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Alice is in Wonderland. She went down an innocent looking rabbit hole, and eventually ended up in a place she never could have imagined (even in her worst nightmares) that she would one day find herself. It is crazy, and unjust place. Some of the inhabitants appear to be mad; and they take a great pride in their madness, as if mad is a good thing to be. Most of the time, Alice is small and they are mighty. And sometimes, even when she appears to temporarily grow bigger, she still feels very, very, very small inside. Wonderland is a place where many, if not most things, are not quite as they seem. A place where the truth can appear as a lie, and a lie can appear as the truth. A place where power is everything (OFF with her head) and power corrupts. In fact power has corrupted many – although you may not realise this at first glance, so good are the inhabitants at disguising themselves. It is a place where innocent is guilty, if the Queen says it is. And where black is red, and diamonds are clubs. For the Queen is a mighty powerful woman and can do anything, and fears no one. Many fear her though (in fact many are so fearful of the consequences of crossing her, that they will pretend they agree with her to her face and whisper the truth behind her back). The Queen is skilled at propoganda. She believes she is above the law, after all, she creates and dictates what the law is. And as she says: you don’t have to stay in Wonderland if you’d rather be somewhere else. It’s a free World. You could fall on your sword to escape, or allow yourself to be clubbed to death – so there is a choice, even if it doesn’t seem like one right now. Or you could just wait, and wait, and wait, and if you wait long enough you will die anyway, eventually – so that’s another form of escape, isn’t it? But Alice feels like she is dead already. There is a choice; but it’s Hobson’s choice. And as for the Queen, what she says goes. She always has the last word. OK?
Erm, NO! Not OK! Alice may be small but she will fight for what is right. She wil fight to the bitter end – and it may well get very bitter. She will fight, even if it all seems impossible. After all, practice makes perfect. Good always wins over Evil – doesn’t it? Well doesn’t it? After all, the Queen’s Court is nothing but a pack of cards. One gust of fresh air from an unexpected direction could bring the whole pack tumbling down. Now there’s a pleasing thought. Alice is taking a very deep breath … and preparing to exhale. WHOOSH! Watch those cards flutter …
~
One of the prominent themes in the text is Lewis Carroll’s views and commentaries on corruption. The Walrus and the Carpenter tale from Through the Looking-Glass can be interpreted on a different level to be a commentary of people taking advantage of the innocent, of corruption, and how some grow fat at the expense of other people.
It is true that at one level Lewis Carroll’s tales can be viewed as Nonsense Verse that is meant to entertain, but it would be an unforgivable mistake for any intellectual to leave it at that. It is our obligation as mature readers to, at the very minimum, acknowledge the presence of other, deeper levels presented by the Author. Comprende?
Author Alice
Lewis Carol – Through the Looking-Glass:
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things”.
“I dare say you haven’t had as much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age I did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I’d believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
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Caterpillar: Who are YOU?
Alice: This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. I — I hardly know, sir, just at present — at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.
~
Alice: I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!
~
Eaglet: Speak English! I don’t know the meaning of half those long words, and I don’t believe you do either!
Alice: I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, because I’m not myself you see.
~
The Duchess: I quite agree with you. And the moral of that is: Be what you would seem to be, or if you’d like it put more simply: Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
~
Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.
Alice: How do you know I’m mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn’t have come here.
~
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
~
The Queen: Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice!
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Alice: You’re nothing but a pack of cards!
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The Queen: Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!
~
Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.
I don’t much care where, said Alice.
Then it doesn’t matter which way you go, said the Cat.”
~
Alice: But it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
~
Read Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland online here:
PS: Comments in metaphor please! Lest the Queen should read them and chop off poor Alice’s head!
CHOP!
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” ~ Buddha
Alfie: Born (approximately) 1st September 2008 (from Cat's Protection rescue centre)
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