'uarrel begins only a#ter Alice recites the rhyme
about the bro&en rattle! 6imilarly, "umpty =umptyMs #all does not happen until Alice
describes the e%ents in the classic nursery rhyme! Language co%ers actions in Loo&ing(
Blass 0orld, rather than simply describing them! The #lowers rein#orce this principle by
e3plaining that a tree can scare enemies away with its Nbar&!O 8n our language, there is no
relationship between the bar& o# a dog and the bar& o# a tree, but in Loo&ing(Blass
0orld, this linguistic similarity results in a #unctional common ground! Trees that ha%e
bar& are thus able to Nbar&O 4ust as #iercely as dogs!
The Loneliness o" Growing ?!
Throughout her ad%entures, Alice #eels an inescapable sense o# loneliness #rom which she
can #ind no relie#! )e#ore she enters Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, her only companions are her
cats, to whom she attributes human 'ualities to &eep her company! ;nce she enters
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, she see&s compassion and understanding #rom the indi%iduals that
she meets, but she is #re'uently disappointed! The #lowers and "umpty =umpty treat her
rudely, the $ed +ueen is brus'ue, and the Gawn #lees #rom her once it realiFes that she is
a human! 6he recei%es little compassion #rom others and o#ten becomes sad! The one
character who shows her compassion is the 0hite Enight, who must lea%e her when she
reaches the eighth s'uare and must ta&e on her role o# +ueen! AliceMs dreams deal with
the an3ieties o# growing up and becoming a young woman! 6ince Alice belie%es that
loneliness is an inherent part o# growing up, e%en in her dreams she must #ace the
transition into womanhood alone!
0oti"s
0oti"s are recurring structures3 contrasts3 or literary de5ices that can hel! to
de5elo! and in"orm the text@s ma9or themes.
<n5erse /e"lections
5any o# the basic assumptions that Alice ma&es about her en%ironment are re%ersed in
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! ;utcomes precede e%ents, ca&es are passed out be#ore being cut,
destinations are reached by wal&ing in the opposite direction, and characters remember
the #uture and thin& best while standing on their heads! These strange phenomena
challenge the way Alice thin&s and in some cases e3pose the arbitrary nature o# her
understanding o# her own world! 5any o# AliceMs e3periences e3ist as meaningless
parodies o# aspects o# her own #amiliar world bac& home! Alice becomes aware o# a new,
in%erted perspecti%e on li#e as she tra%els #orward and bac&ward through Loo&ing(Blass
0orld!
#ream
Alice #alls asleep at the beginning o# Through the Loo&ing(Blass, 4ust as she did at the
outset o# AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland, so that the resulting #antastical ad%entures
occur in her dreams! The story #ollows Alice through the %arious episodes o# Loo&ing(
Blass 0orld so that we e3perience her ad%entures through her impressions o# Loo&ing(
Blass "ouse, the chess game, and her 'uest to become a 'ueen! The characters and
scenes that she encounters e3ist as a combination o# her memories and impressions o# the
wa&ing world and the random, illogical in%entions o# her dreaming mind! Carroll
emphasiFes the dream moti# by basing some o# the deniFens o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld on
indi%iduals #rom the li#e o# his real(li#e muse, Alice Liddell! Gor e3ample, the $ed +ueen
is based on AliceMs go%erness 5iss Aric&ett, while the 0hite Enight is closely based
upon Lewis Carroll himsel#!
Chess
The chess game that Alice participates in becomes the organiFing mechanism #or her
ad%enture in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! AliceMs 4ourney closely #ollows the rules o# a
traditional game o# chess! The perspecti%es and mo%ements o# the indi%idual characters
correspond to the mo%ements o# their respecti%e chess pieces! The $ed and 0hite +ueens
ha%e an unlimited %iew o# the board, since 'ueens can mo%e in any direction and as many
spaces as they want in a single turn! The $ed and 0hite Eings can only mo%e one space
at a time in any direction, so while they ha%e the same perspecti%e as the 'ueens, they
ha%e limited mobility! This limitation e3plains why the 0hite Eing cannot #ollow the
0hite +ueen as she runs away #rom the other chessmen, since she mo%es Ntoo #ast!O As a
pawn, Alice can only mo%e #orward once space at a time, with the e3ception o# her #irst
mo%e, in which she can mo%e two spaces! Li&e a pawn, Alice can only NseeO one s'uare
ahead o# her! 0hen she reaches the #inal s'uare and becomes a 'ueen, she can NseeO the
whole board because now she has the #ull mobility o# the 'ueen chess piece! AliceMs
mo%e to ta&e the $ed +ueen results in a chec&mate o# the $ed Eing, ending the chess
game and causing Alice to wa&e up!
Train <magery
Trains and train imagery appear #re'uently to underscore the #eeling o# unstoppable
#orward motion that go%erns AliceMs 4ourney toward womanhood! The $ed EingMs
somnolent snoring resembles a train engine, while the 0hite +ueen screams li&e a train
whistle be#ore she pric&s her #inger! Alice s&ips #orward se%eral spaces when she #inds
hersel# une3pectedly on a train, shooting through the #orest toward her destination and
mimic&ing AliceMs #orward mo%ement as a pawn in the chess game! The train imagery
suggests the irre%ersible and unstoppable mo%ement toward adulthood that Alice
becomes sub4ect to in her 4ourney through Loo&ing(Blass 0orld!
Sym-ols
Sym-ols are o-9ects3 characters3 "igures3 or colors used to re!resent a-stract ideas
or conce!ts.
The /ushes
The rushes that Alice pulls #rom the water in Chapter V represent dreams! $ushes are
plans that grow in ri%erbeds and po&e through the sur#ace o# the water! The rapid #ading
o# the rushesM sweet scene a#ter being pic&ed corresponds to the #leetingness o# the
memory o# a dream a#ter a person wa&es up!
The Slee!ing /ed 7ing
Tweedledum and Tweedledee tell Alice that she is only a creation o# the $ed EingMs
dream, which implies that Loo&ing(Blass 0orld is not a construction o# AliceMs dream!
The $ed Eing becomes a di%ine #igure who dreams up all o# AliceMs ad%entures, #ostering
the idea that she does not actually ha%e any identity or agency beyond what she is
allowed in the conte3t o# the dream! The idea that we are all 4ust aspects o# the dream o# a
di%ine power comes #rom )ishop )er&eley, a philosopher who wrote during CarrollMs
li#etime and who belie%ed that man and the uni%erse e3ist as part o# BodMs imagination!
Cha!ter <. Looking*Glass House
Summary
Alice rests at home in an armchair, tal&ing drowsily to hersel# as her blac& &itten, Eitty,
plays with a ball o# string at her #eet! Alice lo%ingly scolds the &itten #or unra%eling the
ball o# string that she had been winding up! 6he goes on to scold EittyMs mother, =inah,
who is busy bathing the white &itten 6nowdrop! Alice begins an imaginati%e con%ersation
with Eitty, pretending that her pet tal&s bac&, and as&s her to pretend that she is the $ed
+ueen in a chess game! Alice attempts to arrange EittyMs #orelegs to better resemble the
chess piece! 0hen Eitty does not comply, Alice holds her up to the mirror abo%e the
mantle and threatens to put Eitty into the world on the other side o# the mirror, which she
calls NLoo&ing(Blass "ouse!O Alice thin&s about what Loo&ing(Blass "ouse must be
li&e, wondering aloud to Eitty i# there might be a way to brea& through to the other side
o# the mirror! All o# a sudden, Alice #inds hersel# on the mantle, staring into the mirror!
