Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Summary

ALICES ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll
Context
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in
mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, who lived from 1832 to 1898. Carrolls physical deformities,
partial deafness, and irrepressible stammer made him an unlikely candidate for producing one of the
most popular and enduring childrens fantasies in the English language. Carrolls unusual
appearance caused him to behave awkwardly around other adults, and his students at Oxford saw
him as a stuffy and boring teacher. He held strict religious beliefs, serving as a deacon in the
Anglican Church for many years and briefly considering becoming a minister. Underneath Carrolls
awkward exterior, however, lay a brilliant and imaginative artist. A gifted amateur photographer, he
took numerous portraits of children throughout his adulthood. Carrolls keen grasp of mathematics
and logic inspired the linguistic humor and witty wordplay in his stories. Additionally, his unique
understanding of childrens minds allowed him to compose imaginative fiction that appealed to
young people.
Carroll felt shy and reserved around adults but became animated and lively around children. His
crippling stammer melted away in the company of children as he told them his elaborately
nonsensical stories. Carroll discovered his gift for storytelling in his own youth when he served as
the unofficial family entertainer for his five younger sisters and three younger brothers. He staged
performances and wrote the bulk of the fiction in the family magazine. As an adult, Carroll continued
to prefer the companionship of children to adults and tended to favor little girls. Over the course of
his lifetime he made numerous child friends whom he wrote to frequently and often mentioned in his
diaries.
In 1856, Carroll became close with the Liddell children and met the girl who would become the
inspiration for Alice, the protagonist of his two most famous books. It was in that year that classics
scholar Henry George Liddell accepted an appointment as Dean of Christ Church, one of the
colleges that comprise Oxford University, and brought his three daughters to live with him at Oxford.
Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell quickly became Carrolls favorite companions and photographic
subjects. During their frequent afternoon boat trips on the river, Carroll told the Liddells fanciful tales.
Alice quickly became Carrolls favorite of the three girls, and he made her the subject of the stories
that would later becameAlices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Almost

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ten years after first meeting the Liddells, Carroll compiled the stories and submitted the completed
manuscript for publication.
Alices Adventures in Wonderland received mostly negative reviews when first published in 1865.
Critics and readers alike found the book to be sheer nonsense, and one critic sneered that the book
was too extravagantly absurd to produce more diversion than disappointment and irritation. Only
John Tenniels detailed illustrations garnered praise, and his images continue to appear in most
reprints of the Alice books. Despite the books negative reception, Carroll proposed a sequel to his
publisher in 1866 and set to work writing Through the Looking-Glass. By the time the second book
reached publication in 1871, Alices Adventures in Wonderland had found an appreciative
readership. Over time, Carrolls combination of sophisticated logic, social satire, and pure fantasy
would make the book a classic for children and adults alike. Critics eventually recognized the literary
merits of both texts, and celebrated authors and philosophers ranging from James Joyce to Ludwig
Wittgenstein praised Carrolls stories.
In 1881, Carroll resigned from his position as mathematics lecturer at Oxford to pursue writing full
time. He composed numerous poems, several new works for children, and books of logic puzzles
and games, but none of his later writings attained the success of the Alice books. Carroll continued
to have close friendships with children. Several of his child friends served as inspiration for the
Sylvie and Bruno books. Like the Alice stories, Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno
Concluded (1898) relied heavily on childrens silly sayings and absurd fantasies. Carroll died in 1898
at the age of sixty-six, soon after the publication of the Sylvie and Bruno books. He passed away in
his familys home in Guildford, England.
Carrolls sudden break with the Liddell family in the early 1860s has led to a great deal of
speculation over the nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell. Some books indicate that the split
resulted from a disagreement between Carroll and Dean Liddell over Christ Church matters. Other
evidence indicates that more insidious elements existed in Carrolls relationships with young children
and with Alice Liddell in particular. This possibility seems to be supported by the fact that Mrs. Liddell
burned all of Carrolls early letters to Alice and that Carroll himself tore pages out of his diary related
to the break. However, no concrete evidence exists that Carroll behaved inappropriately in his
numerous friendships with children. Records written by Carrolls associates and Alice Liddell herself
do not indicate any untoward behavior on his part.

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Carrolls feelings of intense nostalgia for the simple pleasures of childhood caused him to feel deep
discomfort in the presence of adults. In the company of children, Carroll felt understood and could
temporarily forget the loss of innocence that he associated with his own adulthood. Ironically, Carroll
mourned this loss again and again as he watched each of his child friends grow away from him as
they became older. As he wrote in a letter to the mother of one of his young muses, It is very sweet
to me, to be loved by her as children love: though the experience of many years have now taught me
that there are few things in the world so evanescent [fleeting] as a childs love. Nine-tenths of the
children, whose love once seemed as warm as hers, are now merely on the terms of everyday
acquaintance. The sentiment of fleeting happiness pervades Carrolls seemingly lighthearted
fantasies and infuses the Alice books with melancholy and loss.
Plot Overview
Alice sits on a riverbank on a warm summer day, drowsily reading over her sisters shoulder, when
she catches sight of a White Rabbit in a waistcoat running by her. The White Rabbit pulls out a
pocket watch, exclaims that he is late, and pops down a rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit
down the hole and comes upon a great hallway lined with doors. She finds a small door that she
opens using a key she discovers on a nearby table. Through the door, she sees a beautiful garden,
and Alice begins to cry when she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She finds a bottle marked
DRINK ME and downs the contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter the door but cannot
enter since she has left the key on the tabletop above her head. Alice discovers a cake marked EAT
ME which causes her to grow to an inordinately large height. Still unable to enter the garden, Alice
begins to cry again, and her giant tears form a pool at her feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls
into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a
Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore, where a number of animals stand gathered on a
bank. After a Caucus Race, Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat, Dinah, and finds
herself alone again.
Alice meets the White Rabbit again, who mistakes her for a servant and sends her off to fetch his
things. While in the White Rabbits house, Alice drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the
size of the room. The White Rabbit returns to his house, fuming at the now-giant Alice, but she swats
him and his servants away with her giant hand. The animals outside try to get her out of the house
by throwing rocks at her, which inexplicably transform into cakes when they land in the house. Alice

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eats one of the cakes, which causes her to shrink to a small size. She wanders off into the forest,
where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah (i.e., a water pipe). The
Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he tells
Alice that different parts of the mushroom will make her grow or shrink. Alice tastes a part of the
mushroom, and her neck stretches above the trees. A pigeon sees her and attacks, deeming her a
serpent hungry for pigeon eggs.
Alice eats another part of the mushroom and shrinks down to a normal height. She wanders until she
comes across the house of the Duchess. She enters and finds the Duchess, who is nursing a
squealing baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Cook who tosses massive amounts of
pepper into a cauldron of soup. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice and then departs to prepare
for a croquet game with the Queen. As she leaves, the Duchess hands Alice the baby, which Alice
discovers is a pig. Alice lets the pig go and reenters the forest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat
again. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice
herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the March Hares house and fades away to nothing but
a floating grin.
Alice travels to the March Hares house to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse
having tea together. Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns
that they have wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea-time. After a final discourtesy, Alice
leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a tree with a door in its side, and travels through it
to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and
enter the garden.
After saving several gardeners from the temper of the Queen of Hearts, Alice joins the Queen in a
strange game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are live flamingos and
hedgehogs, and the Queen tears about, frantically calling for the other players executions. Amidst
this madness, Alice bumps into the Cheshire Cat again, who asks her how she is doing. The King of
Hearts interrupts their conversation and attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently
dismisses the King. The King takes offense and arranges for the Cheshire Cats execution, but since
the Cheshire Cat is now only a head floating in midair, no one can agree on how to behead it.
The Duchess approaches Alice and attempts to befriend her, but the Duchess makes Alice feel
uneasy. The Queen of Hearts chases the Duchess off and tells Alice that she must visit the Mock

Lewis Carroll
Turtle to hear his story. The Queen of Hearts sends Alice with the Gryphon as her escort to meet the
Mock Turtle. Alice shares her strange experiences with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, who listen
sympathetically and comment on the strangeness of her adventures. After listening to the Mock
Turtles story, they hear an announcement that a trial is about to begin, and the Gryphon brings Alice
back to the croquet ground.
The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the Queens tarts. The King of Hearts leads the
proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the
Cook both give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense. The White Rabbit, acting as a
herald, calls Alice to the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his line of questioning, but takes
encouragement when the White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a letter written by the
Knave. The letter turns out to be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission of guilt on the
part of the Knave. Alice believes the note to be nonsense and protests the Kings interpretation. The
Queen becomes furious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge size and
knocks over the Queens army of playing cards.
All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her sisters lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her
sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her sister ponders Alices adventures.
Character List
Alice - The seven-year-old protagonist of the story. Alice believes that the world is orderly and
stable, and she has an insatiable curiosity about her surroundings. Wonderland challenges and
frustrates her perceptions of the world.
Read an in-depth analysis of Alice.
The White Rabbit - The frantic, harried Wonderland creature that originally leads Alice to
Wonderland. The White Rabbit is figure of some importance, but he is manic, timid, and occasionally
aggressive.
The Queen of Hearts - The ruler of Wonderland. The Queen is severe and domineering, continually
screaming for her subjects to be beheaded.
Read an in-depth analysis of The Queen of Hearts.

