Literary articles - Lewis Carroll 2024

Alice in wonderland & Alice through the looking glass by Lewis Carroll: do words have meaning? Lacanian theory on Carroll's writing

Angela Hart

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, published in 1865, and Alice Through the Looking Glass, published in 1871, are still both widely read and analyzed today. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson had a fascination with words, even creating his own pen name, Lewis Carroll. In both novels, words can be ambiguous and the text itself can be nonsensical becoming unique signifiers. The world of Wonderland and the Looking Glass Land exist in alternate realities, next to the universe people reside in. Carroll's distinct use of words reinforce theories about signifiers and their intended meanings. Due to Wonderland and Looking Glass Land not having any preconceived constructs, words are used outside of their normal framework and typical meanings that people have come to know and recognize them within civilized society are no longer valid or useful. Similar to an infant who does not understand societal boundaries, fiction blurs the lines of fantasy and reality. When the child develops a wholeness to them, in the mirror stage, the child enters the Imaginary Order. In society, people develop an understanding of words and their meanings based on the societal constructs around them and the everyday usage of language. Lewis Carroll wanted readers to question the world around him and thus introduced new words, different meanings, and inverted texts. While analyzing his work, there are numerous questions that arise. Are words ambiguous in Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass? If so, why are they ambiguous? Is language in Alice in Wonderland used to reinforce the imposed meanings people have come to associate with words? In this sense, do unconventional words have associated meanings? These questions are brought up in regards to language being used as a symbol and a method to communicate original ideas and definitions.

Keywords: Alternate realities, Fantasy, Reality, Symbol.

Introduction
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, published in 1865, and Alice Through the Looking Glass, published in 1871, are still both widely read and analyzed today. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson had a fascination with words, even creating his own pen name, Lewis Carroll. In both novels, words can be ambiguous and the text itself can be nonsensical becoming unique signifiers. The world of Wonderland and the Looking Glass Land exist in alternate realities, next to the universe people reside in. Carroll's distinct use of words, reinforce theories about signifiers and their intended meanings. Due to Wonderland and Looking Glass Land not having any preconceived constructs, words are used outside of their normal framework and typical meanings that people have come to know and recognize them within civilized society are no longer valid or useful.

Literature Review
In his book, The Fundamentals of Children's Literature Criticism: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Peter Hunt writes, “The literary text, then, is an image of the unconscious structures like a language” (Hunt 92). Lewis Carroll meticulously wrote Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass using precise language to create his fictitious worlds and Alice's interactions within the construct of the story. In 1897, Lewis Carroll published Symbolic Logic, which explains how words and meanings can be broken down to form new words and meanings. Writing this piece with his mathematical perspective, Carroll deconstructed words and reconfigured them for a different meaning. In his piece, Carroll writes, “I maintain that any write of a book is fully authorized in attaching any meaning he likes to any word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying, at the beginning of his book, “Let it be understood that by the word black I shall always mean white, and that by the word white I shall always mean black” (Garner 214). Carroll's own understanding and fascination with words allowed him to view them in ways no other previous writer had.

According to scholar Kathleen Lignell, “In both Alice books, the most important and powerful character is not a person at all, but the English language” (Lignell 26). Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass both use language to make the reader question definitions and the intended meaning behind the usages of the words and phrases. Alice herself makes up words, one such being “curiouser” (Carroll 8). The word curious did not have enough emphasis for the circumstances surrounding around her or in that moment she forgot proper grammar. Alice felt compelled to say “curiouser” instead of “curious.1“ By doing this Alice is adding importance to a word that she does not know how to properly conjugate. In turn, one can question whether she understands the meaning of the word at all. Would she have been correct using “curious?” Given the fact that the word “curious” alone would have been sufficient, it is worth noting that Carroll included the additional “curiouser” at the end of the phrase.2

Similarly, Ferdinand de Saussure wrote, “language is a system of signs…the sign is the union of a form which signifies” (Culler 9). For instance, the King asks his wife, the Queen of Hearts, “Consider my dear: she is only a child,” implying that a child should not be held accountable for his or her actions in the same manner as an adult (Carroll 65). Being considered young is beneficial to her current circumstances. The concept and or sign of a child allows Alice to be considered differently than an adult. In this instance, Alice's childish nature (or perceived persona) allows her to escape responsibility for her actions.

