The Complete Alice in Wonderland (40 page)

Good Kitten, Bad Kitten:
Alice’s kittens are quite contrary in nature. The white kitten is slow, patient and well-minded, while the black kitten is energetic, hasty and mischievous. As will be seen, the white kitten reflects the nature of the White Queen, and the black kitten mirrors the Red Queen. (The black kitten’s name, by the way, is Kitty, while the white one is named Snowdrop.)

“Do You Know What To-Morrow Is?”:
The date is November 4
^th
. The following night (“Remember, remember, the fifth of November”) is Guy Fawkes Night, on which celebratory bonfires are burned to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. There is a winking allusion here to the idea of monarchy and revolution. Alice defied the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland; now, as she is growing up, she seeks to become a Queen herself and will be challenged by the Red Queen to see if she is worthy.

Telling Kitty’s Faults:
When Alice is chiding the black kitten, she is playing with the idea of authority. Some of this is a matter of maturity, but the rest is simply transference, with Alice eager to make light of her own punishments (surely received from her father, mother and Miss Prickett, the governess).

“When We Were Playing Just Now”:
The person Alice was playing chess with is not made clear. Considering Carroll’s diary’s however, and his interest in the game, it is very likely that she was playing against Lewis Carroll himself, and that he had just departed the moment before
Through the Looking-Glass
began. (This would also explain why the book of poetry featuring “Jabberwocky” is present, since Carroll wrote the poem, and was in the habit of giving books to Alice as gifts.)

“Let’s Pretend”:
Here, Carroll is re-establishing the nature of Alice and her sister. The “very exact” sister in question is no doubt Lorina, who was also featured in the beginning and end of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
. Alice’s offer to be more than one person is an echo of her fall down the rabbit-hole, when we learned that she was in the habit of pretending to be two people. And of course, Alice’s quite shocking declaration to her nurse gives us an early taste of the subversive, predatory and morbid humor for which Alice is always known!

“You’re the Red Queen, Kitty!”:
Alice’s desire for the unreal is so strong that she can turn fantasy into reality. We first discovered this in
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
, when she made the glass table appear in the Hall of Doors. Here, Alice’s simple “Let’s pretend” appeal has similarly made it so. From this point forward, the black kitten and the Red Queen are the same creature, represented differently in different worlds.

“All My Ideas About Looking-Glass House”:
In the same manner, Alice creates the physical laws of the Deanery on the other side of the mirror. Looking-Glass House thus becomes a “dimensional threshold” of sorts, a gateway between Looking-Glass Land and reality.

A Bright Silvery Mist:
It is interesting that the prefatory poem of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
was about the “golden afternoon,” while the poem in
Through the Looking-Glass
speaks of “silver laughter” and the mirror turns into “silvery mist.” A parallel can be drawn to the ideas of a Golden Age and a Silver Age, which go all the way back to Hesiod in the 8
^th
century BC. To Hesiod, the Golden Age was the time of human innocence, and the Silver Age was the time when mortality was enforced by the gods, when people were less noble and more concerned with the fear of death.

The Face of a Little Old Man:
The entity in the clock is actually Father Time, who we last saw in the Hatter’s watch. He grins at Alice, perhaps to let her know that time is passing quickly for her, and she will not be caught in a “time warp” by his wrath (as the Mad Tea-Party was trapped in Wonderland).

Two Castles Walking Arm in Arm:
In chess, the more antiquated term “Castle” is interchangeable with “Rook.”

As If I Were Invisible:
Alice cannot be seen or heard by the chessmen in Looking-Glass House. This is probably because she has “crossed over” into forbidden territory, and is not, by all physical laws, meant to be there.

A Lack of Bishops:
In the background of Tenniel’s illustration, we can see the two Red Bishops having a conversation, while a White Bishop reads the papers. This will be the only time that we see the Bishops in the story. Considering Carroll’s respect for religious figures, this was likely an intentional gesture on his part.