Lewis Carroll
The King of Hearts - The coruler of Wonderland. The King is ineffectual and generally unlikeable,
but lacks the Queens ruthlessness and undoes her orders of execution.
The Cheshire Cat - A perpetually grinning cat who appears and disappears at will. The Cheshire
Cat displays a detached, clearheaded logic and explains Wonderlands madness to Alice.
Read an in-depth analysis of The Cheshire Cat.
The Duchess - The Queens uncommonly ugly cousin. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice at
first, but later treats her so affectionately that her advances feel threatening.
The Caterpillar - A Wonderland creature. The Caterpillar sits on a mushroom, smokes a hookah,
and treats Alice with contempt. He directs Alice to the magic mushroom that allows her to shrink and
grow.
The Mad Hatter - A small, impolite hatter who lives in perpetual tea-time. The Mad Hatter enjoys
frustrating Alice.
The March Hare - The Mad Hatters tea-time companion. The March Hare takes great pleasure in
frustrating Alice.
The Dormouse - The Mad Hatter and March Hares companion. The Dormouse sits at the tea table
and drifts in and out of sleep.
The Gryphon - A servant to the Queen who befriends Alice. The Gryphon escorts Alice to see the
Mock Turtle.
The Mock Turtle - A turtle with the head of a calf. The Mock Turtle is friendly to Alice but is
exceedingly sentimental and self-absorbed.
Alices sister - The only character whom Alice interacts with outside of Wonderland. Alices sister
daydreams about Alices adventures as the story closes.
The Knave of Hearts - An attendant to the King and Queen. The Knave has been accused of
stealing the Queens tarts.
The Mouse - The first Wonderland creature that Alice encounters. The Mouse is initially frightened
of Alice and her talk about her pet cat, and eventually tells the story of Fury and the Mouse that
foreshadows the Knave of Hearts trial.

Lewis Carroll
The Dodo - A Wonderland creature. The Dodo tends to use big words, and others accuse him of not
knowing their meanings. He proposes that the animals participate in a Caucus race.
The Duck, the Lory, and the Eaglet - Wonderland creatures who participate in the Caucus race.
The Cook - The Duchesss cook, who causes everyone to sneeze with the amount of pepper she
uses in her cooking. The Cook is ill-tempered, throwing objects at the Duchess and refusing to give
evidence at the trial.
The Pigeon - A Wonderland creature who believes Alice is a serpent. The pigeon is sulky and angry
and thinks Alice is after her eggs.
Two, Five, and Seven - The playing-card gardeners. Two, Five, and Seven are fearful and
fumbling, especially in the presence of the Queen.
Bill - A lizard who first appears as a servant of the White Rabbit and later as a juror at the trial. Bill is
stupid and ineffectual.
The Frog-Footman - The Duchesss footman. The Frog-footman is stupid and accustomed to the
fact that nothing makes sense in Wonderland.
Analysis of Major Characters
Alice
Alice is a sensible prepubescent girl from a wealthy English family who finds herself in a strange
world ruled by imagination and fantasy. Alice feels comfortable with her identity and has a strong
sense that her environment is comprised of clear, logical, and consistent rules and features. Alices
familiarity with the world has led one critic to describe her as a disembodied intellect. Alice displays
great curiosity and attempts to fit her diverse experiences into a clear understanding of the world.
Alice approaches Wonderland as an anthropologist, but maintains a strong sense of noblesse oblige
that comes with her class status. She has confidence in her social position, education, and the
Victorian virtue of good manners. Alice has a feeling of entitlement, particularly when comparing
herself to Mabel, whom she declares has a poky little house, and no toys. Additionally, she flaunts

Lewis Carroll
her limited information base with anyone who will listen and becomes increasingly obsessed with the
importance of good manners as she deals with the rude creatures of Wonderland. Alice maintains a
superior attitude and behaves with solicitous indulgence toward those she believes are less
privileged.
The tension of Alices Adventures in Wonderland emerges when Alices fixed perspective of the
world comes into contact with the mad, illogical world of Wonderland. Alices fixed sense of order
clashes with the madness she finds in Wonderland. The White Rabbit challenges her perceptions of
class when he mistakes her for a servant, while the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Pigeon challenge
Alices notions of urbane intelligence with an unfamiliar logic that only makes sense within the
context of Wonderland. Most significantly, Wonderland challenges her perceptions of good manners
by constantly assaulting her with dismissive rudeness. Alices fundamental beliefs face challenges at
every turn, and as a result Alice suffers an identity crisis. She persists in her way of life as she
perceives her sense of order collapsing all around her. Alice must choose between retaining her
notions of order and assimilating into Wonderlands nonsensical rules.
The Cheshire Cat

The Cheshire Cat is unique among Wonderland creatures. Threatened by no one, it maintains a
cool, grinning outsider status. The Cheshire Cat has insight into the workings of Wonderland as a
whole. Its calm explanation to Alice that to be in Wonderland is to be mad reveals a number of
points that do not occur to Alice on her own. First, the Cheshire Cat points out that Wonderland as a
place has a stronger cumulative effect than any of its citizens. Wonderland is ruled by nonsense, and
as a result, Alices normal behavior becomes inconsistent with its operating principles, so Alice
herself becomes mad in the context of Wonderland. Certainly, Alices burning curiosity to absorb
everything she sees in Wonderland sets her apart from the other Wonderland creatures, making her
seem mad in comparison.
The Queen of Hearts

As the ruler of Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is the character that Alice must inevitably face to
figure out the puzzle of Wonderland. In a sense, the Queen of Hearts is literally the heart of Alices
conflict. Unlike many of the other characters in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is not as
concerned with nonsense and perversions of logic as she is with absolute rule and execution. In
Wonderland, she is a singular force of fear who even dominates the King of Hearts. In the Queens

Lewis Carroll
presence, Alice finally gets a taste of true fear, even though she understands that the Queen of
Hearts is merely a playing card. The Gryphon later informs Alice that the Queen never actually
executes anyone she sentences to death, which reinforces the fact that the Queen of Heartss power
lies in her rhetoric. The Queen becomes representative of the idea that Wonderland is devoid of
substance.
Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Tragic and Inevitable Loss of Childhood Innocence

Throughout the course of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Alice goes through a variety of absurd
physical changes. The discomfort she feels at never being the right size acts as a symbol for the
changes that occur during puberty. Alice finds these changes to be traumatic, and feels discomfort,
frustration, and sadness when she goes through them. She struggles to maintain a comfortable
physical size. In Chapter 1, she becomes upset when she keeps finding herself too big or too small
to enter the garden. In Chapter 5, she loses control over specific body parts when her neck grows to
an absurd length. These constant fluctuations represent the way a child may feel as her body grows
and changes during puberty.
Life as a Meaningless Puzzle

In Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Alice encounters a series of puzzles that seem to have no clear
solutions, which imitates the ways that life frustrates expectations. Alice expects that the situations
she encounters will make a certain kind of sense, but they repeatedly frustrate her ability to figure
out Wonderland. Alice tries to understand the Caucus race, solve the Mad Hatters riddle, and
understand the Queens ridiculous croquet game, but to no avail. In every instance, the riddles and
challenges presented to Alice have no purpose or answer. Even though Lewis Carroll was a logician,
in Alices Adventures in Wonderland he makes a farce out of jokes, riddles, and games of logic. Alice
learns that she cannot expect to find logic or meaning in the situations that she encounters, even
when they appear to be problems, riddles, or games that would normally have solutions that Alice

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would be able to figure out. Carroll makes a broader point about the ways that life frustrates
expectations and resists interpretation, even when problems seem familiar or solvable.
Death as a Constant and Underlying Menace

Alice continually finds herself in situations in which she risks death, and while these threats never
materialize, they suggest that death lurks just behind the ridiculous events of Alices Adventures in
Wonderland as a present and possible outcome. Death appears in Chapter 1, when the narrator
mentions that Alice would say nothing of falling off of her own house, since it would likely kill her.
Alice takes risks that could possibly kill her, but she never considers death as a possible outcome.
Over time, she starts to realize that her experiences in Wonderland are far more threatening than
they appear to be. As the Queen screams Off with its head! she understands that Wonderland may
not merely be a ridiculous realm where expectations are repeatedly frustrated. Death may be a real
threat, and Alice starts to understand that the risks she faces may not be ridiculous and absurd after
all.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the
texts major themes.
Dream
Alices Adventures in Wonderland takes place in Alices dream, so that the characters and
phenomena of the real world mix with elements of Alices unconscious state. The dream motif
explains the abundance of nonsensical and disparate events in the story. As in a dream, the
narrative follows the dreamer as she encounters various episodes in which she attempts to interpret
her experiences in relationship to herself and her world. Though Alices experiences lend themselves
to meaningful observations, they resist a singular and coherent interpretation.
Subversion
Alice quickly discovers during her travels that the only reliable aspect of Wonderland that she can
count on is that it will frustrate her expectations and challenge her understanding of the natural order
of the world. In Wonderland, Alice finds that her lessons no longer mean what she thought, as she
botches her multiplication tables and incorrectly recites poems she had memorized while in
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Wonderland. Even Alices physical dimensions become warped as she grows and shrinks erratically
throughout the story. Wonderland frustrates Alices desires to fit her experiences in a logical
framework where she can make sense of the relationship between cause and effect.
Language
Carroll plays with linguistic conventions in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, making use of puns
and playing on multiple meanings of words throughout the text. Carroll invents words and
expressions and develops new meanings for words. Alices exclamation Curious and curiouser!
suggests that both her surroundings and the language she uses to describe them expand beyond
expectation and convention. Anything is possible in Wonderland, and Carrolls manipulation of
language reflects this sense of unlimited possibility.
Curious, Nonsense, and Confusing
Alice uses these words throughout her journey to describe phenomena she has trouble explaining.
Though the words are generally interchangeable, she usually assigns curious and confusingto
experiences or encounters that she tolerates. She endures is the experiences that are curious or
confusing, hoping to gain a clearer picture of how that individual or experience functions in the world.
When Alice declares something to be nonsense, as she does with the trial in Chapter 12, she rejects
or criticizes the experience or encounter.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Garden
Nearly every object in Alices Adventures in Wonderland functions as a symbol, but nothing clearly
represents one particular thing. The symbolic resonances of Wonderland objects are generally
contained to the individual episode in which they appear. Often the symbols work together to convey
a particular meaning. The garden may symbolize the Garden of Eden, an idyllic space of beauty and
innocence that Alice is not permitted to access. On a more abstract level, the garden may simply
represent the experience of desire, in that Alice focuses her energy and emotion on trying to attain it.
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The two symbolic meanings work together to underscore Alices desire to hold onto her feelings of
childlike innocence that she must relinquish as she matures.
The Caterpillars Mushroom