Additionally, in her piece, The Language of Nonsense in Alice, Jacqueline Flescher wrote, “The problem of personal identity is closely connected with the idea of estrangement from language” (Fletscher 130). Being seven years old, Alice may not understand language and words to their fullest. She may have invented words because she was unaware of their correct conjugation or meaning. Flescher also addressed the fact some words remain unable to be defined. “Humpty Dumpty, Lewis Carroll and the critics have attempted exact interpretations of the meaning of the words Jabberwocky” (Fletscher 133). For example, the term “Jabberwocky” was created for Alice Through the Looking Glass. The word jabberwocky itself is easily pronounceable, as though a child invented it at random. The vowels flow and it can be spelled with ease. In the book, however, the definition is inverted and unable to be read. The lack of a definitive definition allows ambiguity and misunderstanding among readers.

On another note, Roger W. Holmes addressed the fact Carroll embraced the absurdity. For instance, the Mad Hatter asked Alice a riddle comparing a raven and a writing desk. There is no comparison between the two objects, but yet the question is posed. The Mad Hatter asked Alice a riddle that has no answer, expecting a response. Normally, a question is asked to either reaffirm an answer or gain new knowledge. The Mad Hatter knows there is no answer and, in turn, knows he is asking a moot question.

Additionally, the White King wished to know if anyone was on the road approaching the castle. After asking Alice to look, she replied, “I see nobody on the road.” The King, in turn, said, “I only wish I had such eyes” (Carroll 186). The lack of logic can be baffling. “Most often he uses the absurd hilarity of Wonderland to bring difficult technical concepts into sharp focus” (Holmes 135). By removing preconceived thoughts, Carroll allows the reader a unique literary experience.

Furthermore, Alvin C. Kibel argues that Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass are not satires, but literary pieces that address complicated issues. While most fairy tales have talking animals, Carroll “adopted the convention by putting the creatures in place of the adults and making them intensely argumentative rather than physically menacing” (Kibel 607). The lack of adult figures forces Alice, a seven-year-old girl, to question her surroundings even more so. There is a complete lack of order with no standards to adhere to as well as no authoritative figure for Alice to turn to for assistance or guidance. The world she is used to no longer exists. Alice entered this mindboggling reality at the sight of a white rabbit, the same type of creature that causes her grief in Wonderland, leading her to the entrance of this alternate world.

In the story, the Caucus Race occurs when Alice leaves the water after just entering Wonderland, and needs to dry off. All of the animals as well as Alice begin running in a circle.3 In spite of her efforts, Alice cannot figure out the point of the game. Kincaid believes that Alice became frazzled by the crochet game because, “it is too literally alive, without rules, order, or sequence; she is upset, in other words, by the absence of rigidity and hates the fluidity of this comic game” (Kincaid 92). Jacques Lacan wrote, “Language is not to be confused with the various physical and somatic functions that serve it in the speaking subject – primarily because language and its structure exist prior to the moment at which each subject at a certain point in his mental development makes his entry into it” (Lacan 739). The characters, in this setting, use words incorrectly, or at least not for their intended meaning, and confuse actions with speech. The lack of structure demonstrated that Alice expects order in almost all circumstances. She was brought up in an organized society and a lack of rules is cause for concern. Carroll's worlds, Wonderland and Looking Glass Land, exist outside society's normal expectations. But, the inhabitants of both places view their actions as normal. Thus, the reader questions the logic of both the real world and the fictitious world Carroll created.

Unlike a short poem, a break within the text of a novel, a piece of greater volume, informs the reader that there is something different in the new section. In this sense, reading is no longer linear, but involves a visual and comprehension element. Semantic and modernist poets wanted readers to acknowledge the importance of language and the many ways it can be used. Craig Dworkin, a noted professor at Princeton University, wrote Reading the Illegible (Avant-Garde & Modernism Studies) to address the intentions of writers and the understanding within readers. For instance, Charles Bernstein's poem Veil uses the typewriter to rewrite over previously contrived sentences, creating a layered effect (Aji). Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass prior to the modernist movement, which arose in the early 1900s (Aji). His pieces may have helped inspire other writers to question words and their intended meanings. Carroll's The Mouse's Tale, inverted Jabberwocky text, and inclusion of songs, identify breaks within the text and garners a reader's full attention. The lack of grammar, change of font sizes, and structure demonstrate that text can become symbolic.

Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan may not have been an advocate for alternate dimensions, such as Wonderland and the Looking Glass Land, but he did think that people created their own perceptions of the world around them. 4 Carroll wrote both of his pieces before Lacan's philosophies entered the academic world. However, Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass provide interesting frameworks to analyze Lacanian theories.