6he magically steps through the mirror into Loo&ing(Blass "ouse!
;n the other side o# the mirror, Alice loo&s around and #inds that the room she is standing
in resembles the mirror image o# the room in her own house! "owe%er, se%eral parts o#
the room loo& 'uite di##erent! The pictures on the wall near the mirror seem to be ali%e,
and the mantle cloc& has the #ace o# a grinning little man!
Alice notices a group o# chessmen inside the #ireplace among the cinders, wal&ing in line
two(by(two! Alice e3amines them closely and determines that she is in%isible to them!
6he hears a s'uea& behind her! Alice wheels around to #ind a 0hite Aawn on the table!
;ut o# the #ireplace charges the 0hite +ueen, who &noc&s o%er the 0hite Eing in her
haste, rushing to grab her child! Alice help#ully li#ts the 0hite +ueen onto the table, and
the 0hite +ueen gasps in surprise as Alice grabs the +ueenMs child Lily! The 0hite Eing
#ollows, but he 'uic&ly grows impatient! Alice li#ts him up, dusts him o##, and places him
down ne3t to the 0hite +ueen! The 0hite Eing lies on his bac&, stunned in surprise,
which causes Alice to realiFe that she is in%isible to the chessmen! ;nce the 0hite Eing
reco%ers, he pulls out a pencil and begins 4otting his e3perience down, but Alice snatches
the pencil #rom him and writes something down in his boo&! The 0hite Eing comments
that he must get a new boo&, since strange words seem to appear on the pages o# his
current one!
Alice pic&s up one o# the boo&s #rom the table and disco%ers that the te3t is bac&ward!
6he holds the boo& up to the mirror to read it properly and reads the poem on the page!
The poem, entitled NJabberwoc&y,O describes a &nightMs tra%els to %an'uish a hideous
monster &nown as the Jabberwoc&! Aerple3ed by the poem, Alice sets the boo& down and
decides to e3plore the rest o# the house! As she lea%es the room and begins heading down
the stairs, she #inds hersel# #loating until she #inally catches hold o# the door(post to the
door that leads outside o# Loo&ing(Blass "ouse!
Analysis
8n his stories, Carroll blurs the boundaries between being awa&e and being asleep so that
it becomes di##icult to tell where reality ends and dreaming begins! At the beginning o#
the chapter, Alice en4oys a drowsy winter nap near the #ire! 6he lea%es her chair only to
snatch up Eitty and place her on her &nee! Alice doFes o## in this position, and her step
through the mirror happens in her dream! 6ince she is only hal# asleep, AliceMs
e3periences combine elements #rom the wa&ing world and her dreams! The dream moti#
o# Through the Loo&ing(Blass di##ers #rom the one #ound in AliceMs Ad%entures in
0onderland, #or here Alice e3ercises some control o%er what she encounters in her
#antasy world! AliceMs repeated pleas to Eitty to play pretend emphasiFe her desire to
e3ert some control o%er her imagination!
Alice disco%ers that the room on the other side o# the mirror is nearly identical to her old
room, showing the moti# o# in%ersion that reappears throughout the te3t! The alternate
dimension is not 4ust a mirror image, but a comprehensi%e in%ersion o# reality! 8n
Loo&ing(Blass "ouse, Alice no longer needs a #ire, since the winter o# the real world
becomes summer in the imagined world, where the gardens are in bloom and the trees are
#illed with lea%es! E%en the inanimate ob4ects in AliceMs old room, such as the pictures
and the mantle cloc&, spring to li#e! Alice appears in%isible to the chess pieces, which is
one aspect o# the in%ersion that occurs in Loo&ing(Blass "ouse! 8n AliceMs world, she is
ali%e while the chess pieces are inanimate, but Loo&ing(Blass 0orld belongs to the chess
pieces, where they ha%e a wor&ing order to their li%es! Li&e the chessboard, their li%es are
highly symmetrical and controlled!
AliceMs in%isibility suggests that she maintains a godli&e power o%er the chessmen o#
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, which stems #rom the #act that the whole uni%erse e3ists as part o#
her imagination! Alice pic&s up the 0hite Eing as i# she were a di%ine power
manipulating the li%es o# the chess pieces! This establishes the idea o# the chessboard as a
plane o# e3istence upon which indi%iduals are positioned li&e chess pieces and mo%ed
around according to predetermined rules! 8nside the house, AliceMs in%isibility allows her
to be an unseen hand, but the image o# the chessboard gains its #ull signi#icance in the
ne3t chapter when she 4oins the chess game outside! There, Alice becomes a chess piece
hersel#, manipulated by an unseen hand, presumably the authorial hand o# Carroll! The
imposition o# this hand starts to become apparent when Alice loses control o%er her body
and #loats down the stairs, propelled #orward toward her destiny by the unseen hand o#
the author!
Cha!ter <<. The Garden o" Li5e 4lowers
Summary
;nce outside, Alice climbs a nearby hill to get a better loo& at the garden near the house!
"owe%er, e%ery time she begins to #ollow the path to the hill, she #inds hersel# bac& at the
door to the house! =ismayed, she mentions her #rustration to Tiger(lily, who surprises her
by responding in per#ect English! The Tiger(lily e3plains that all #lowers can tal&! The
$ose chimes in and mentions that Alice does not loo& %ery cle%er! Alice as&s them i# they
#eel at all %ulnerable! They e3plain to her that they are protected by a nearby tree that will
bar& at any approaching threats! The =aisies begin caterwauling and Alice silences them
by threatening to pic& them!
The $ose and the Violet continue to insult Alice, but the Tiger(lily reprimands them #or
their rudeness! Alice learns #rom the #lowers that there is another person li&e her in the
garden! They describe the $ed +ueen, who now loo&s human and stands a head taller
than Alice! The $ose ad%ises Alice to wal& the other way, but Alice sets o## toward the
$ed +ueen, ending up bac& at the door o# Loo&ing(Blass "ouse! ;nce she sets o## in the
opposite direction, she e%entually reaches the $ed +ueen!
The $ed +ueen is #riendly but o%erbearing when she stri&es up a con%ersation with
Alice! Alice e3plains her plight to the $ed +ueen and mentions the garden, which
prompts the $ed +ueen to remar& that she has seen gardens that would ma&e this one
seem li&e a wilderness! 0hen Alice mentions the hill, the $ed +ueen states that she has
seen hills to ma&e this hill loo& li&e a %alley! Grustrated, Alice tells the $ed +ueen that
she spea&s nonsense, but the +ueen responds that she has heard nonsense that would
ma&e her claims seem as sensible as a dictionary! The $ed +ueen ta&es Alice to the hill,
where she notices that the surrounding countryside resembles a giant chessboard! Alice
spots a game o# chess happening on the chessboard and e3presses her desire to 4oin the
game! The $ed +ueen tells Alice that she may stand in #or the Tiger(lily as a 0hite
Aawn! The two begin a bris& run but remain in the same place! ;nce #inished with their
run, the $ed +ueen e3plains the chess game to Alice! Alice starts at the second s'uare
and must tra%el through the other s'uares! A di##erent character owns each s'uare, and
once Alice reaches the eighth s'uare she will become a 'ueen hersel#! 0ith a #ew #inal
words o# ad%ice, the $ed +ueen bids Alice goodbye and disappears!
Analysis
Just li&e in AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland, Alice acts as an e3plorer in Loo&ing(
Blass 0orld, recalling other e3plorers disco%ering new territories in the late Victorian
era! Li&e the English 8mperialist e3plorers o# CarrollMs time, Alice intrudes on #oreign
lands with preconcei%ed notions about language, manners, and the way the world wor&s!