Like the garden, the Caterpillars mushroom also has multiple symbolic meanings. Some readers
and critics view the Caterpillar as a sexual threat, its phallic shape a symbol of sexual virility. The
Caterpillars mushroom connects to this symbolic meaning. Alice must master the properties of the
mushroom to gain control over her fluctuating size, which represents the bodily frustrations that
accompany puberty. Others view the mushroom as a psychedelic hallucinogen that compounds
Alices surreal and distorted perception of Wonderland.
Summary & Analysis
Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Summary
Alice sits drowsily by a riverbank, bored by the book her older sister reads to her. Out of nowhere, a
White Rabbit runs past her, fretting that he will be late. The Rabbit pulls a watch out of his waistcoat
pocket and runs across the field and down a hole. Alice impulsively follows the Rabbit and tumbles
down the deep hole that resembles a well, falling slowly for a long time. As she floats down, she
notices that the sides of the well are covered with cupboards and shelves. She plucks a marmalade
jar from one of the shelves. The jar is empty, so Alice sets it down on another shelf. With nothing
else to do, she speaks aloud to herself, wondering how far she has fallen and if she might fall right
through to the other side of the earth. She continues to speak aloud, daydreaming about her cat
Dinah. In the midst of imagining a conversation the two of them might have, she abruptly lands.
Unhurt, Alice gets up and catches sight of the White Rabbit as he vanishes around a corner.
Alice approaches a long corridor lined by doors. The doors are all locked, so Alice tests them with a
key that she finds on a glass table. After searching around, Alice discovers a small door behind a
curtain. She tests the key again and finds that it opens up to a passage and a garden. Since the
door is much too small for Alice to squeeze through, she ventures back to the table with the hope
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that she might find something there that would help her. A bottle marked DRINK ME sits on the
table. Alice drinks the contents of the bottle after inspecting it to be sure it does not contain poison.
Alice immediately shrinks, and though she can now fit through the door, she realizes she has left the
key on the tabletop high above her. She alternately cries and scolds herself for crying before
catching sight of a small cake with the words EAT ME underneath the table. Alice eats the cake
with the hope that it will change her size, but becomes disappointed when nothing happens.
Analysis
Alices Adventures in Wonderland begins with Alice dozing off as her sister reads to her, anticipating
the strange and nonsensical events that occur throughout the book. As her sister reads, Alice nods
off into a dream-like state in which she seems to catch sight of a fully dressed white rabbit capable of
speaking English. Even before she enters Wonderland, she experiences phenomena that depart
from the conventional rules of the real world. The plunge into the rabbit hole represents a plunge into
deep sleep. Her dreams create a fully formed world that constantly shifts and transforms with its own
unique logic. The slow fall imitates the shift from dozing off to deep sleep, beginning with Alices idle
daydreaming and ending with her firmly placed in her dream world. Alice slowly acclimates to the
dream world but does not let go of the established logic of the waking world. She marvels that after
this fall, she would think nothing of falling off of the top of her house, much less down the stairs,
even though the narrator reminds us that both falls would still likely kill her.
Alice runs away from the Victorian world of her sister because she feels unfulfilled, but she quickly
discovers that Wonderland will not fulfill any of her desires. Wonderland thwarts her expectations at
every turn. The Rabbit represents this motif of frustrated desire. His antics inspire Alice to follow him
down the hole and into Wonderland, but he constantly stays one step ahead of her. Led on by
curiosity, Alice follows the elusive rabbit even though she does not know what she will do once she
catches him. She pursues him out of pure curiosity but believes that catching him will give her some
new knowledge or satisfaction. Even when the outcome is unknown, the act of chasing implies that a
desired goal exists.
Alice cannot enter the garden even though she wants to, and her desire to enter the garden
represents the feelings of nostalgia that accompany growing up. Carroll dramatizes the frustrations
that occur with growing older as Alice finds herself either too small or too large to fit through the
passageway into the garden. After drinking the potion, Alice shrinks and cannot reach the key on the
table. The helplessness that comes with her exaggeratedly small size represents the feelings of
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insignificance of childhood. The growth spurt caused by the cake in Chapter 2 represents the
awkward bodily transformations that come with puberty. Alices growth allows her the means to fulfill
her destiny but literally reminds her that she is growing away from the pleasures of childhood. The
idealized garden is now off limits to Alice, who can no more fit through the passageway than an
infant could travel back to the safety and security of the womb.
Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears
Summary
After finishing the cake that says EAT ME, Alice grows to nine feet tall and finds that she can barely
get an eye down to the doorway. She begins to cry, and her massive tears form a sizable pool at her
feet. The White Rabbit reappears and mutters to himself about keeping a Duchess waiting. Alice
attempts to speak to him, but he scuttles away, leaving behind his gloves and fan. Alice picks up the
fan and begins fanning herself. She muses on the possibility that she may not be Alice but someone
else entirely. To determine if she knows all that Alice is supposed to know, she starts to recite her
lessons. She finds that she gets the recitations wrong and considers the idea that she may not be
Alice, but possibly a girl she knows named Mabel. Since Mabel knows very little, it makes sense to
Alice that her confusion over the lessons must indicate that she has somehow become Mabel. If she
is Mabel, there is no reason for her to find her way out of the well to rejoin society. Even though
shes confused about her identity, she knows that she must find a way out of the well and back to the
world aboveground.
Alice realizes that the fanning motion causes her to shrink, so she fans herself down to a size that
will allow her to fit through the door. Once again, Alice has forgotten the key, but before she can
become upset, she tumbles into a pool of salt water. She thinks she has fallen into the sea, but
quickly realizes that she is swimming in her own giant tears. As she swims, she comes across a
Mouse, whom she asks for help. The Mouse doesnt understand Alice, so she tries to speak French
to him. She recites a line from her French lessons, inquiring after a cat. At the mention of the cat, the
Mouse leaps with fright. Alice apologizes but then absentmindedly chatters about her cat Dinah. The
Mouse becomes offended, so she changes the subject to dogs. The talk of dogs only frightens the
Mouse more, and he begins to swim away. Alice promises to stop talking about cats and dogs if the
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Mouse will come back. The Mouse swims back to Alice, telling her to follow it to shore, where he will
tell his history to explain his hatred for cats and dogs. Now accompanied by several other animals
that have fallen into the pool, including a Duck, a Dodo, a Lory, and an Eaglet, Alice and the Mouse
swim to shore.
Analysis
Alice becomes confused about her identity as her size changes, mirroring the confusion that occurs
during the transition from childhood to adulthood. The reality that she is too large to fit into the
garden produces confusion over who she is, which Alice responds to with bouts of crying and selfreproach. Unable to accept the changes she is experiencing, she questions her own identity. Since
she cannot remember her own lessons, she believes that she must not be Alice anymore. At first,
Alice assumes that she may in fact be someone she knows. The comparisons she draws between
herself and Mabel show her class-consciousness, as well as her ties to the material trappings of the
Victorian world. Though she tries to use chains of reasoning suited to the aboveground world, the
paradox of Wonderland is that she must accept the logic of nonsense or she will go mad with
contradiction.
Alice tries to deal with her predicament reasonably, but the episode in the pool of tears illustrates
how easily Wonderland distracts her from reason and causes her to react emotionally. The sea of
tears is like a punishment for Alices giving in to her own emotions. Alice vacillates between crying
and scolding herself, going back and forth between emotion and reason. However, as she swims,
she doesnt notice that the landscape has transformed around her. The great hall has become an
ocean, while the floor has become a dry shore. Instead of reacting to her predicament by
rationalizing the problem or starting to cry, she distracts herself by trying to figure out how to address
the Mouse. Alice has started to react with total detachment to the absurd situations in which she
finds herself. As she proceeds throughout her journeys, she will continue to encounter problems that
cause her to react with extremes of emotion or reason. However, in this scene, she has begun to
take the absurdities of Wonderland at face value, allowing herself to become distracted so that she
ignores the real problem at hand.
Chapter 3: A Caucus Race and a Long Tale
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Summary
Alice and the group of animals land on the bank and focus on getting dry. Alice begins arguing with
the Lory, but the Mouse interjects and commands everyone to sit down and listen to a history lesson.
The Mouse reasons that the story of William the Conqueror would be best since this story is the
driest thing it knows. After completing the story, Alice and the other animals are still wet, prompting
the Dodo to suggest a Caucus race. The Dodo marks out a course, sets everyone in place, and yells
go. The animals run around haphazardly until the Dodo declares half an hour later that the race is
over. The Dodo says that all of them have won the Caucus race and elects Alice to confer prizes.
Alice passes mints to all the animals, leaving herself without a prize. Finding a thimble, she hands it
to the Dodo, who in turn presents it back to her as her prize. Alice solemnly accepts the thimble but
cannot help feeling that the gesture is absurd.
After eating their mints, the Mouse declares that it will tell its tale. Alice confuses tale and tail, and
focuses on the Mouses appendage as it talks about Fury prosecuting a mouse in court. The Mouse
chides Alice for not paying attention, and though Alice apologizes, the two misunderstand each other
and the Mouse leaves in a huff. The other animals lament the Mouses absence, and Alice mentions
that she wishes her cat Dinah were there to bring the Mouse back. Alice continues to tell the animals
that Dinah eats birds, which causes all of the animals to scatter in fear. Alone again, Alice begins to
cry until she hears the distant pattering of footsteps.
Analysis
The Caucus race provides a thinly veiled critique of the absurdity of English politics at the turn of the
century while making a larger comment about the general meaninglessness of life. The animals run
randomly in circles, progress nowhere, and arbitrarily adjourn without any clear conclusion. Carroll
implies that politicians do the same, behaving with a great deal of pomp and circumstance without
actually accomplishing anything. On a broader scale, the caucus race seems to imply that there may
not be a clear purpose and meaning to life itself. Though the race accomplishes the intended
purpose of getting everyone dry, they do not follow a clear path or understand what they are doing
as they do it. This may be a broader commentary on the fact that life takes unexpected and
sometimes arbitrary twists and turns but ultimately ends up in the right place even though there may
not be a clear purpose.
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There is a great deal of confusion about words and their meanings in this chapter, showing the ways
that Wonderland distorts language. When Alice mistakes the Mouses tale for its tail, visualizing
the former in the shape of the latter, her inability to understand the inhabitants of Wonderland
emerges. The purpose of language is to convey meaning, which requires words to have fixed
definitions in order to consistently convey meaning. In Wonderland, language, as well as characters,
events, and terrains, change meaning and significance from moment to moment. Each aspect of
Wonderland has no lasting impact outside of the scene and the context in which it operates. As a
result, there are no consistent patterns of meaning that would create a system of logic in
Wonderland that might allow a visitor such as Alice to make sense of her surroundings. Alices verbal
miscues with the Mouse are one example of her inability to understand patterns of behavior and thus
establish any kind of expectation of what to anticipate in Wonderland.
Chapter 4: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
Summary
The White Rabbit approaches Alice, looking for his gloves and fan. Alice searches dutifully but
cannot find them. The White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid, Mary Ann, and commands her
to go to his house and fetch his things. Startled by the Rabbits demands, Alice obeys and soon finds
his house. As she walks, she thinks about how strange it is to take orders from animals and
imagines that her cat Dinah might start ordering her around when she gets back home. Inside of the
house, she finds the gloves and fan, as well as a little bottle labeled DRINK ME. Curious to find out
what the contents of the bottle will do, Alice drinks the liquid. Before she can finish, she begins
growing rapidly and can barely fit in the room. Her arm dangles from a window and her foot becomes
wedged in the chimney.
Alice decides that her adventures are like a fairy tale and imagines writing her own stories once she
grows up. Given her new size, she reasons that perhaps she has in fact grown up and will never
age. The White Rabbit interrupts her train of thought by calling for his fan and gloves. He tries to
storm into the house, but Alices giant arm prevents the door from opening. The Rabbit tries to climb
through the window, but Alice bats him away with her giant hand. The Rabbit calls out for his servant,
Pat, and the two begin to plot a way to deal with Alice when she swats them away again. The Rabbit
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and Pat recruit another servant, a lizard named Bill, to climb down the chimney, but Alice launches
him into the air with her foot. A crowd gathered outside calls to burn down the house. Alice threatens
to send Dinah to get them and they begin hurling pebbles through the window at her face. The
pebbles transform into cakes, and reasoning that the cakes might cause her to become smaller,
Alice eats one and shrinks. She leaves the house and encounters a mob of animals ready to rush
her.
Alice flees and heads into a wood where she thinks about how she might return to her normal size
and find the garden. A sharp bark causes her to look up at an enormous puppy standing over her.
Afraid it might be hungry, Alice tires it out by teasing it with a stick. She then sets off, wondering what
she might eat or drink to return to her original height. She comes across a giant mushroom and
climbs to the top, discovering a blue caterpillar smoking a hookah with an air of indifference.
Analysis
The White Rabbits status as an authority figure forces Alice to adjust her perception that humans sit
at the top of the animal hierarchy. Alice wonders if her experiences in Wonderland will affect the way
she conducts herself when she gets back home, since she imagines that she will have to start taking
orders from her cat Dinah. Alice accepts the inversion of the natural order with the same faith that
she might accept new information in her normal day-to-day life. Wonderland breaks down Alices
beliefs about her identity and replaces those learned beliefs and understandings of the world with
Wonderlands nonsensical rules. Alice understands this identity displacement in terms of a fairy tale.
She states, When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now
here I am in the middle of one! Fiction has intruded on her own sense of reality, and she finds
herself unable to keep the two separate. Alice is no longer the Alice she knew at home and is not
altogether sure of who she is anymore.
Alice continues to have problems with her size, which exacerbates her confusion over her identity
and once again alludes to the painful transition from childhood to adulthood. In Chapter 1, her
changing size became a source of anxiety for Alice, revealing her desire to remain a child and avoid
the pressures of adulthood. In this chapter, she identifies as a growing girl too large to be shut in by
forces that seek to constrict and repress her. The focus on physical space in Chapter 4 emphasizes
a childs emerging feelings of claustrophobia as he or she grows and changes. The house
represents domestic repression, an idea underscored by the fact that Alice enters it as a servant girl.
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When Alice literally outgrows the house, her body manifests her desire to transcend the boundaries
of her confined existence.
When Alice meets the puppy, she finally discovers a Wonderland creature that behaves in a way that
she expects. Unlike the other creatures Alice encounters in Wonderland, the puppy behaves the way
a puppy would in the real world. Alice isnt the only one who recognizes this aberration in the logic of
Wonderland. In a later chapter, the Cheshire Cat tries to prove to Alice that it is mad by comparing
itself to a dog, which it views as being quite normal. The fact that the dog is the only thing in
Wonderland that resembles Alices reality at home may be a function of the fact that Carroll hated
dogs. Carroll reveals his disdain for canines by giving the dog none of the magical qualities of the
other animals in Wonderland.
Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar
Summary
Alice comes across a Caterpillar that is resting on top of a giant mushroom and smoking a hookah
pipe. The two stare at each other in silence for a while before the Caterpillar asks Alice, Who are
you? Alice has trouble explaining who she is to the antagonistic and contemptuous Caterpillar.