Carroll created new words and deconstructed society's preconceived notions about words. By entering Wonderland, for example, the rules of society are left behind, this includes one's understanding of language.5 Lacan wrote, “This function of speech is more worth pointing out than that of disguising the thought (more often than not indefinable) of the subject; it is no less than the function of indicating the place of this subject in search for the true” (Lacan 744). Lacan drew attention to the fact that the written and spoken word could provide a framework to work within, while also confining creativity. Language provides structure, reinforcing the laws of society. Thus, Lacan's thoughts about human beings “already enmeshed in the chain of signifiers” allow people to call their preconceived notions into question (Lacan 744). Lacan found that people must submit to the order of language, which is forced upon the world. In turn, Lacan advocated for a science of language with words being compared by sound and meaning and sought a definition of the truth, while formulating a definition of the real. Since infanthood people have been socialized to associate ideas and words with certain outcomes; using if then statements.

In Wonderland, however, the pre-established symbolism of objects and order does not exist. Items people associated with certain societal expectations are irrelevant. For instance, during the croquet game, Alice is handed a flamingo for a mallet, a hedgehog for a ball, and card soldiers as wickets. The imagery becomes odd and unforeseen. Alice had been conditioned by society, and the rules of croquet, to expect a mallet, ball, and wicket. During her visit to Wonderland, Alice feels lost and soon longs for a recognizable system. Similarly, in Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice's understanding of chess is called into question. The logic she has learned in regards to strategy and rules no longer apply.

Most people do not try to reconfigure words and create new meanings such as Carroll did. Lacan understood the significance of words and the importance they hold in the world. Lacan believed, “Writing is distinguished by a prevalence of the text in the sense that this factor of discourse will assume…a factor that makes possible the kind of tightening up that I like in order to leave the reader no other way out than the way in, which I prefer to be difficult. In this sense, then, this will not be writing” (Lacan 738). People use words to communicate and make sense of the world around them; without words, people would be at a loss. But, the same words that provide structure and order confine individuals.

Also, considering the fact Lacan believed “this means no matter where one starts to designate their reciprocal encroachments and increasing inclusions, these units are subjected to the double condition of being reducible to ultimate differential elements and of combining the according to the laws of a closed order,” it must be noted that in Wonderland, Carroll removes all semblance of a closed order (Lacan 742). “One can't believe impossible things…I dare say you haven't had much practice” (Carroll 166). Carroll wants readers to believe in the impossible and develop a creative mindset. Lacan's idea that a singular person provides a system of language must therefore find that Carroll is creating a new order of language. Now, anytime someone mentions their unbirthday, a word Carroll coined, he must receive credit for the reference.

In a civilized society, words provide context and meaning when used in a sentence whether it be written or oral. But, when a writer creates a metaphor, the meaning can become ambiguous and provide the author with more options to invoke secondary and tertiary definitions. “The creative spark of the metaphor does not spring from the presentation of two images, that is, of two signifiers equally actualized. It flashes between two signifiers one of which has taken the place of the other in the signifying chain, the occulted signifier remaining present through its (metnymic) connexion with the rest of the chain” (Lacan 745).6 When the Mad Hatter creates the term unbirthday, he is using a new word to imply a celebration should occur. “Language hands down its sentence to those who know how to hear it: through the use of the article employed as a partitive particle. Indeed, it is here that spirit – if spirit be living signification – seems, no less singularly, to allow for quantification more than the letter does” (Lacan 749). Lewis Carroll knew how to craft sentences and stories that would cater to creating a new signification. Carroll would also include all capitalized words throughout the texts to provide emphasis such as a character stressing a certain word over others in their dialogue or to demonstrate their significance in the sentence.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, some of the capitalized words include: CALLED, LITTLE, I'VE, MUST, WHAT, DOES, HAS, WIN, KNOW, OUTSIDE, LOVELY, and THAT. Similarly, when Alice encounters a rattlesnake, the last part of the word was capitalized, but not the first, “rattleSNAKE” (Carroll 158). By capitalizing just the end of the sentence, the reader becomes acutely aware of the fact there is a snake, regardless of the type of snake it is. The emphasis of these words draws the reader's attention to demonstrate their importance in the sentence.

An additional aspect of Lacan's studies was his thoughts on body image. People perceived themselves differently than others perceived them.

“In Lacan's account, the fact that this body-image is inadequate to the operation of a symbolic identity mediated by the pallus is sufficient justification for the fate of the little girl's narcissistic body-image…at the level of signification, the body of the little girl is turned over to the function of framework, into which the subject projects and anticipates achieving union with his own mirror-image” (Vasseleu 142).