0hen she meets the li%ing #lowers, she disco%ers not only that others do not share her
assumptions, but that the nati%e population percei%es her as #oolish! AliceMs lac& o#
&nowledge about Loo&ing(Blass 0orld creates a culture clash in which her con#usion
o%er the #lowersM e3planation o# why trees ha%e Nbar&O and NboughsO inspires scorn in the
#lowers!
Alice #ails to understand that in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld she must do e%erything bac&ward!
6he gets con#used when the $ose ad%ises her to Nwal& the other wayO to reach the $ed
+ueen! Alice relates to the $ed +ueen how she is NlostO because she does not realiFe that
in the mirror one has to mo%e away #rom an ob4ect to get closer to it! The path seems to
acti%ely punish her #or #ailing to understand the properties o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld,
deliberately rearranging itsel# to get her o## trac&! The principles o# in%ersion do not
solely a##ect space and distance, but also mo%ement! The #aster Alice mo%es, the less
distance she co%ers, so that when she runs she ne%er seems to lea%e her initial position!
Alice becomes a pawn in the game o# chess and disco%ers that Loo&ing(Blass 0orld
closely #ollows the strict rules o# chess! Alice can only mo%e #orward one Ns'uareO at a
time, despite the #act that she seems to wield a degree o# imaginati%e control o%er
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! 0hile the +ueen seems to N%anishO because she can tra%el 'uic&ly
across the board, 4ust as a +ueen has greater mobility in a game o# chess! As a pawn,
Alice has much more restricted mobility and line o# %ision! Alice is not only a pawn in
the game o# chess, but also in the te3t o# the boo&! The author has absolute control o%er
AliceMs actions and can mo%e her around at will in the conte3t o# the story as i# she were
a pawn!
Cha!ter <<<. Looking*Glass <nsects
Summary
Alice sur%eys her surroundings, spotting a group o# elephants in the distance that seem to
be pollinating #lowers and ma&ing honey! 6he sets o## in the direction o# the elephants,
but changes her mind and starts heading down the hill in the other direction! )e#ore she
&nows it, she #inds hersel# riding inside a carriage, and she e3plains to the Buard present
that she doesnMt ha%e a tic&et! 6he hears %arious %oices in the carriage badgering her, as
the Buard e3amines her with a telescope, a microscope, and opera glasses! The other
passengers in the carriage begin to discuss Alice! A man dressed entirely in white paper
comments that she ought to &now where her tic&et is, while a goat inter4ects that she
should &now the location o# the tic&et o##ice! A beetle comments that Alice will ha%e to
ma&e the return 4ourney as luggage! Alice hears a hoarse %oice in her ear that suggests
%arious 4o&es she can ma&e using wordplay! As the train prepares to 4ump o%er a broo&,
Alice spea&s bac& to the %oice! The train 4umps and Alice #inds hersel# sitting 'uietly in
the shade o# a tree!
The strange %oice turns out to be the %oice o# a gnat, who has grown to the siFe o# a
chic&en since they landed in the #orest! Alice and the Bnat discuss the di##erence between
the insects in AliceMs world and Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! "e e3plains that the horse#ly
becomes a roc&ing horse#ly, the dragon#ly becomes a snapdragon #ly, and the butter#ly
becomes a )read(and(butter(#ly! Alice wonders what would happen to the )read(and(
butter(#ly when it cannot #ind its chosen diet o# wea& tea and cream! The Bnat in#orms
her that this is a regular occurrence, which means that )read(and(butter(#lies #re'uently
die! The Bnat then warns Alice that she will lose her name i# she tra%els into the wood!
The Bnat discusses lost names and then %anishes as mysteriously as he appeared!
Alice 4ourneys into the wood and #inds that she cannot remember the name o# anything!
8n her con#usion, she thin&s that her name begins with the letter NL!O 6he comes across a
Gawn, who helps her through the wood! ;nce they e3it the #orest, the Gawn runs away
now that it remembers that it is a #awn and Alice is a human! Alone again, Alice notices a
series o# signs pointing the way to Tweedledum and TweedledeeMs house! 6he heads o##
in that direction but bumps into them be#ore she reaches her destination!
Analysis
Alice #ully understands the lac& o# control that she e3erts o%er hersel# and where she
wishes to go in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld! =espite her strong attraction to the elephants, she
pulls bac& #rom going to meet them in #a%or o# remaining on the chessboard and
#ollowing the rules o# the game! )ac& on the chessboard, her mo%ements become
measured and predictable! AliceMs train ride allows her to s&ip the third Ns'uare,O
propelling her #orward two spaces, mimic&ing the #act that pawns mo%e two spaces
#orward on their #irst mo%e! Grom this point on, AliceMs mo%ement and geographical
position are charted in the chess diagram pro%ided at the beginning o# the boo&!
Alice and the Bnat discuss in detail how oneMs name should relate to oneMs identity or
physical characteristics! As they discuss the names o# di##erent insects in their respecti%e
worlds, the Bnat as&s Alice about the purpose o# names i# the insects do not respond to
the names when called by them! Alice e3plains that the names are not necessarily #or
animals and ob4ects to identi#y themsel%es by and respond to, but rather, names help
those with powers o# language to label, classi#y, and organiFe what they e3perience! 8n
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, humans are not the only species with powers o# language, which
changes AliceMs perceptions about the act o# naming and the properties o# names! AliceMs
interactions with the Gawn are initially #riendly, but he bolts upon learning that it is a
Gawn and she is a human child! Alice disco%ers that names do not simply label, but
con%ey in#ormation about how something operates in the world in relation to other things!
The )read(and(butter(#ly, as its name suggests, li%es on wea& tea with cream, and Gawns
#ear humans, their conditioned enemies!
The GawnMs #ear o# Alice suggests CarrollMs preoccupation with =arwinMs theory o#
e%olution! Carroll was a deeply religious man who #elt threatened by Charles =arwinMs
research on e%olution, which was published at the same time that Carroll was writing! To
Carroll, the theory o# e%olution challenged the Christian belie# in a harmonious uni%erse
created by Bod in the manner described in the boo& o# Benesis! As in Benesis, the #orest
resembles Eden, in which men and animals coe3isted harmoniously! Alice and the Gawn
e3it the #orest 4ust as Adam and E%e were e3pelled #rom Eden a#ter tasting #rom the Tree
o# Enowledge! Just li&e the story o# the Gall o# Eden, the Gawn becomes a#raid once it
remembers that Alice is a human and that she presents a threat to his sa#ety! The
re#erence to the Gall calls attention to CarrollMs an3iety about =arwinMs theories o#
e%olution, which in his perception sought to undo the idea o# a harmonious uni%erse that
might bring about a second Gall!
Cha!ter <I. Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Summary
Alice approaches the portly twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum, who stand side by side
with their arms around each otherMs shoulders! ?pon seeing them, Alice begins reciting a
poem that she &nows about them! The poem describes Tweedledee and Tweedledum
#ighting o%er a bro&en rattle until a crow #rightens them, causing them to #orget their
argument! They deny that this has e%er happened, and though they ignore AliceMs
'uestions about how to get out o# the wood, they do e3tend their hands to her in greeting!
Alice does not want to choose one o%er the other, so she grabs each manMs hand and the
three begin dancing in a ring! A#ter a short dance, they stop, and though Alice continues
to as& how to get out o# the wood, Tweedledee and Tweedledum ignore her!