Dejected, she turns to leave, but the Caterpillar calls her back to recite a poem. The Caterpillar duly
notes that she recites the poem incorrectly and goes on to ask what size she would like to be. Alice
states that being three inches tall is a wretched height, which insults the three-inch-tall Caterpillar.
The Caterpillar crawls away in a huff, but not before telling Alice that eating one side of the
mushroom will make her grow larger and eating the other side will make her grow smaller.
Alice tastes the right-hand portion of the mushroom and shrinks. She next tries part of the left-hand
portion of the mushroom, and her neck grows so long that her head is above the treetops. Realizing
she cannot get the other part of mushroom to her mouth, she attempts to reorient herself when a
Pigeon attacks her. The Pigeon has mistaken Alice for a serpent who wants to eat its eggs. Alice
assures the Pigeon that she is not a serpent, and the Pigeon skulks back to its nest, leaving Alice to
nibble at the two pieces of the mushroom until she returns to her original height. Back at her proper
size, Alice wanders around the forest looking for the garden when she encounters a four-foot-tall
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house. She decides to visit the house and eats the portion of the mushroom to reduce her size to
nine inches tall.
Analysis
When the Caterpillar asks Alice Who are you, she finds that she doesnt know who she is anymore.
The Caterpillar aggravates Alices uncertainty about her constantly changing size. The Caterpillar
also may represent the threat of sexuality, as suggested by its phallic shape. Alice recognizes this
threat when she calls attention to the Caterpillars impending bodily transformation, since caterpillars
reach sexual maturity in butterfly form. Though she seeks guidance and compassion from the
Caterpillar, she finds only further self doubt under its brusque scrutiny. Regardless, she defers to the
Caterpillars authority, just as she did with the White Rabbit in the previous chapter. Alices confusion
peaks when the Caterpillar seems to be able to read her thoughts, answering her unspoken question
just as if she had asked it aloud. Her identity is so confused now that her thoughts no longer seem
to be her own.
Alice has trouble reciting the poem Father William and finds that her inability to remember things
she knows well shows the effects of Wonderland on her brain. Though the Caterpillar is a denizen of
Wonderland, he has some familiarity with the poem that Alice recites, and he demonstrates his
knowledge by pointing out that she has it wrong from beginning to end. The poem Father William
(also known as The Old Mans Comforts), by Robert Southey, is a didactic poem about the
importance of living in moderation, and many Victorian children were required to memorize it. The
Caterpillar proposes that Alice recite the poem to gauge how much she has changed. Alices
mutilation of the poem occurs as a result of Wonderlands effect on her brain. The Caterpillars
contemptuous authoritarian presence compounds her flustered state.
The Pigeon accuses Alice of being a serpent, which causes her to doubt not only who she is but also
what she is. Estranged from her old self, Alice has trouble defending herself to the Pigeon. The
Pigeon reasons that since Alice exhibits key traits of a serpent, having a long neck and eating eggs,
she must in fact be a serpent. Alice becomes trapped in this logic so that she becomes identified by
a single action and feature. The Pigeon threatens Alices already shaken assumption of a stable
identity.
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Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper
Summary
From the wood, Alice sees a fish in footmans livery approach the house and knock on the door. A
similarly dressed frog answers the door and receives a letter inviting the Duchess to play croquet
with the Queen. After the Fish Footman leaves, Alice approaches the Frog Footman, who sits on the
ground staring stupidly up at the sky. Alice knocks at the door, but the Frog Footman explains that
now that she is outside, no one will answer her knock since the people inside are making too much
noise to hear her. He tells her he plans to sit there for days and seems unsurprised when the door
opens a crack and a plate flies out and grazes his nose. Annoyed with his idiotic manner, Alice
opens the door and finds herself in a kitchen. A Duchess nurses a baby, a grinning cat sits on the
hearth, and a Cook stands at the stove, dumping pepper into a cauldron of soup. The pepper causes
the Duchess and the baby to sneeze incessantly.
Alice inquires why the cat grins and learns from the Duchess that it is a Cheshire Cat. Wondering
aloud why a cat would grin at all, the Duchess insults Alice, telling her that she must not know very
much. Meanwhile, the Cook hurls objects randomly at the Duchess and the baby, including fire-irons,
saucepans, and plates. Alice tells the Cook to mind herself, and attempts to change the subject of
conversation by bringing up the earths axis. The Duchess mishears Alice, and thinking she is talking
about axes, spontaneously shouts, Chop off her head! The Duchess starts to sing a nasty lullaby to
the baby, roughly tussling it as she sings. Upon finishing, she flings the baby at Alice and hurries out
of the room to prepare for croquet with the Queen.
Alice takes the baby outside, only to discover that it is a pig. After she lets the pig toddle off, she
encounters the Cheshire Cat again, grinning broadly as it rests on the bough of a tree. After inquiring
of the Cheshire Cat where she might go next, he tells her that no matter where she goes she will end
up somewhere. The Cheshire Cat arbitrarily suggests she visit the Mad Hatter and the March Hare,
but warns her that they are both mad. When Alice responds that she does not want to be among
mad people, he tells her that all people are mad, and if she is in Wonderland, she must be mad too.
Alice attempts to press the point, but the Cheshire Cat changes the subject, telling Alice that it will
see her at the Queens croquet match later. The Cheshire Cat vanishes and reappears before fading
to nothing but a disembodied grin, leaving Alice to travel onward to the March Hares house. Upon
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discovering that the house is larger than she is, Alice consumes a portion of the Caterpillars
mushroom and grows to two feet tall.
Analysis
Chapter 6 derives humor from the fact that the inhabitants of Wonderland consider their environment
and actions to be completely normal. The Frog Footman reacts to the near miss of the flying plate
with complete nonchalance, talking on as if nothing had happened. The Frog Footman seems to
expect nothing less than total chaos. Alice attempts to fit the Frog Footmans behavior into a logical
structure, failing to understand that Wonderlands order is defined by chaos. She does not realize
how close she comes to the truth with the exclamation that the Frog Footmans belligerence is
enough to drive one crazy! As the Cheshire Cat later explains, Alice must be mad herself in order
to understand the nature of things in Wonderland.
Even though there seems to be a rigid social structure in Wonderland, the Frog Footman and the
Duchess reject normal social conventions and behave arbitrarily. The presence of a Duchess with a
Footman suggests a rigid social order, complete with codes of conduct. This hierarchy reminds Alice
of her own society, but their behavior destroys any traditional notion of social convention. The Frog
Footman is idiotic and argumentative, and the Duchess exhibits vile and violent behavior. Traditional
social codes are ignored, as the Frog Footman has no comprehension of time and thinks nothing of
plates flying at his face. The Duchess treats her baby rudely and aggressively, and would likely scoff
at the ways that Victorian women care for their babies. The Duchesss rhyme emphasizes the
rejection of social convention, drawing upon a Victorian poem by David Bates that recommends
gentle treatment of babies, a message that the Duchess completely ignores. Alice begins to accept
the rejection of tradition and social order when she discovers that the baby is in fact a pig,
considering that other children she knows from home might also do very well as pigs . . . if only one
knew the right way to change them. Despite the pun on change (to change a babys diaper, to
literally change a baby into a pig), Alice begins to accept the bizarre social behaviors of Wonderland.
The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that madness is the chief characteristic of the residents of
Wonderland, and that to be in Wonderland is to be mad. In order to exist at all in Wonderland, one
must accept its inherent irrationality. The Cheshire Cat reasons that in order to accept this
irrationality at all, one must be mad. Alices unflagging curiosity makes her mad in the Cheshire Cats
eyes, since it characterizes her unique and illogical approach to Wonderlands natives. The Cheshire
Cats use of the word mad puns on the word made, since everything in Wonderland is fabricated.
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Alices willingness to venture into her own dream means that she herself is similarly fabricated. The
Cheshire Cat understands that Wonderland and all of its inhabitants exists as a figment of Alices
dreaming imagination.
Chapter 7: A Mad Tea Party
Summary
Alice approaches a large table set under the tree outside the March Hares house and comes across
the Mad Hatter and the March Hare taking tea. They rest their elbows on a sleeping Dormouse who
sits between them. They tell Alice that there is no room for her at the table, but Alice sits anyway.
The March Hare offers Alice wine, but there is none. Alice tells the March Hare that his conduct is
uncivil, to which he rejoins that it was uncivil of her to sit down without being invited. The Mad Hatter
enters the conversation, opining that Alices hair wants cutting. Alice admonishes his rudeness, but
he ignores her scolding and responds with a riddle: Why is a raven like a writing desk? Alice
attempts to answer the riddle, which begins a big argument about semantics. After their argument,
the tea party sits in silence until the Mad Hatter asks the March Hare the time. When he discovers
that the March Hares watch, which measures the day of the month, is broken, the Mad Hatter
becomes angry. He blames the March Hare for getting crumbs on the watch when the March Hare
was spreading butter on it. The March Hare sullenly dips the watch in his tea, dejectedly remarking
that It was the best butter.
Alice gives up on the riddle and becomes angry with the Mad Hatter when she discovers that he
doesnt know the answer either. She tells him he should not waste time asking riddles that have no
answers. The Mad Hatter calmly explains that Time is a him, not an it. He goes on to recount how
Time has been upset ever since the Queen of Hearts said the Mad Hatter was murdering time
while he performed a song badly. Since then, Time has stayed fixed at six oclock, which means that
they exist in perpetual tea-time. Bored with this line of conversation, the March Hare states that he
would like to hear a story, so they wake up the Dormouse. The Dormouse tells a story about three
sisters who live in a treacle-well, eating and drawing treacle. Confused by the story, Alice interjects
with so many questions that the Dormouse becomes insulted. Alice continues to ask questions until
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the Mad Hatter insults her and she storms off in disgust. As she walks, she looks back at the Mad
Hatter and the March Hare as they attempt to stuff the Dormouse into a teapot.
In the wood, Alice encounters a tree with a door in it. She enters the door and finds herself back in
the great hall. Alice goes back to the table with the key and uses the mushroom to grow to a size
that she can reach the key, then to shrink back to the size that she can fit through the door. She
goes through the door and at last arrives at the passageway to the garden.
Analysis
When Alice discovers that Time is a person and not merely an abstract concept, she realizes that not
only are social conventions inverted, but the very ordering principles of the universe are turned
upside down. Not even time is reliable, as Alice learns that Time is not an abstract it but a specific
him. An unruly, subjective personality replaces the indifferent mechanical precision associated with
the concept of time. Time can punish those who have offended it, and Time has in fact punished the
Mad Hatter by stopping still at six oclock, trapping the Mad Hatter and March Hare in a perpetual
teatime. The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse must carry out an endless string of
pointless conversations, which may reflect a childs perception of what an actual English teatime was
really like. Alice must adjust her own perceptions of time, since the Mad Hatters watch indicates that
days are rushing by. However, the party has not moved past the month of March, the month during
which the March Hare goes mad.
Though the tea party challenges Alices understanding of the fundamental concept of time, the Mad
Hatters answerless riddle reaffirms Wonderlands unusual sense of order. The riddle seems to have
no answer and exists solely to perpetuate confusion and disorder. Some readers have suggested
that the riddle does in fact have an answer: Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both the subject of a Raven
and wrote on a physical writing desk. In Wonderland, chaos is the ruling principle, but a strange
sense of order still exists. Though riddles need not have answers, language must retain some kind
of logic. The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse point out to Alice that saying what she
means and meaning what she says are not the same thing. Alice has said that she cannot take
more tea because she has not had any yet. However, as the Mad Hatter points out, Alice can
indeed take more tea even though she has not had any, since its very easy to take more than
nothing. The language games at the tea party underscore the inconsistency of Wonderland, but also
imply that the ordering principles that govern Alices world are just as arbitrary.
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Chapter 8: The Queens Croquet Ground
Summary
Alice enters the garden and meets three gardeners in the shape of playing cards. The gardeners
Two, Five, and Seven bicker with each other as they paint the white roses on the rose trees red.
Upon noticing Alice, the gardeners explain that they have planted white rose trees by mistake and
must paint them red before the Queen of Hearts finds out. Just then, the Queen arrives, surrounded
by a great entourage of living playing cards. The gardeners scramble to their bellies to bow before
the Queen, who asks for Alices name with great severity. Alice answers the Queen graciously and
realizes she should not be afraid, as they are simply a pack of cards. The Queen asks Alice about
the trembling gardeners. Alice responds flippantly, prompting the Queen to call for Alices beheading
until the King calms her down. Upon discovering what the gardeners were doing, she orders their
decapitation and moves on. Alice saves the gardeners by hiding them in a flower pot and going off
with the Queen to play croquet. When she arrives at the croquet match, Alice finds out from the
White Rabbit that the Duchess is under sentence of execution for boxing the Queens ears.
Alice has a difficult time adjusting to the curious version of croquet played by the Queen. The
croquet ground is ridged, the croquet balls are live hedgehogs, and the mallets are live flamingos.
The various playing cards stand on all fours to form the arches that the balls are hit through. As she
plays, the Queen apoplectically shouts for everyones decapitation. Alice attempts to slip away from
the croquet match, but catches sight of the Cheshire Cats grin. The Cheshire Cat asks her how she
is getting on, and Alice begins to complain about the Queens unusual behavior. The King notices the
conversation and attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, but it refuses to give in to the Kings taunts. The
King becomes aggravated and calls for the Queen to remove the Cheshire Cat. The Queen
carelessly orders its decapitation, but the executioner and the King cannot agree on how to execute
the Cheshire Cat, who at this point is only a head floating in midair. They appeal to Alice, who
suggests that they get the advice of the Duchess, who owns the Cheshire Cat. By the time the
Duchess arrives, the Cheshire Cat has completely vanished.
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Analysis
When Alice reaches the garden, she hopes that it will fulfill her desires, but her experience in the
garden proves to be as frustrating as the rest of Wonderland. Alice has sought out the garden since
she first glimpsed it in chapter one. The garden occupies a central role not only in Alices quest but
also in Wonderland. The garden is the seat of power for the King and Queen of Hearts, and the use
of the card suit of hearts underscores the idea that the garden is the heart of Wonderland. Alice
quickly discovers that the garden provides no great experience of enlightenment. The rules and
practices of the garden are just as idiosyncratic and maddening as the rest of the locales she has
visited. The beds of bright flowers she pined for are nothing more than ridges and furrows, and the
roses are painted red rather than being naturally beautiful. The garden is not an idyllic place of calm
pastoral beauty, but an artificially constructed space that becomes a source of anxiety and fear for
Alice.
Alice has grown accustomed the unusual social hierarchy of Wonderland, but the discovery that an
inanimate object rules as Queen shakes Alices fragile understanding of her surroundings. Before
her arrival in the garden, Alice experienced an inverted hierarchy in which animals have a measure
of authority and treat her as an inferior. Alice has become accustomed to following the orders of the
likes of the White Rabbit. She discovers in the garden that all of these animals are the subjects of an
inanimate object, a Queen who is a playing card. In Alices world, inanimate objects register below
animals in the social hierarchy (assuming that inanimate objects would fit into a social hierarchy at
all). The Queen acts not only as a ruler, but as a ruthless authoritarian with a penchant for ordering
her subjects beheadings. She utilizes living creatures as objects, playing croquet using hedgehogs,
flamingos, and her playing-card subjects as equipment. Wonderland completely reverses the
conventions of the aboveground world, so that inanimate objects rule the land and use living
creatures as tools.
Alice starts to realize that she may have more power in Wonderland than she realized. Once she