Pawns of the White Queen:
Since Pawns in chess can (with a great deal of luck and skill) eventually become Queens, it is perfectly reasonable that Lily, the youngest White Pawn, is indeed of royal blood and the daughter of the Queen. This also explains why the Red Queen treats Alice with some decorum and respect later on, as the Red Queen believes herself to be tutoring (and challenging) the Princess of a rival bloodline.

“Make a Memorandum of It”:
We are here reminded of the King of Hearts, and his need to put everything in his memorandum-book, lest he forget what has transpired and what he is doing.

“He Balances Very Badly”:
Knights are regarded as clumsy in Looking-Glass Land, because of the way they move in chess (first in one direction, than a 90-degree turn and a move in another direction). This inherent imbalance, or “wriggling,” makes them skilled fighters, but comically inept as well!

YKCOWREBBAJ:
Unfortunately, the Kindle does not support true mirror writing. As a formatting concession, I have written the first verse of Jabberwocky backwards to best emulate the original text.

JABBERWOCKY:
Carroll’s classic nonsense poem is one of the most famous rhyming works in English literature. A distinction which often remains unnoticed, however, is that of “Jabberwock” vs. “Jabberwocky.” The
Jabberwock
is a nonesuch monster, much like a dragon crossed between a moth, a spider and a bat. “Jabberwocky” (with a “y”) is the title of the poem, meaning “Of or pertaining to a Jabberwock.” The many other unique words in the poem (such as “brillig,” “slithy,” “toves,” etc.) are defined in the glossary at the end of this work.

“’Twas Brillig, and the Slithy Toves…”:
Humpty Dumpty will explain some of this poem to Alice later, but as this piece is highly important to the mythology of Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land, it is beneficial to offer an understanding of this work before moving on. “Jabberwocky” is written in a mock Anglo-Saxon style, a period which interested Carroll greatly. We can assume then that it tells a tale from the 10
^th
or 11
^th
century AD. (The Mouse in Wonderland talks all about William the Conqueror, who was responsible for the end of Anglo-Saxon sovereignty in 1066.) The action takes place on Jabberwock Isle (equivalent to the Isle of Man), which we will revisit in
The Hunting of the Snark
. The unnamed Baron of the Isle, perhaps as a rite of ascendance, sends his son to slay the menacing Jabberwock, which lurks in the Tulgey Wood. Much like Saint George or John Lambton, the boy proves himself by taking up a sword and ridding the Isle of the horrible creature. This tale is directly relevant to Alice’s journey in Looking-Glass Land, because it involves an unlikely young heir growing up before his time, and thereby earning the mantle of nobility.

Getting Down Stairs Quickly and Easily:
The staircase here is the fabled Lexicon Staircase, which Alice’s father Henry Liddell had installed in the Deanery. (It was purchased using proceeds from the publication of his Greek Lexicon, which he was well-known for.) Alice alluded in the story of Wonderland that she had tumbled down these stairs before. Here, she is saved only by her own quick thinking, changing the physical laws of Looking-Glass House without even realizing that she has done so.

Chapter II

More Like a Corkscrew Than a Path:
As Alice leaves the Looking-Glass House and enters Looking-Glass Land, her ability to change the natural laws of her surroundings begins to falter. Looking-Glass Land is an established kingdom, and its rules were created by either the Red or White monarchy, or the powers which preceded them. Due to her nearness to Looking-Glass House (and reality), Alice is still able to exert a
little
control. However, she is entering the domain of the Red Queen, and will need to learn the rules of the land so that she can subvert them later.

A Large Flower-Bed:
Some of the flowers Alice encounters on the threshold of Looking-Glass Land are taken from Tennyson’s poem, “Maud.” Tenniel’s illustrations of them may have been inspired by Grandville’s beautiful work in
Un Autre Monde
.

“We Can Talk”:
Notice again the subtlety of Alice’s wish, which is instantly complied with. Much like Wonderland, Looking-Glass Land shapes its unnatural laws around Alice’s desires.