Tweedledee begins reciting NThe 0alrus and the Carpenter,O a poem that describes the
story o# a 0alrus and a Carpenter who tric& a group o# young oysters into lea%ing their
home underwater and coming to shore with them! ;nce the oysters get to shore, the
0alrus and the Carpenter eat them! 0hen Tweedledee #inishes, Alice states that she
pre#ers the 0alrus because he #eels sympathy #or the oysters! Tweedledee points out that
the 0alrus ate more oysters than the Carpenter, and Alice changes her mind, stating her
new pre#erence #or the Carpenter! Tweedledum obser%es that the Carpenter ate as many
oysters as he could, which causes Alice to doubt her #eelings!
As she tries to sort out her #eelings, Alice becomes distracted by the $ed Eing sleeping
under a tree and snoring li&e a train engine! Tweedledee tells Alice that the $ed Eing is
dreaming about her, and i# he stops, she will %anish! Alice starts to cry at the thought that
she is real, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum try to com#ort her by telling her that her
tears are not real!
Alice decides that Tweedledum and Tweedledee are tal&ing nonsense and that she is
indeed real! Alice changes the sub4ect and starts to lea%e when Tweedledee grabs her
wrists and points to a bro&en rattle on the ground! Tweedledum recogniFes it as his new
rattle, and e3plodes in anger while Tweedledee cowers in #ear! Tweedledee calms down
and the two agree to a battle to determine ownership o# the rattle! Alice helps them put on
their battle gear, but be#ore they can begin #ighting, a great crow comes and scares them
o##, and Alice slips away into the wood alone!
Analysis
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are mirror images o# one another, reintroducing the theme
o# in%ersion! 0ith the e3ception o# their names, the two little #at men are identical in
loo&s, manner, and stance! They e3hibit per#ect symmetry, standing together with their
arms around each other, so that when they e3tend their #ree hands they each re#lect the
otherMs body position! Their con%ersation also displays a symmetrical position designated
by TweedledeeMs #a%orite e3pression, Ncontrariwise!O NContrariwiseO #unctions as a
transitional word that #lips the premise o# the con%ersation! Tweedledee usually addresses
the other side o# whate%er Tweedledum 4ust said! The twinsM re%ersal o# language
becomes apparent in the #ollowing e3change with Alice2
T0EE=LE=?52 8 &now what youMre thin&ing about ! ! ! but it isnMt so, nohow!
T0EE=LE=EE2 Contrariwise ! ! ! i# it was so, it might be ! ! ! ThatMs logic!
The in%ersion moti# appears on a larger scale in the #ight between Tweedledee and
Tweedledum, since it appears at the beginning o# the chapter in AliceMs recitation and
ends the chapter as an actual e%ent! Their scripted 'uarrel re%eals the power o# language
to a##ect outcomes! Language has an almost magical e##ect on Tweedledee and
Tweedledum in creating a rattle that did not e3ist be#ore the two met Alice! Language
also seems to cause their battle! Tweedledum and Tweedledee must play out the e%ents o#
AliceMs rhyme, and their li%es are destined to imitate the e%ents in the poem!
The episode with the sleeping $ed Eing causes Alice to 'uestion whether or not she
actually e3ists! The possibility that she may be a #igment o# the $ed EingMs dream
complicates her already slippery hold on reality! TweedledeeMs suggestion 'uestions the
stability o# reality itsel#! Alice has already e3perienced the loss o# her name, a
#undamental aspect o# her sense o# sel#! "ere, she loses the security o# her material
e3istence in the world! 8# the $ed Eing is in #act dreaming Alice into e3istence, then he is
the only thing in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld that truly e3ists! The only way to test this
hypothesis would be to wa&e the $ed Eing up, but i# he has imagined Alice,
Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, none o# them would be able to as& him about it, since
they e3ist only in his dreams and thus cannot a##ect his wa&ing li#e! E%en AliceMs
emotions are arti#icial, since her tears are only real to her! Though the tears ser%e as
e%idence o# real emotion, that real emotion e3ists as a #igment o# the EingMs dream!
The episode o# the $ed EingMs dream opens up greater implications #or Alice and the
readers about reality and the nature o# Bod! The presence o# the $ed Eing suggests the
notion that no person actually e3ists, but li%es solely as a #ragment o# a di%ine
imagination! The chessboard moti# ma&es sense as a tool #or organiFing the story since it
#unctions as an allegory #or human li#e in general! The characters in the story li%e a
deterministic e3istence in which they ha%e no #ree will and mo%e about according to the
will o# their creator! Gree will is an illusion in this world, since the residents o# Loo&ing(
Blass 0orld must #ollow the rules o# the chess game in all o# their actions! The idea o#
#ree will as an illusion challenges our understanding o# AliceMs ad%entures, since we ha%e
understood that they e3ist as part o# AliceMs own imagination! )y introducing the
possibility that Alice acts under the manipulation o# a larger di%ine #orce, Carroll presents
the idea that human li#e e3ists as an abstraction o# the imagination o# a larger di%ine
#orce!
Cha!ter I. Wool and Water
Summary
As Alice runs through the #orest, she comes across a shawl blowing about in #ront o# her!
6he grabs the shawl and bumps into the 0hite +ueen, who has been chasing through the
wood a#ter her missing shawl! 8n than&s, the 0hite +ueen o##ers Alice a 4ob as her maid,
promising Ntwopence a wee&, and 4am e%ery other day!O Alice respect#ully declines! The
0hite +ueen tells Alice that she li%es bac&ward and remembers e%ents be#ore they
happen! 6he goes on to in#orm Alice that the EingMs 5essenger will be in prison the
wee& a#ter ne3t, that his trial begins ne3t 0ednesday, and that his crime will come last o#
all! As the two discuss the merits o# punishment #or a crime that may not be committed,
the 0hite +ueen starts screaming li&e an engine whistle! 6he tells Alice she will pric&
her #inger, and then pric&s it as she re#astens her shawl!
Alice #eels lonely and begins to cry! The 0hite +ueen cheers her up by telling her to
consider things such as her age be#ore admitting that she is o%er one hundred years old!
0hen Alice states that to li%e to a hundred is impossible, the 0hite +ueen counters that
Alice cannot belie%e the impossible because she has not had any practice! The 0hite
+ueenMs shawl blows away again, and she chases a#ter it o%er a broo&! As Alice crosses
the broo& to catch up with her, the 0hite +ueen trans#orms into a sheep, and Alice #inds
hersel# suddenly in a shop!
The 6heep as&s Alice what she would li&e to buy and Alice begins loo&ing around the
shop! Though #illed with curious items, e%ery shel# that Alice sets her eyes upon appears
to be empty! The 6heep then tells Alice she must begin N#eathering,O which means
rowing! Alice loo&s around and #inds hersel# in a boat with the 6heep on a ri%er! Alice
rows until the boat reaches sweet(scented rushes, which she pulls up #rom the water and
lays at her #eet! 6he begins rowing again, but the oar gets caught, 4arring the boat so that
Alice #alls down to the #loor o# the boat! 0hen she stands up again, Alice #inds hersel#
bac& in the shop, where the 6heep as&s her again what she would li&e to buy! Alice pays
#or an egg, which the 6heep places on a shel# #or her! E%ery time Alice mo%es toward the
egg on the shel#, it seems to get progressi%ely #arther away #rom her! 6he continues to
wal& toward the egg as the shop trans#orms bac& into the wood!