figures out that the Queen and her procession are merely a pack of cards, she demonstrates a
previously unseen courage. She talks to the Queen with great insolence, attacking the illusion of
Wonderlands power. Though she stands up for herself, she doesnt yet attempt to assert control
over the Queen. However, the fact that the gardeners, the king, and the executioner have deferred to
Alice and asked her for help in mediating conflict indicates that they believe she has some measure
of authority. Ultimately, Alice only has to wake up to destroy Wonderland and all of its inhabitants.
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However, she remains uneasy as she plays croquet with the Queen, since a dispute might bring an
early end to her dream and prohibit Alice from ever figuring out the point of Wonderland.
Chapter 9: The Mock Turtles Story
Summary
After the disappearance of the Cheshire Cat, the croquet game starts up again and the Duchess
takes Alices arm. The two start to walk, and Alice becomes uncomfortable that the Duchess holds
her so close. Alice thinks that the Duchess is behaving pleasantly because there isnt any pepper
present. The two walk and talk, and the Duchess takes every opportunity to explain various moral
lessons to Alice. The Duchess attempts to put her hand around Alices waist, but Alice convinces her
not to, telling her that the flamingo croquet mallet might bite. They run into the Queen, who sternly
orders the Duchess off and asks Alice to resume the croquet game.
In little time, the Queen narrows the croquet game down to Alice, the King, and herself. All of the
other players have been sent off for beheadings. With no soldiers remaining to act as arches, the
Queen concludes the game and decides that Alice should visit the Mock Turtle. While the King
pardons the condemned croquet players, the Queen brings Alice to the Gryphon, who leads her to
the Mock Turtle. En route, the Gryphon explains to Alice that the Queen never actually executes
anyone. Alice meets the Mock Turtle and immediately becomes concerned since he looks so sad.
The Gryphon shows no sympathy for the Mock Turtle, explaining to Alice that he only fancies himself
as being sad.
Amid constant sobbing, the Mock Turtle begins his tale by explaining that he used to be a real turtle.
He went to sea school every day, and his master was an old turtle named Tortoise. Alice interrupts,
asking why the teacher would go by the name of Tortoise if he wasnt a tortoise. The Mock Turtle
chastises her, explaining that he was so named because he taught us. He goes on to talk about his
education, which he considers to be the finest available. He studied a variety of unusual subjects,
including Reeling and Writing, as well as Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Alice
inquires about the length of the lessons, and the Mock Turtle says that they became shorter with
each passing day. Alice finds this puzzling, but the Mock Turtle explains that they were called
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lessons because they lessen. When Alice asks what happened when there was no time left for
lessons, the Gryphon changes the subject to games.
Analysis
The Duchess tries to find a moral in everything in much the same way that Alice tries to understand
her environment in terms of cause and effect. The Duchess remarks that everythings got a moral, if
only you can find it. Her statement resonates with Alices understanding that everything she
encounters should result in a lesson of some kind. Alice fails to recognize that her preoccupation
with rules resembles the Duchesss preoccupation with morals. Her inability to see this parallel
shows that she has not reached a level of self-awareness that will allow her to understand the power
that she is capable of wielding over Wonderland.
Carroll uses the character of the Duchess to condemn the self-righteous moralizing of Victorian
England. The Duchesss relentless discussion of morals prevents Alice from having private space for
her own thoughts. The Duchess seems to be corrupting Alice, and her physical advances have
sexual overtones. The romantic overtures are subtle at first, but the proposal of an experiment to
wrap her arm around Alices waist seems ominous and threatening, especially given the Duchesss
morals about love. The Duchess comes across as a sexual predator who makes Alice feel both
uncomfortable and worried. Although one critic writes that this scene suggests Carrolls own fear
of being seduced by a middle-aged woman, it is more likely that Carroll meant to denounce adult
didacticism and the feelings of intrusion and threat it inspires in children.
The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle are the first inhabitants of Wonderland that Alice can comfortably
relate to, but she finds she cannot escape the nonsense logic that dominates their behavior. The
Gryphon and Mock Turtle speak directly and have peaceable manners. They become the closest
thing to friends that Alice has encountered thus far on her travels. The Gryphon chuckles at the
Queen and deflates her authority by explaining that she never actually goes through with the
executions she orders. Alice finds comfort in the fact that her two new companions are able to step
back and critically observe the unusual aspects of Wonderland. Additionally, the Gryphon and Mock
Turtle have had lives that at least bear some resemblance to Alices. The description of sea school
reminds Alice of her own education, even though the subjects studied there are puns on the type of
studies Alice might have pursued in school. However, the Gryphon and Mock Turtle inevitably begin
speaking nonsense. Alice finds herself at an impasse when they fail to address the question about
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Lewis Carroll
what happens when the lessons lessen to nothing. Though she has found creatures she feels
comfortable with, she cannot understand them no matter how hard she tries.
Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille
Summary
The Mock Turtle continues to sigh and sob and finally asks Alice if she has ever been introduced to a
lobster. Alice almost volunteers that she once tasted one, but checks herself and simply says no.
The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon describe the Lobster-Quadrille, a dance where all of the sea
animals (except the jellyfish) partner up with the lobsters, advance from the seashore and throw the
lobsters out to sea. The Mock Turtle and Gryphon decide to demonstrate the first figure of the
Lobster-Quadrille for Alice, even though they dont have any lobsters. As they dance, the Mock Turtle
sings a tune about a whiting and a snail. After they finish the dance, Alice asks about the whiting,
holding back her impulse to mention that she has also tasted whiting. The Gryphon explains to Alice
that despite her misconception, whiting does not have crumbs and is named a whiting because it
shines the sea animals shoes. Noting that in the song, the porpoise steps on the whitings tail, Alice
says that had she been in the whitings place she would have left the porpoise out of the dance. The
Mock Turtle explains to Alice that it is unwise for a fish to go anywhere without a porpoise (punning
on purpose).
The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle ask Alice to recount her adventures, and Alice relates her travels
in Wonderland, getting as far as her encounter with the Caterpillar before they interrupt her. They
find it curious that Alice botched the words to Father William, and they order her to recite the
poem Tis the voice of the sluggard. Alice messes up the words of this poem, too, which greatly
befuddles the Mock Turtle, who wants explanations of the nonsensical verse that results. The
Gryphon recommends that she stop reciting. He offers to show her the Lobster-Quadrille again or
hear a song by the Mock Turtle. Alice requests the song and the Mock Turtle sings Turtle Soup. As
the Mock Turtle finishes the song, the Gryphon hears the cry The trials beginning! and whisks Alice
away.
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Lewis Carroll
Analysis
Though the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon initially seem to sympathize with Alice, she soon learns
that they do not understand her plight at all. When she first begins talking to them, they seem to be
the only creatures in Wonderland that show interest in her bizarre adventures. By using words such
as curious, nonsense, confusing, and even dreadful, they align themselves with Alices
attitudes about the strange situations and creatures she has encountered. They seem to see things
the way that Alice does and sympathize with her frustration at Wonderlands backward logic. Alice
soon discovers that their feelings are inauthentic. The Gryphon is too detached to identify with Alice,
while the Mock Turtle is so sentimental that Alice cannot believe that his feelings are genuine.
Though the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle are unable to relate to Alice, they break the pattern of
antagonism that she has experienced thus far in her interactions with the residents of Wonderland.
Up to this point, Alice has met creatures that behave contemptuously toward her. Regardless of
whether or not their behavior is genuine or insincere, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon deviate from
the rude belligerence that Alice has come to expect from her encounters. They do not argue with
each other or with Alice and make the effort to sympathize and connect with Alice. Their behavior
breaks a pattern that Alice has become accustomed to, revealing that Wonderland will frustrate
every expectation.
Chapter 11: Who Stole the Tarts?
Summary
Alice arrives in the courtroom and finds the King and Queen of Hearts on their thrones, surrounded
by a large crowd of animals and the whole deck of cards. The Knave lies chained before them. Alice
surveys the room and takes great pleasure in identifying the various features of a court of law that
she has read about. Alice notices that all of the jurors are writing down their own names, which the
Gryphon explains that they all must do lest they forget their names before the trials end. Alice calls
the jurors stupid things, and the jurors immediately write this down. She snatches a squeaking
pencil out of the hand of the juror Bill, last seen as the servant of the White Rabbit, and he promptly
begins writing with his finger.
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Lewis Carroll
The White Rabbit, serving the court as a herald, reads the accusation that the Knave of Hearts has
stolen the Queens tarts. The Mad Hatter comes forth as the first witness, bearing a teacup and a
piece of bread and butter. The King bids the Hatter remove his hat, but the Hatter refuses, explaining
that he does not own the hats, he merely sells them. As Alice watches, she finds that she has started
to grow again. The Dormouse becomes upset by Alices growth and storms off to the other side of
the court to avoid being crushed by Alice. The Hatter delivers a bungled testimony, nervously
suggesting that the March Hare said something. Before he can relate what the March Hare said, the
Hare denies that he said something. The Hatter tries to explain that the Dormouse said something,
but the Dormouse doesnt reply because he has fallen fast asleep.
A juror asks the Hatter what it was the Dormouse said, but the Hatter cannot remember. The King
insults the Hatters stupidity, which prompts a guinea pig to start cheering. The guinea pig is
immediately suppressed by being tied up in a bag and sat on. Once the guinea pig has been
suppressed, the King commands the Hatter to stand down. The Hatter replies that he can stand no
lower, so the King bids him sit down. Another guinea pig begins cheering and is similarly
suppressed. Finally, the King permits the Hatter to leave, and he sneaks off before the Queen has
time to order one of the officers to chop off his head.
The King calls the Cook as the next witness. The King asks her what the tarts are made of, and the
Cook replies Pepper. The Dormouse sleepily calls out the word treacle, and the courtroom flies
into chaos. Amidst the frenzy, the Cook disappears. The King demands that the next witness be
called, and the White Rabbit calls Alice to the stand.
Analysis
Alice has failed to find meaning in Wonderland but hopes that she will find logic and order in the trial.
She sees the Wonderland court as a true court of justice, viewing the institution of law as a refuge of
sanity in which an objective and undeniable truth will prevail. She excitedly identifies the various
components of a court of law, such as the jury box and the jurors. The similarities of the Wonderland
court to an aboveground court reinforce Alices faith in the sanctity of law. Alice takes great pleasure
in recognizing the elements of a courtroom given the degree to which her expectations and
perceptions have been confounded throughout her travels. Alice desires meaning and order and the
trial becomes to the last opportunity to realize her need for coherence and sanity.
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Lewis Carroll
Alice quickly realizes that in a world without meaning, the search for truth and order can only be a
sham. The King repeatedly demands a verdict but one never materializes. The trial mocks the legal
process. The importance of trivial points supersedes core issues of right and wrong, innocence and
guilt. The absurdity of the legal trial recalls the ridiculous Caucus Race, in which pointless activity
serves as a means to arrive at conclusions that have nothing to do with the intended purposes of the
institutions. Just as the Caucus Race has no clear winner, the trial fails to determine the culpability of
the Knave. Several critics have pointed out that the concept of law itself, rather than the Knave, is on
trial in this scene. As with the Caucus Race, Carroll indicts the legal system in Wonderland as a way
of critiquing the legal system in our own world.
Chapter 12: Alices Evidence
Summary
Alice jumps to the White Rabbits call to the stand. She forgets that she has grown larger and knocks
over the jury stand, then scrambles to put all of the jurors back. Alice claims to know nothing
whatever about the tarts, which the King deems very important. The White Rabbit corrects the
King, suggesting that he in fact means unimportant. The King agrees, muttering the words
important and unimportant to himself.
The King interjects with Rule 42, which states, All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.
Everyone turns to Alice, who denies she is a mile high and accuses the King of fabricating the rule.
The King replies that Rule 42 is the oldest rule in the book, but Alice retorts that if it is the oldest rule
in the book, it ought to be the first rule. The King becomes quiet for a moment before calling for a
verdict. The White Rabbit interrupts and declares that more evidence must be presented first. He
presents a paper supposedly written by the Knave, though it is not written in the Knaves
handwriting. The Knave refutes the charge, explaining that there is no signature on the document.
The King reasons that the Knave must have meant mischief because he did not sign the note like an
honest man would. The court seems pleased by this reasoning, and the Queen concludes that the
paper proves the Knaves guilt. Alice demands to read the poem on the paper. While the poem
appears to have no meaning, the King provides an explanation and calls for a verdict. The Queen
demands that the sentence come before the verdict. Alice chaffs at this proposal and criticizes the
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Lewis Carroll
Queen, who calls for Alices beheading. Alice has grown to her full size and bats away the playing
cards as they fly upon her.
Alice suddenly wakes up and finds herself back on her sisters lap at the riverbank. She tells her
adventures to her sister who bids her go inside for tea. Alice traipses off, while her sister remains by
the riverbank daydreaming. She envisions the characters from Alices adventures, but knows that
when she opens her eyes the images will dissipate. She imagines that Alice will one day grow older
but retain her childlike spirit and recount her adventures to other children.
Analysis
The chapter title Alices Evidence refers both to the evidence that Alice gives during the trial, and
also the evidence that she discovers that Wonderland is a dream that she can control by waking up.
Alice realizes during the trial that it all doesnt matter a bit what the jury records or whether the jury
is upside down or right side up. None of the details or orientations in Wonderland have any bearing
on a coherent or meaningful outcome. Alices growth during the trial mirrors her growing awareness
of the fact that Wonderland is an illusion. She starts to grow when the Mad Hatter bites into his
teacup, and she reaches full height during the heated exchange with the Queen when she points out
that her antagonists are nothing but a pack of cards! Alice exposes Wonderland as an illusion and
her growth to full size comes with her realization that she has a measure of control over the illusion.
Once she understands that Wonderland is a dream, she wakes up and shatters the illusion.
Alice fully grasps the nonsensical nature of Wonderland when the King interprets the Knaves poem.
Alice disputes the Kings attempts to attach meaning to the nonsense words of the poem. Her
criticisms are ironic, since throughout her travels she has continually attempted to make sense of the
various situations and stories she has encountered. Alice finally understands the futility of trying to
make meaning out of her adventures of Wonderland since every part of it is completely
incomprehensible. This message is meant not only for Alice but for the readers ofAlices Adventures
in Wonderland as well. Just as the court complies with the Kings harebrained readings of the poem,
Carroll sends a message to those who would attempt to assign specific meanings to the
events. Alices Adventures in Wonderland actively resists definitive interpretation, which accounts for
the diversity of the criticism written about the novella.
The final scene with Alices sister establishes narrative symmetry and changes the tone of Alices
journey from harrowing quest to childhood fantasy. The reintroduction of the calm scene at the
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Lewis Carroll
riverbank allows the story to close as it began, transforming Wonderland into an isolated episode of
fancy. Alices sister ends the novella by changing the tone of Alices story, discounting the
nightmarish qualities and favoring a dreamy nostalgia for the simple and loving heart of her
childhood. The sisters interpretation reduces Alices experience of trauma and trivializes the journey
as little more than a strange tale that Alice may eventually recount to her own children.
Important Quotations Explained
1. Who in the world am I? Ah, thats the great puzzle.