Alice's body changes quite a bit throughout both novels. At first she is too tall, then she is too small, and much more. In each instance, Alice is acutely aware of her body. When she cannot enter the locked door to follow the White Rabbit, she begins to cry, knowing it is her own body that has betrayed her mission. Similarly, when she is small again, Alice wishes that she had not cried that much because she created a large pool that her small body could drown in. Alice's body causes trouble for her and creates a sense of worthlessness at times. Considering Alice is only a child in Alice in Wonderland, her disdain for her body image, according to Lacan, would revolve around the constructs of the world around her.

Alice is a regular girl from a civilized society. At the end of both Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, it is revealed that Alice was dreaming. Lacan's thoughts on dreams and Verschiebung (displacement) would have found “that veering off of signification that we see in metonymy, and which from its first appearance in Freud is represented as the most appropriate means used by the unconscious to foil censorship” (Lacan 747). Alice reinterpreted signs and signifiers of the world around her during her dream state, when her unconscious mind was at work.

While Freud's main focus was on a person's unconscious dreams, Lacan found that dreams functioned as Wunscherfüllung “wish-fulfillment” (Lacan 743). 7 In this sense, he was referring to daydreaming. Lacan believed daydreams utilized signs that people have come to know in order to help them understand what they truly desire. However, it is important to note that Lacan found that there could be a constantly evolving usage of these signs because they do not require stability. In Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice was unhappy in her everyday life and wanted adventures. By going to sleep and having an elaborate dream, she was able to fulfill this desire.8 Lacan would have found that Alice's elaborate dream allowed her to come to terms with reality through her unreal experience.

Questions
Similar to an infant who does not understand societal boundaries, fiction blurs the lines of fantasy and reality. When the child develops a wholeness to them, in the mirror stage, the child enters the Imaginary Order.9 In society, people develop an understanding of words and their meanings based on the societal constructs around them and the everyday usage of language. Lewis Carroll wanted readers to question the world around him and thus introduced new words, different meanings, and inverted texts. While analyzing his work, there are numerous questions that arise. Are words ambiguous in Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass? If so, why are they ambiguous? Is language in Alice in Wonderland used to reinforce the imposed meanings people have come to associate with words? In this sense, do unconventional words have associated meanings? These questions are brought up in regards to language being used as a symbol and a method to communicate original ideas and definitions.

Ambiguity Makes Readers Question Their Understanding of the Text
In his work, Carroll both wanted meaning and advocated the lack there of. For instance, when Alice met Humpty Dumpty, she politely introduced herself only to be questioned.

“My name is Alice…”

“It's a stupid name enough!” Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. “What does it is mean?” “Must a name mean something?” Alice asked doubtfully.

“Of course it must,” Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh. “My name means the shape I am – and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost” (Carroll 174).

Carroll allows the reader to determine if a name must hold meaning. For Alice, she was content with no implicit or explicit meaning, while Humpty Dumpty felt that everything has significance. “Taking phrases literally instead of as they are commonly understood is characteristic of the creatures behind the looking-glass, and a basis for much of Carroll's humor” (Garner 225). Thus, when Humpty Dumpty uses the word mean, he wanted a thoughtful answer. Similarly, the character of Humpty Dumpty is oval just as his name suggests. Since the name Alice has no clear physical attributes associated with it, Humpty Dumpty is befuddled by Alice's lack of meaning. In instances such as this, the readers can feel as though they have a better understanding of the world then the characters due to the breakdown in communication. In the story, it is thought that Alice received her name from her parents. Alice had no control over her own naming. Humpty Dumpty does not understand the fact Alice's name is simply that, a name.

When Alice could not remember the name of the Fawn, she became timid as a result. She knew that it was rude to forget someone's name and she did not want to insult the Fawn. Similarly, when Alice entered the woods, she was concerned about her name. “I wonder what'll become of my name when I go in? I shouldn't like to lose it at all” (Carroll 144). Alice understood that names mattered and as a result, the reader develops an appreciation for names.

Aside from the literal nature of characters, such as Humpty Dumpty being oval, words become ambiguous for readers. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, ambiguity is defined as, “capable of being understood in two or more possible senses or ways” (Merriam Webster). Some ambiguous words include: curious, curiouser, unbirthday, birthday, feathers, dry, race, mad, Cheshire, cat, tale, tail, jabberwocky, rules, games, chess, chessboard, cards, trail, sentencing, verdict, jury, punishment, size, height, weight, age, food, royalty, queen, king, excellency, majesty, hearts, lost, where, who, way, little, big, raven, writing desk, important, unimportant, and celebration.

Throughout Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, words (signifiers and signified objects) become meaningless.10 Lacan said, “A signifier, by its very nature, always anticipates meaning by unfolding its dimensions before it” (Lacan 743). Wonderland and Looking Glass Land exist beyond the dimensions of the known world. Thus, they have their own rules and societal norms become nonsensical.