Analysis
Time mo%es bac&ward in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, #urther challenging the assumption that
people ha%e control o%er the choices they ma&e! Time does not mo%e bac&ward toward a
#inal point o# origin! 8nstead, characters mo%e #orward while the order o# e%ents mo%es
bac&ward! The 0hite +ueen illustrates this principle by e3plaining that the EingMs
5essenger will be sentenced be#ore he commits his crime! "er wounds heal and she
e3periences pain be#ore she becomes in4ured! All o# the characters, the 0hite +ueen
included, NrememberO both the past and the #uture! They ha%e &nowledge o# e%ents
be#ore they happen, which rein#orces the deterministic aspect o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld!
Causal relationships are in%erted, so that e%ery e##ect e3perienced leads bac& to a cause
that e%entually occurs! Characters commit actions #or which they ha%e already
e3perienced the conse'uences! )ecause o# this, the concept o# #ree will in Loo&ing(Blass
0orld becomes tenuous at best!
As the 0hite +ueen attempts to cheer Alice up, she points some o# the arbitrary
con%entions that Alice li%es by! The 0hite +ueen chastises Alice #or re#using to belie%e
that she is o%er a hundred years old on the grounds that it is Nimpossible!O Alice does not
&now what is possible in this #antasy world, especially since her ad%entures thus #ar ha%e
repeatedly challenged her preconcei%ed e3pectation! E%en under the assumption that
AliceMs doubts are 4usti#ied, the 0hite +ueenMs claim to be a hundred years old is not
impossible, merely unli&ely! $egardless, Alice should &now by now that indi%iduals in
Loo&ing(Blass 0orld are capable o# doing the impossible!
Cha!ter I<. Hum!ty #um!ty
Summary
Alice approaches the egg, which has grown large and trans#ormed into "umpty =umpty!
"umpty =umpty idly sits on a wall, ta&ing no notice o# Alice until she remar&s how
much he resembles an egg! 8rritated by this remar&, "umpty =umpty insults Alice! 6he
starts to so#tly recite the nursery rhyme about "umpty =umpty, and he as&s #or her name
and re'uests that she state her business! Alice tells "umpty =umpty her name and he tells
her that her name is stupid! 8n "umpty =umptyMs opinion, names should mean
something, o##ering his own name as an e3ample since it alludes to the shape o# his body!
"e goes on to remar& that with a name li&e Alice, she could be any shape at all!
Concerned #or his sa#ety, Alice as&s "umpty =umpty why he sits atop the wall! "e
replies that the Eing made him a promise, which spurs AliceMs memory o# the rhyme
stating that the EingMs horses and the EingMs men put "umpty =umpty bac& together
again! AliceMs allusion to the poem angers "umpty =umpty, who insists that he is well
protected and changes the sub4ect!
"umpty =umpty seems to ma&e a riddle out o# e%ery part o# their con%ersation! Alice
compliments his cra%at, which he e3plains he recei%ed #rom the 0hite Eing and +ueen
#or his un(birthday! "e e3plains that an un(birthday is a day that is not his birthday!
"umpty =umpty declares that un(birthdays are better than birthdays and starts to use
words that ma&e no sense in the conte3t o# what he says! Alice 'uestions what he means,
to which he retorts that he can ma&e words do anything that he wants, though he pays
words e3tra i# he re'uires them to do a lot o# wor&! Alice remembers the poem
NJabberwoc&y,O and she as&s "umpty =umpty to e3plain the words to her! 6he recites the
#irst stanFa, which he pic&s apart word by word! "umpty =umpty then begins his own
poem #or her, which abruptly ends with a goodbye! Annoyed, Alice wal&s o##,
complaining about his beha%ior when a great crash resounds through the wood!
Analysis
"umpty =umpty reintroduces the idea o# naming and the role it plays in shaping identity!
?nli&e the Gawn and the Bnat, "umpty =umpty has a nuanced understanding o# naming!
"owe%er, "umpty =umpty maintains an understanding o# language that re%erses AliceMs
understanding o# the way language wor&s! Alice belie%es that proper names do not ha%e
pro#ound signi#icance, while names #or uni%ersal concepts such as a NgloryO or
NimpenetrabilityO ha%e #i3ed meanings that all people understand! "umpty =umpty
belie%es the opposite, stating that he #inds the name Alice to be stupid since it #ails to
connote anything about who she is! "umpty =umpty continues this manipulation o#
language, ta&ing liberties with the meanings o# &nown words and establishing de#initions
#or them that suit his purposes! 0ords become characters under "umpty =umptyMs
employment, an idea he promotes with the claim that he literally pays the words more
when he ma&es them do a lot o# wor&!
"umpty =umptyMs philosophy o# naming demonstrates both the arbitrariness o# lanugage
and the capacity o# literature to con%ey meaning! "umpty =umpty rede#ines the
meanings o# words at will, but he must use other words that ha%e presumably stable
meanings to e3plain the new de#initions! 8# too many words ha%e #luid meanings, their
meanings will change erratically, and language will cease to #unction as a system capable
o# communicating ideas! "umpty =umptyMs ideas about language will #all apart i#
multiple people ad4ust the meanings o# words to suit their indi%idual #ancy! 0hen applied
to literature, "umpty =umptyMs ideas are more appropriate! Authors manipulate the
multiple meanings o# words they use when writing, gi%ing their language a richness that
has the potential to #ascinate and delight readers! CarrollMs #re'uent use o# puns and
wordplay shows how attuned he was to this property o# language! E%en in this section,
Carroll plays with the pun on the NrichnessO o# language, indicating that "umpty =umpty
pays words more when they wor& harder!
Cha!ter I<<. The Lion and the ?nicorn
Summary
Alice sees soldiers and horses running through the #orest as she wal&s into the wood! 6he
comes across the 0hite Eing, who is 4otting notes down in his memorandum boo&! "e
delightedly tells Alice that he has sent out all o# his horses and men, with the e3ception o#
two horses needed #or Nthe game,O and his messengers, "aigha and "atta, who are in
town on errands! The 0hite Eing as&s Alice i# she passed "aigha or "atta on the road,
but she declares that she has seen nobody! The 0hite Eing e3presses amaFement that she
can see N:obodyO at all, admitting that he has di##iculty seeing real people! Con#used,
Alice loo&s around, and #inally catches sight o# "aigha wriggling toward them! 0hen
"aigha >the 5arch "are@ arri%es, the 0hite Eing as&s him #or a hand sandwich! A#ter
de%ouring the sandwich, the 0hite Eing munches on hay gi%en to him by "aigha and
as&s his messenger i# he passed anyone on the road! "aigha says he passed Nnobody,O
prompting the 0hite Eing to declare that Alice saw :obody too, and that :obody must
be a slow wal&er! "aigha asserts that he is sure that nobody wal&s #aster than he does!
The 0hite Eing disagrees, e3plaining that :obody would be with them now i# :obody
did indeed wal& #aster!
"aigha in#orms the 0hite Eing that the Lion and the ?nicorn are #ighting in town! As
they run to town to watch, Alice repeats a nursery rhyme about the Lion and the ?nicorn!
8n the rhyme, the Lion and the ?nicorn #ight #or a crown, stop to eat bread and ca&e, and
are then drummed out o# town! 0hen they arri%e in town, Alice and her companions
stand with "atta >the 5ad "atter@! "atta in#orms them o# the e%ents o# the #ight thus #ar!
The Lion and the ?nicorn stop their #ighting #or a moment! The 0hite Eing calls #or a
re#reshment brea&, so "atta and "aigha pass bread around! Alice notices the 0hite
+ueen dart through, obser%ing that someone seems to be chasing her! The 0hite Eing
realiFes that Alice has caught sight o# the 0hite +ueen and points out that she runs so
'uic&ly that #ollowing her would be #ruitless!