Alice asks this question of herself in Chapter 2 of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, just after she
has grown to a giant size and frightened the White Rabbit away. Alice realizes that she is not just
trying to figure out Wonderland, but also attempting to determine who she is and what constitutes
her identity in a world that actively challenges her perspective and sense of self. Wonderland has
already begun to affect Alice, and she rightly understands that her self perception cannot remain
fixed in a world that has drastically different rules from her own. In Wonderland, Alice has a slippery
grasp of her identity. Since Wonderland is a byproduct of her own imagination, it becomes clear that
it is Alices identity and not Wonderland itself that is being called into question. The nonsensical
features and characters that make up Wonderland extend from Alices own psyche, so her quest to
understand Wonderland becomes a quest to understand the forces and feelings that comprise her
identity. The idea of the great puzzle also supports Carrolls notion that life is an unduly complicated
mystery that human beings must use rational thought and intelligence to understand.
2. Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself
a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of
her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright
and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and
how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys,
remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.
This quote is the very final sentence of Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Alice has gone inside for
tea, leaving her sister by the riverbank to muse over Alices wondrous dream. This passage has a
tone of long winded, golden nostalgia and differs dramatically from the rest of the story, which is
generally economical in words and nightmarish for Alice. This tonal shift results from the shift in
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Lewis Carroll
perspective from Alice to her sister, which in turn alters the readers perception of Alices adventures.
While she experiences her adventures, Alice finds her journey to be confounding and nightmarish.
On the other hand, Alices sister sees her story as a strange tale from a simple heart. She trivializes
Alices identity shattering journey, distancing the trauma Alice experienced in her dream with her own
aboveground faith in an orderly universe. In a story studded with subversion, Alices sister becomes
the ultimate subversion who undermines Alices search for meaning and identity as she imagines
Alice growing up and mystifying other simple-hearted children with her stories.
This quote also serves as Carrolls commentary on the character of Alice, the fictionalized version of
his muse Alice Liddell. Carroll became deeply preoccupied with the dissolution of his friendship with
Liddell as she reached maturity and grew apart from him. This final line has a nostalgic, wistful
longing for the happy summer days in which he would visit with the Liddell sisters and delight them
with many a strange tale. Ultimately, Carroll realizes that these happy summer days cannot last,
and like Alices dream or even Alices sisters dream, the simple hearted love of a child will fade,
leaving him only with memories of child-life.
Key Facts
F U L L T I T L E Alices Adventures in Wonderland