The Victorian Language of Flowers:
In Alice’s (and especially Lewis Carroll’s) age, flowers were used in correspondence between affectionate people as a formalized game of riddle and answer. Some of the floral messages were obvious (the olive branch meaning peace, the red rose meaning true love), while others were delightfully obscure (viscaria meaning an invitation to dance, jonquil meaning “kindly return my affection”). The flowers which Alice encounters in the Garden of Live Flowers are, in order: (1) an orange Tiger-lily (meaning desire); (2) a red Rose (true love); (3) pink Daisies (innocent beauty, unknown to the possessor); (4) white Daisies (innocence and loyalty); (5) a Violet (faithfulness); and (6) Larkspur (singular fickleness). The effect may be accidental, but the progression is interesting when we consider (1) Alice’s desire to get to the top of the hill, (2) Carroll’s adoration of Alice, (3) Alice’s unawareness of her own beauty, and (4, 5) Alice’s devotion to those who care for her. The sudden twist of the Larkspur to (6) fickleness occurs only when the Red Queen is arriving, and the Larkspur cries out, “She’s coming!”

“You’re the Right Colour”:
The Rose is politely inferring that Alice is a “good” (or game-worthy) person because her skin is pale (white), as opposed to ruddy (red). The Rose, familiar only with the chessmen of Looking-Glass Land, is assuming that Alice serves the White Queen.

From Pink to White:
This is one of the rare instances where Alice is willing to make a deadly threat against those who misbehave!

“There’s One Other Flower”:
Here, the live flowers are describing the Red Queen in the only way they know how. By “more bushy,” the Rose means that the Red Queen is wearing a larger dress than Alice. “Her petals are shorter” refers to the length of her hair, “done up close” in a snood, or hairnet. The “nine spikes” refers to the radial points of her crown.

The Prickly Red Queen:
The flowers refer to the Red Queen as “one of the thorny kind.”
 
This is a reference not only to her spiked crown, but also to her testy personality. It is also worth noting that this is probably a hint at the Liddell sisters’ nickname for their governess Miss Prickett, “Pricks.”
 
In his article “‘Alice’ on the Stage,” Carroll explained the personality of the Red Queen as follows: “The Red Queen I pictured as a Fury, but of another type [as opposed to the Queen of Hearts];
her
passion must be cold and calm; she must be formal and strict, yet not unkindly; pedantic to the tenth degree, the concentrated essence of all governesses!”

“I Hear Her Footstep”:
As we can see in Tenniel’s illustration, the Red Queen is atop her formal chess-piece pedestal, and so she only has one thumping foot upon which to walk!

“Look Up, Speak Nicely”:
The Red Queen has never seen a mere mortal girl in Looking-Glass Land before. She is here assuming that Alice is a White Pawn (just like Lily), and therefore a Princess. As such, she feels it is her duty to educate Alice in all forms of manners and etiquette.

A Woman’s One-Upmanship:
The Red Queen’s insistence that she has seen greater things than Alice, and that she owns “all of the ways,” underlines a simple (but dangerous!) case of egocentricity. The Red Queen is telling Alice in no uncertain terms that
she
is the highest power in all the land.

“That Would Be Nonsense”:
Alice may be remembering that she successfully defied the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland by declaring her royal proceedings to be “nonsense.” Things are not so simple here, however, and the Red Queen is a far more canny adversary!

“I Wish I Was One of Them”:
Again, Alice desires something to be true, and so it is. The Red Queen smiles upon her, and allows Alice to enter play as a White Pawn—perhaps believing that Alice’s naiveté will improve the Red Queen’s chance of winning, and so ruling all of Looking-Glass Land. Alice, then, is a Pawn in every sense of the word.

“Faster! Faster!”:
The theme of pastoral Wonderland was one of a hegemonic monarchy, represented by the rule of the Queen of Hearts. Timelessness was the nature of the land (exemplified by the Mad Tea-Party, where time never changes). In Looking-Glass Land, however, there are two competing monarchies, and time is of the essence. The land is in turmoil, and everything is about rushing, change, and the obsessions of timekeeping. Wonderland (with its paths and forests) represents pastoral Merry Olde England, while Looking-Glass Land (with its artificial landscape and trains) represents Victorian England, caught up in the throes of the Industrial Revolution.