The ?nicorn approaches Alice, staring at her in disgust as it as&s her what she is! Alice
states that she is a child, but the ?nicorn decides that she is a 5onster! The ?nicorn
stri&es up a bargain with Alice that they will belie%e in each other now that they ha%e
seen each other! The ?nicorn calls #or ca&e, which "aigha produces! The Lion 4oins
them, and orders Alice to cut the ca&e! =espite her repeated slicing, the ca&e persists in
coming bac& together! The ?nicorn e3plains that Alice must pass the ca&e around #irst
and cut a#terward! Alice begins passing the ca&e, and it splits into three pieces, lea%ing
her with nothing to cut! Just then, she hears a dea#ening drumbeat that scares her and
causes her to run o## in terror! 6he crouches on the other side o# a broo&, imagining that
the noise also caused the Lion and the ?nicorn to #lee!
Analysis
Alice again sees the power language has to dictate outcomes, #or the e%ents described in
her nursery rhymes come true both #or "umpty =umpty and the Lion and the ?nicorn!
The crash that begins the chapter is the #all that Alice described in her nursery rhyme, an
assumption rein#orced by the #act that the 0hite Eing sends >almost@ all o# his horses and
men, presumably to put "umpty =umpty bac& together again! 6imilarly, the battle
between the Lion and the ?nicorn un#olds in the same way as the nursery rhyme! The
0hite EingMs literalist tendencies rein#orce the idea that language dictates outcomes! "e
mista&es Alice and "aighaMs unspeci#ic NnobodyO #or a real person named N:obody!O
The 0hite Eing portrays :obody as a character who ta&es words at their #ace %alue,
which rea##irms the in%ersion moti#! Gor the 0hite Eing, things and e%ents are not
e3plained through words, but words themsel%es become literal things and e%ents!
Cha!ter I<<<. J<t@s 0y =wn <n5entionK
Summary
As the pounding o# the drums dies away, Alice starts to wonder i# she still e3ists as part
o# the $ed EingMs dream! At this moment, the $ed Enight barrels toward her, screaming
NChec&<O The 0hite Enight comes to AliceMs rescue, and the two chess pieces #ight
#uriously until the $ed Enight gallops o##! The 0hite Enight happily tells Alice that he
will bring her sa#ely to the ne3t broo&, e3plaining that once she crosses the broo& she will
become a 'ueen! As they wal&, the 0hite Enight describes all o# the items that he carries
with him! "e carries a bo3 to &eep clothes and #ood, a beehi%e #or &eeping bees, a
mousetrap to protect his horse #rom mice, and horse(an&lets to guard against shar&(bites!
As he spea&s to Alice, he repeatedly #alls o## o# his horse! 6he 'uestions his riding ability,
which o##ends him! The 0hite Enight e3plains that he has practiced riding #re'uently,
which is the &ey to good horsemanship! Alice #inds his claims to be ridiculous!
As the 0hite Enight and Alice continue tra%eling toward the broo&, he e3plains se%eral
o# his in%entions to Alice! "e has de%eloped a new &ind o# helmet, se%eral ways to 4ump
a #ence, and a new &ind o# pudding, which he considers to be his greatest in%ention! All
o# the 0hite EnightMs in%entions seem to ha%e something wrong with them! Alice
becomes increasingly puFFled by his e3planations as they approach the #orestMs border!
The 0hite Enight mista&es AliceMs con#usion #or sadness, and proposes that he sing a
song that has se%eral di##erent names! ?pon #inishing the song, the 0hite Enight points
to the broo& that she must 4ump o%er to become a 'ueen! "e as&s her to wait to 4ump until
he reaches a turn #ar o## down the road! Alice waits #or him to pass out o# sight, wa%ing
her hand&erchie# a#ter him, and 4umps o%er the broo&! ;n the other side, she #inds hersel#
sitting on a lawn wearing a crown!
Analysis
0ith the e3ception o# the 0hite Enight, the characters o# Loo&ing(Blass 0orld ha%e no
understanding o# the rules o# the chess game that organiFe their li%es! Alice has #inally
reached the se%enth s'uare and will become a 'ueen with her ne3t mo%e! 6ince she
mo%es as a pawn, she has no sense o# the s'uares around her! 6he learns o# her
impending trans#ormation into a 'ueen #rom the 0hite Enight, who comes to rescue her
#rom the $ed Enight! 0ith the help o# the chessboard diagram pro%ided by Carroll, it
becomes ob%ious that Alice #aced no danger #rom the $ed Enight, who had recently
mo%ed to the s'uare ad4acent to Alice! The $ed EnightMs cry o# NChec&<O is not intended
#or Alice, whom, based on the rules o# chess, he cannot capture, but #or the 0hite Eing,
whom the $ed Enight has put in chec&! The $ed Enight has no understanding o# the
game, and upon seeing Alice, belie%es that he is meant to capture her! The 0hite Enight
arri%es and enters the $ed EnightMs s'uare, de#eating the $ed Enight! The 0hite Enight
guides Alice to the eighth s'uare, but be#ore lea%ing she must see him o## in his ne3t
mo%e! Carroll #ollows the rules o# chess closely, re'uiring Alice to watch the 0hite
Enight as the turns the bend in the road, #ollowing the one(across, two(o%er mo%ement o#
the Enight in chess!
The 0hite Enight appears as a #ictional mani#estation o# Lewis Carroll! Critics ha%e
pointed out similarities between the two, noting the physical resemblance between them!
)oth the 0hite Enight and Carroll ha%e shaggy hair, mild blue eyes, and &indly smiles!
Li&e Carroll, the Enight in%ents curious contraptions to help pro%ide #or any contingency!
0hile the 0hite Enight readies himsel# #or a shar& attac&, Carroll created de%ices such
as an ob4ect to allow him to ta&e notes in the dar&! 5ore importantly, Alice #inds in the
0hite Enight and indi%idual who truly esteems and cares #or her! "e soothes her
loneliness, but this does not stop her #rom lea%ing him to become a 'ueen! This decision
imitates how Alice Liddell grew apart #rom Carroll as she matured! The song that the
0hite Enight sings to Alice ser%es as CarrollMs heart#elt, i# misdirected, tribute to the real
li#e Alice! Carroll implies that Alice does not #eel sadness, only con#usion! AliceMs
dismissal o# the 0hite Eing in her #inal remar& about him a##irms that she has grown up2
NZ8 hope it encouraged him,M she said, as she turned to run down the hill!O Alice dismisses
the 0hite EnightMs o##er o# lo%e and #riendship as she goes o## to become a 'ueen, 4ust as
Alice abandoned Carroll when she became a young woman!
Cha!ters <LML<<. 6ueen AliceN ShakingN WakingN Which #reamed <H
Summary
A#ter realiFing that she has become a +ueen, Alice #inds hersel# in the company o# the
$ed +ueen and the 0hite +ueen! The two 'ueens begin 'uestioning her relentlessly,
telling her that she cannot be a 'ueen until she passes the proper e3amination! They as&
her strange 'uestions about manners, mathematics, the alphabet, how to ma&e bread,
languages, and the cause o# lightning! The $ed +ueen #rustrates Alice by correcting
e%ery incorrect answer! Alice mista&enly remar&s that thunder causes lightning, but when
she attempts to re%erse her statement, the $ed +ueen snaps that once she says something,
she must li%e with the conse'uences! The 0hite +ueen changes the sub4ect to a
thunderstorm that occurred on the last set o# Tuesdays! Con#used, Alice listens to a
sneering e3planation that in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld, days are ta&en two or three at a time!