A U T H O R Lewis Carroll
T Y P E O F W O R K Novella
G E N R E Fairy tale; childrens fiction; satire; allegory
L A N G U A G E English
T I M E AN D P L A C E W R I T T E N 18621863, Oxford
D ATE O F F I R S T P U B L I C ATI O N 1865
P U B L I S H E R Macmillan & Co.
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Lewis Carroll
N A R R ATO R The narrator is anonymous and does not use many words to describe events in the
story.
P O I N T O F V I E W The narrator speaks in third person, though occasionally in first and second
person. The narrative follows Alice around on her travels, voicing her thoughts and feelings.
T O N E Straightforward; avuncular
T E N S E Past
S E T T I N G ( T I M E ) Victorian era, circa publication date
S E T T I N G ( P L A C E ) England, Wonderland
P R O T AG O N I S T Alice
M A J O R C O N F L I C T Alice attempts to come to terms with the puzzle of Wonderland as she
undergoes great individual changes while entrenched in Wonderland.

R I S I N G AC T I O N Alice follows the White Rabbit down a well and pursues him through
Wonderland.
C L I M A X Alice gains control over her size and enters the garden, where she participates in the trial
of the Knave of Hearts.

F AL L I N G AC T I O N Alice realizes that Wonderland is a sham and knocks over the playing card
court, causing her to wake up and dispel the dream of Wonderland.