The 0hite +ueen continues her #oolish story, while the $ed +ueen apologiFes to Alice
#or the 0hite +ueenMs beha%ior, e3plaining to Alice that the 0hite +ueen wasnMt brought
up well!
The $ed +ueen as&s Alice to sing a lullaby to the 0hite +ueen, but Alice claims that she
doesnMt &now any! The $ed +ueen begins singing instead, causing the 0hite +ueen to
#all asleep on AliceMs shoulder! 6oon, the $ed +ueen #alls asleep, too, and both 'ueens
slump their heads into AliceMs lap! The snoring sounds li&e a song to Alice! 6he becomes
distracted by the music and doesnMt notice when the two 'ueens %anish ine3plicably!
0hen Alice loo&s up, she #inds hersel# standing in #ront o# a door emblaFoned with the
words N+?EE: AL8CE!O Alice wants to enter but only #inds a %isitorMs bell and a
ser%antMs bell, and no bell #or guests! 6he &noc&s on the door and it #lies open! The words
N:; A=58TTA:CE ?:T8L T"E 0EEE AGTE$ :ERT<O boom out o# the open door!
Alice continues to &noc& to no a%ail, until e%entually an old #rog approaches #rom behind
her and as&s her what she wants! Alice e3plains that no one will answer the door! The
con#used Grog as&s what the door has been as&ing and whether it would need an answer!
The door #lies open again and Alice hears a song about +ueen AliceMs grand party!
Alice #inds a large table set be#ore her with #i#ty guests seated around it! 6he sits down at
the head o# the table between the 0hite +ueen and the $ed +ueen! A ser%ant brings out
#ood and the $ed +ueen #ormally introduces Alice to the #ood! A#ter the introduction, the
$ed +ueen sends the #ood bac& to the &itchen, commenting that it is impolite to eat
something a#ter one has made ac'uaintance with it! Alice becomes #rustrated and as&s to
get the pudding bac&, which she slices and ser%es to the guests! As the pudding is passed
around, Alice as&s the guests why there are so many poems in Loo&ing(Blass 0orld on
the sub4ect o# #ish! The 0hite +ueen responds by telling a riddle that as&s whether
answering the door or unco%ering a dish o# #ish is more di##icult! The 'ueens toast Alice,
who rises to gi%e than&s to her guests! As she stands up, the room spontaneously erupts
into chaos! Candles rise to the ceiling, guests become stuc& to their plates, the 0hite
+ueen tumbles into a soup tureen, and a soup ladle storms around the table! Alice grabs
the tablecloth and tugs it o## o# the table, sending all o# the guests #lying to the ground!
Alice turns to the $ed +ueen, whom she considers responsible #or the chaos, and grabs
her! The $ed +ueen shrin&s down to the siFe o# a doll and Alice begins sha&ing her!
)e#ore AliceMs eyes, the $ed +ueen seems to trans#orm into her &itten Eitty! Alice
realiFes that she has wo&en up! 6he scolds Eitty #or wa&ing her up and then grabs the
small $ed +ueen o## o# the nearby chess table, trying to get Eitty to admit that she had
trans#ormed into the $ed +ueen! Alice addresses 6nowdrop, stating her suspicion that the
white &itten is the 0hite +ueen! Lastly, Alice tries to guess who =inah might be be#ore
deciding that sheMs probably "umpty =umpty! 6he turns bac& to Eitty and tells her all
about the #ish(themed poetry she heard in her dream!
Analysis
The chess moti# becomes highly pronounced in this chapter, and the %arious mo%ements
o# the pieces signi#y the conclusion o# the game! As Alice becomes +ueen, the
mo%ements and positions o# the indi%idual pieces become clear! Glan&ed by both 'ueens,
Alice can see the entire chessboard! As she sits at the head o# the table in her castle, all o#
the guests stretched out be#ore her represent the other chess pieces! The table in this scene
represents the table in AliceMs house on which the chessboard rests, ad4acent to the NrealO
Alice asleep in her chair! The 0hite +ueenMs mo%e to the soup tureen sets up the $ed
EingMs Nchec&mate,O and when Alice slides o%er to seiFe the $ed +ueen, she puts the
$ed Eing in chec&mate hersel# and ends the chess game! :ow that the game has ended,
Alice wa&es up #rom her dream and #inds hersel# holding Eitty!
Alice seems unsure o# hersel# at the start o# the game, but once she e3erts her power as a
'ueen, she e3poses the #a[ade and liberates hersel# #rom the con#ines o# the chessboard!
The $ed and 0hite +ueensM relentless 'uestioning represents an attempt to #latten Alice
into submission so that she becomes part o# their two(dimensional li%es in Loo&ing(Blass
0orld! Alice resists this #lattening, which mani#ests itsel# literally when the guests at the
table become stuc& to their plates! Alice rises to gi%e than&s and in doing so becomes
three(dimensional, setting o## the chaos that allows her to seiFe the $ed +ueen and end
the chess match!
6ome critics see the moment when Alice wins the chess game to be the moment o# her
se3ual awa&ening! 8n this reading, AliceMs standing up represents a moment o# orgasmic
realiFation! The rising candle #lames imply erection imagery, while the repetition o# the
word NmomentO in the scene underscores the #leeting sensory intensity that causes Alice
to tear away the tablecloth and attac& the $ed +ueen! This orgasmic moment leads to the
chec&mate o# the $ed Eing, so that Alice e3periences a se3ual awa&ening! At this point,
Alice has nowhere else to go in her dream, and abruptly wa&es up! The #act that =inah
continues to wash 6nowdrop when Alice regains consciousness supports the #act that the
dream has happened in a single Nmoment!O This realiFation also prompts Alice to wonder
whether it was she or the $ed Eing who had had the dream! )y lea%ing o## at this
moment, Carroll comments that li#e is nothing but a dream, a blin&ing moment in BodMs
mind!
Through the Looking*Glass
"ull title S Through the Loo&ing(Blass
author S Lewis Carroll
ty!e o" work S :o%ella
genre S Gairy tale7 childrenMs #iction7 satire7 allegory
language S English
time and !lace written S 186-D18-1, ;3#ord
date o" "irst !u-lication S 18-1, though the #irst copies were dated 18-
!u-lisher S 5acmillan T Co!
narrator S The narrator is anonymous, and does not use many words to describe e%ents in
the story!
!oint o" 5iew S The narrator spea&s in third person, though occasionally in #irst and
second person! The narrati%e #ollows Alice around, %oicing her thoughts and #eelings!
tone S 6traight#orward7 a%uncular
tense S Aast
setting %time, S Victorian era, a decade be#ore publication date
setting %!lace, S England, Loo&ing(glass world
!rotagonist S Alice
ma9or con"lict S Alice attempts to become a +ueen in the massi%e chess game being
played in the Loo&ing(Blass 0orld!
rising action S Alice, as a pawn, mo%es #orward s'uare by s'uare, meeting many
di##erent characters as she ad%ances through the chessboard!
climax S Alice becomes a 'ueen!
"alling action S Alice seiFes the $ed +ueen, puts the $ed Eing in chec&mate, and, ha%ing
ended the game, wa&es up wondering about her dream!
themes S Chess as a metaphor #or a deterministic conception o# li#e7 Language as a means
to order the world7 The inescapable loneliness a child #eels growing up
moti"s S =ream7 8n%ersion7 Chess7 Train imagery
sym-ols S $ushes7 The sleeping $ed Eing
"oreshadowing S AliceMs recitation o# the rhymes about Tweedledum and Tweedleedee,
"umpty =umpty, and the Lion and the ?nicorn #oreshadow each o# their #ates within the
story!