T H E M E S The tragic and inevitable loss of childhood innocence; Life as a meaningless puzzle;
Death as a constant and underlying menace

M O T I F S Dream; subversion; language; curious, nonsense, and confusing
S Y M B O L S The garden; the mushroom
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Lewis Carroll
F O R E S H A D O W I N G The Mouses history about Fury and the Mouse foreshadows the trial at the
end of the story.
Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Discuss the significance of the Queen of Hearts in Alices Adventures in Wonderland.
As the ruler of Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts functions as Alices primary antagonist, controlling
the realm that thwarts Alice at every turn. As the suit of hearts suggests, she is the heart of Alices
conflict with Wonderland. When Alice exposes the Queen as a fraud who is nothing more than a
playing card, the dream of Wonderland ends abruptly and Alice regains the world of sense and order
she has known since birth. Though Alice guesses the Queen of Hearts secret midway through the
book, she hesitates to call her out, demonstrating the power that the Queen of Heats has over the
characters in Wonderland. Though the Queens threats are, like Wonderland itself, devoid of
substance, she still instills fear in her subjects and Alice alike.
The Queen of Hearts poses an additional threat to Alice in her journey toward womanhood. Alices
Adventures in Wonderland recounts Alices metaphorical journey to adulthood. Over the course of
her adventures, she faces several threatening situations with sexual overtones, but the Queen of
Heartss threat is both the most direct and the most subtle. In screaming Off with her head! to Alice,
the Queen of Hearts threatens her life but also her sexuality, since the word refers both to Alices
literal head and her maidenhead, or maidenhood (virginity). The Queen of Hearts violently attempts
to force Alices sexual awakening against her will, and only with Alices growing power and sense of
self can she stand up to the Queen and call her hand by revealing her to be a mere playing card.
2. What role does the garden play in Alices Adventures in Wonderland?
The garden in Alices Adventures in Wonderland exists as an Edenic object of desire for Alice. The
sight of the garden draws Alice in with its beds of bright flowers and cool fountains, and her
inability to enter sets the tone for the exasperating detours that follow one after the other. When
viewed in terms of the metaphorical onset of Alices puberty, the garden initially symbolizes the
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Lewis Carroll
Biblical Garden of Eden, a place of childlike grace and innocence that precedes the knowledge of
good and evil. Alices desire to enter the garden corresponds to her desire to remain a child
indefinitely.
When she finally enters the garden, Alice discovers that it is not a picturesque childhood paradise,
but a flimsy sham where the roses are painted and the inhabitants are dangerous and ill tempered.
The garden falls short of Alices expectations largely because of the experiences that have preceded
her arrival there. By the time she reaches the garden, she has grown up metaphorically and gained
control over her fluctuating size. Her growing wariness of Wonderland allows her to perceive the
garden with a critical, observant eye. The garden initially exists as a manifestation of Alices desire to
remain a child, but she realizes it is a poor mimicry of adulthood, in which two-dimensional adults
follow arbitrary manners and conventions that parody the conventions of the aboveground world.
Suggested Essay Topics

1. Contrast the role of dreams in Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
2. Discuss Alices treatment by the different characters she encounters in the books. Why do you
think they act they way they do, and what does their behavior say about Alice?
3. Discuss the role of poetry in both books. What are the differences between the poems in Alices
Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass?
4. What is the significance of Alices fluctuations in size and shape in Alices Adventures in
Wonderland?
5. Throughout both stories, there are occasional oblique references to death. What purpose do these
references serve in the stories, and why might Carroll include them?
Quiz
1. From what is the Caterpillar in Alices Adventures in Wonderland smoking?

(A) A pipe
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Lewis Carroll
(B) A hookah
(C) A mushroom cap
(D) An apple core
2. Which character does Alice scare away with talk of her cat Dinah?
(A) The Mock Turtle
(B) The March Hare
(C) The Mouse
(D) The Knave of Hearts
3. In Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which character serves as herald to the King and Queen of
Hearts?
(A) The Gryphon
(B) The White Rabbit
(C) The Knave of Hearts
(D) The Dormouse
4. Which character seems to have a fondness for treacle?

(A) The Dodo
(B) The Lory
(C) The Cook
(D) The Dormouse
5. Who has condemned the Mad Hatter to perpetual teatime?
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Lewis Carroll
(A) The Queen of Hearts
(B) Alice
(C) The March Hare
(D) Time
6. How does Alice get to the great hallway lined with doors a second time?
(A) She walks through a door in a tree
(B) She crawls into a hole under the Mad Hatters table
(C) The Cheshire-Cat gives her directions
(D) She walks backward
7. What is the Jabberwock?

(A) A killer shrimp
(B) A cousin of the Gryphon
(C) A talkative bowl of fried rice
(D) A fearsome monster
8. Which of the following characters is friendliest to Alice during her adventures?

(A) The White Rabbit
(B) The White Knight
(C) The Mock Turtle
(D) Humpty Dumpty
9. In what capacity does Alice enter the chess game in Through the Looking-Glass?
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Lewis Carroll
(A) She is an observer
(B) She is an official
(C) She is a White Pawn
(D) She is a Red Pawn
10. Which animal is not a character in either novel?

(A) An eaglet
(B) A goose
(C) A dog
(D) A shark
11. What is the last thing that Alice sees the Mad Hatter and March Hare doing?
(A) Eating their plates
(B) Stuffing the Dormouse into the teapot
(C) Spreading butter on the Mad Hatters timepiece
(D) Drinking tea and singing
12. On what does the Bread-and-butter-fly live?

(A) Mustard seed
(B) Weak tea with cream
(C) Tea with weak cream
(D) Vegemite
13. In total, how many queens are in both stories?
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Lewis Carroll
(A) 2
(B) 3
(C) 4
(D) 5
14. According to Alice, what is a common feature in the poetry in Through the Looking-Glass?
(A) Fish
(B) Hair
(C) Monsters
(D) Catnip
15. Which character cries most in the stories?

(A) The Mock Turtle
(B) The Gnat
(C) The White Knight
(D) Alice
16. What is the last thing we see before the Cheshire Cat fades the first time?
(A) Its eyes
(B) Its tail
(C) Its grin
(D) It disappears entirely
17. What secret does the Gryphon reveal about the Queen of Hearts?
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Lewis Carroll
(A) She stole the tarts
(B) She never executes anyone
(C) She enjoys personally sitting on gerbils to suppress them
(D) She is a sweet woman underneath all the yelling
18. What piece of clothing does Alice fasten for the White Queen?
(A) Her cape
(B) Her crown
(C) Her shawl
(D) Her buckles
19. Which two characters from Alices Adventures in Wonderland reappear with different names
in Through the Looking-Glass?
(A) The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon
(B) The Dodo and the Lory
(C) The Mad Hatter and the March Hare
(D) The Queen and King of Hearts
20. Which character takes Alice through the forest in Through the Looking-Glass?
(A) The Fawn
(B) The Gnat
(C) The White Queen
(D) The Unicorn
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Lewis Carroll
21. Which flower first speaks to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass?
(A) The Rose
(B) The Tiger-lily
(C) The Violet
(D) The Daisies
22. What eventually stops Tweedledum and Tweedledee from quarreling?

(A) A loud crash
(B) A rabid dog
(C) A rattlesnake
(D) A crow
23. Which character explains Jabberwocky to Alice?

(A) The Red Queen
(B) Tweedledee
(C) Tweedledum
(D) Humpty Dumpty
24. What does the White Knight consider (to be) his most clever invention? (this question is not
discussed in detail in the summary)
(A) A new kind of helmet
(B) Dominos Twisty Bread
(C) A new pudding during the meat-course
(D) A way to prevent balding
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Lewis Carroll
25. According to the Cook in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, of what are tarts mostly made (what
is the key ingredient in tarts)?
(A) Treacle
(B) Ox-tails
(C) Pepper
(D) Blotting paper
Suggestions for Further Reading
A B B O T, E D W I N A . The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Perseus,
2001.
C A R R O L L , L E W I S . The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. Edited by Martin Gardner. New
York: W.W. Norton, 2000.

C A R R O L L , L E W I S . The Complete Sylvie and Bruno. Edited by Thomas Christensen. San
Francisco: Mercury House, 1991.

H U X L E Y, F R A N C I S . The Raven and the Writing Desk. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
K E L LY, R I C H A R D . Lewis Carroll. Boston: Twayne, 1990.
P E R E C , G E O R G E S . Life: A Users Manual. Translated by David Bellos. New York: David R.
Godine, 2000.
P H I L L I P S , R O B E R T , ed. Aspects of Alice. New York: Vanguard Press, 1971
How to Cite This SparkNote
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Lewis Carroll
FULL BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION

MLA
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Alices Adventures in Wonderland. SparkNotes.com.
SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 11 May 2015.
The Chicago Manual of Style

SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Alices Adventures in Wonderland. SparkNotes LLC. 2005.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/alice/ (accessed May 11, 2015).
APA
SparkNotes Editors. (2005). SparkNote on Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Retrieved May 11,
2015, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/alice/
IN TEXT CITATION
MLA
Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy clearly
wishes to avoid (SparkNotes Editors).
APA
Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy clearly
wishes to avoid (SparkNotes Editors, 2005).
FOOTNOTE
The Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago requires the use of footnotes, rather than parenthetical citations, in conjunction with a list of
works cited when dealing with literature.
1 SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Alices Adventures in Wonderland. SparkNotes LLC. 2005.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/alice/ (accessed May 11, 2015).
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Lewis Carroll
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