<m!ortant 6uotations Ex!lained
&! NWho in the world am <HK Ah3 that@s the great !u::le.
E3planation #or +uotation \1
Alice as&s this 'uestion o# hersel# in Chapter 88 o# AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland,
4ust a#ter she has grown to a giant siFe and #rightened the 0hite $abbit away! Alice
realiFes that she is not 4ust trying to #igure out 0onderland, but also attempting to
determine who she is and what constitutes her identity in a world that acti%ely challenges
her perspecti%e and sense o# sel#! 0onderland has already begun to a##ect Alice, and she
rightly understands that her sel# perception cannot remain #i3ed in a world that has
drastically di##erent rules #rom her own! 8n 0onderland, Alice has a slippery grasp o# her
identity! 6ince 0onderland is a byproduct o# her own imagination, it becomes clear that
it is AliceMs identity and not 0onderland itsel# that is being called into 'uestion! The
nonsensical #eatures and characters that ma&e up 0onderland e3tend #rom AliceMs own
psyche, so her 'uest to understand 0onderland becomes a 'uest to understand the #orces
and #eelings that comprise her identity! The idea o# the great puFFle also supports
CarrollMs notion that li#e is an unduly complicated mystery that human beings must use
rational thought and intelligence to understand!
)! Lastly3 she !ictured to hersel" how this same little sister o" hers would3 in the
a"ter*time3 -e hersel" a grown womanN and how she would kee!3 through all her
ri!er years3 the sim!le and lo5ing heart o" her childhoodN and how she would gather
a-out her other little children3 and make their eyes -right and eager with many a
strange tale3 !erha!s e5en with the dream o" Wonderland o" long agoN and how she
would "eel with all their sim!le sorrows3 and "ind a !leasure in all their sim!le 9oys3
remem-ering her own child*li"e3 and the ha!!y summer days.
E3planation #or +uotation \
This 'uote is the %ery #inal sentence o# AliceMs Ad%entures in 0onderland! Alice has
gone inside #or tea, lea%ing her sister by the ri%erban& to muse o%er AliceMs wondrous
dream! This passage has a tone o# long winded, golden nostalgia and di##ers dramatically
#rom the rest o# the story, which is generally economical in words and nightmarish #or
Alice! This tonal shi#t results #rom the shi#t in perspecti%e #rom Alice to her sister, which
in turn alters the readerMs perception o# AliceMs ad%entures! 0hile she e3periences her
ad%entures, Alice #inds her 4ourney to be con#ounding and nightmarish! ;n the other
hand, AliceMs sister sees her story as a strange tale #rom a simple heart! 6he tri%ialiFes
AliceMs identity shattering 4ourney, distancing the trauma Alice e3perienced in her dream
with her own abo%eground #aith in an orderly uni%erse! 8n a story studded with
sub%ersion, AliceMs sister becomes the ultimate sub%ersion who undermines AliceMs
search #or meaning and identity as she imagines Alice growing up and mysti#ying other
simple(hearted children with her stories!
This 'uote also ser%es as CarrollMs commentary on the character o# Alice, the
#ictionaliFed %ersion o# his muse Alice Liddell! Carroll became deeply preoccupied with
the dissolution o# his #riendship with Liddell as she reached maturity and grew apart #rom
him! This #inal line has a nostalgic, wist#ul longing #or Nthe happy summer daysO in
which he would %isit with the Liddell sisters and delight them Nwith many a strange tale!O
?ltimately, Carroll realiFes that these happy summer days cannot last, and li&e AliceMs
dream or e%en AliceMs sisterMs dream, the simple hearted lo%e o# a child will #ade, lea%ing
him only with memories o# Nchild(li#e!O
(. <t@s a great huge game o" chess that@s -eing !layedOall o5er the worldOi" this is
the world at all3 you know.
E3planation #or +uotation \,
This 'uote occurs in Chapter 88 o# Through the Loo&ing(Blass, as Alice loo&s out #rom
the hill and sees a landscape chec&ered li&e a chessboard and di##erent characters
stationed on the board li&e chessmen! Carroll has already introduced the theme o# chess,
but AliceMs musing suggest that chess #unctions as a metaphor not only #or the world o#
the no%el but #or our world as well! Carroll #re'uently espoused the idea o# li#e as a game!
Li&e Alice, we are pawns in our own li%es, condemned to mo%e #orward through time
with little &nowledge and understanding o# the wider world! 0ithin our limited
perspecti%e, the world seems eminently ordered and e3plainable by nature and logic,
much li&e a chessboardMs symmetrical and geometrical nature e%o&es a sense o#
determinable order!
B! =" all the strange things that Alice saw in her 9ourney Through The
Looking*Glass3 this was the one that she always remem-ered most clearly. Pears
a"terward she could -ring the whole scene -ack again3 as i" it had -een yesterdayO
the mild -lue eyes and kindly smile o" the 7nightOthe setting sun gleaming through
his hair3 and shining on his armour in a -la:e o" light that Fuite da::led herOthe
horse Fuietly mo5ing a-out3 with the reins hanging loose on his neck3 cro!!ing the
grass at her "eetOand the -lack shadows o" the "orest -ehindOall this she took in
like a !icture3 as3 watching the strange !air3 and listening3 in a hal"*dream3 to the
melancholy music o" the song.
E3planation #or +uotation \C
This sentence appears in Chapter V888 o# Through the Loo&ing(Blass! :ot only is it the
longest sentence in either boo&, but it is also the most photographically %i%id image in
either boo& and brings to mind CarrollMs hobby as a photographer! The image is poignant
gi%en the 0hite EnightMs role in the story! The 0hite Enight is an aberration among the
characters, since he is the only character who treats Alice with true &indness and
compassion! "e does not seem to be part o# AliceMs dream at all, since the characters in
her dream beha%e disagreeably and induce pro#ound #eelings o# loneliness and isolation
in Alice! The 0hite Enight seems more real than the absurd personages she has met
be#ore, which is one reason why Alice remembers his image so clearly a#ter many years
ha%e passed! The photographic 'uality o# the passage indicates that Carroll has inserted
himsel# and his desires into the te3t, since Carroll created the 0hite Enight as his literary
counterpart! Carroll crosses into the pages o# the boo& to burn his image into AliceMs
mind as the most authentic and memorable character, an e##ect he wished to ha%e on the
mind o# the real(li#e Alice Liddell!
D. Li"e3 what is it -ut a dreamH
E3planation #or +uotation \L
This 'uestion ends the poem that concludes Through the Loo&ing(Blass, reminding us
that one can ne%er be sure that li#e is more than a dream, since it is made o# #leeting
memories, arbitrary machinations, and essentially meaningless conclusions! AliceMs
ad%enture in Through the Loo&ing(Blass is a dream, e%en though it dramatiFes her
4ourney to young womanhood! E%en as she wa&es, Alice #inds that the order o# her room
seems 4ust as arbitrary and tenuous as the dream world #rom which she has emerged!
Additionally, this 'uote brings to mind the $ed EingMs dream and the implications that
human li#e e3ists as dream in the mind o# a greater di%ine being! 0ith this #inal 'uestion,
Carroll suggests that we do not in #act e3ist as we imagine, and ultimately are no more
than the shadowy dreams o# a greater consciousness!