The Walt Disney 1951 animated adaptation, addressed the nonsensical nature of Wonderland in the first few minutes of the film. Alice was speaking to her kitten Dinah and said, “Nonsense. That's it. If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And conversely, everything would be what is and wouldn't be and what it wouldn't be it would” (Alice in Wonderland 1951). This dialogue prefaces the odd occurrences that are going to happen throughout the story. Having planted that seed of understanding within viewers, the audience has a point of reference to fall back on.

In Alice in Wonderland, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon use the words “curious” and “nonsense” representing Alice's own distaste for Wonderland. This, however, does not occur until chapter ten, near the end of the story. Up until this point, Alice was the only character who vocalized confusion. Later, in Alice Through the Looking Glass, Carroll used the word nonsense quite a bit. “A hill can't be a valley, you know that would be nonsense,” “You can't possibly do that (walk straight), I should advise you to walk the other way…this sounded nonsense to Alice,” and “You may call it nonsense if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary” (Carroll 133, Carroll 131, and Carroll 133). The idea of nonsense is an underlying theme in both stories. Rather than try and fight society no matter how absurd, one will either prevail in the struggle or succumb to the rules around them.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice and the Sheep begin rowing a small boat together. The Sheep uses the term “crabs” and “feathers,” which Alice does not understand. Alice simply accepts the fact she is not going to receive an acceptable answer because she is in a nonsensical world. It is not until they have been in the boat for quite some time when Alice finally snaps at the Sheep for an answer. This is only after the Sheep keeps asking her for items and she almost falls out of the boat. Due to the breakdown of communication between them, Alice is rather frazzled.

In both stories, other characters question the meanings of words, too, in order to draw the readers attention to the usages of phrases.

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.

“I do,” Alice hastily replied, “at least-I mean what I say – that's the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I see?” (Carroll 54).

In Wonderland and Looking Glass Land, words are ambiguous and often have double meanings. When she was falling down the rabbit hole, Alice picked up a jar labeled, “marmalade.” Expecting to pick up a snack along the way, Alice is disappointed when she realizes the jar is empty. The label misrepresented the item and its contents. In this instance, Carroll provided a certain anticipation that was not met. Thus, when entering a fictitious world, readers should not have preconceived notions or expectations.

For instance, Alice is informed, “You may look in front of you, and on both sides if you like, but you can't look ALL round you – unless you've eyes at the back of your head” (Carroll 167). Alice can look all around her, but not at the same time, thus she cannot technically see everything. Similarly, when discussing her memory with the Red Queen, she tells her, “I'm sure mine only works one way (Alice's memory). I can't remember things before they happen” (Carroll 164). The Queen replies, “It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards” (Carroll 164). Apparently, the Red Queen can remember things that have not occurred yet, and assumes all the other characters have this ability. This type of ability does not make sense in the real world. Unless the Queen were thought to be a psychic, she should not have this special skill.

Another nonsensical moment in Alice Through the Looking Glass occurs when the Red Queen had to explain to Alice how and when they eat jam in Looking Glass Land, “The rule is jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day. It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day you know” (Carroll 164). A reader must understand the concept of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, as well as the meaning behind the capitalized words. In this instance, the reader is unsure if the characters can ever eat jam because if they cannot eat tomorrow, did not have it yesterday, and it is nor allowed today, there does not seem to be a case in which it is legal to eat jam.

When Tweedledee and Tweedledum attempted to tell Alice a story to teach her the dangers of curiosity, however, they could not even decide on the proper name of the tale. One twin said, “The walrus and the carpenter,” while the other added, “or the story of the curious oysters” (Carroll 151).11 Within Wonderland and Looking Glass Land, there is even ambiguity in regards to titles. Therefore, everything in Wonderland and the Looking Glass Land are subject to vagueness. When the baby turned into a pig, Alice was baffled, there was no reason for such a change, but it occurred. Wonderland and Looking Glass Land cause confusion in order for the reader to question the logic behind such incidents. As Lacan addressed, people become socialized and develop certain expectations. Carroll's complete disregard for standards allows reasoning to be questioned in a unique setting.

Additionally, in Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter celebrates his unbirthday, which is not a concept in Alice's world.12 People only commemorate their birthday, the day their mother gave birth to them; otherwise, they would be celebrating every day of the year, the days they were not born in addition to the day they were born. In this instance, the Mad Hatter must hold a celebration every day, making the concept rather lackluster. A celebration is meant to be a rare occasion, something that does not happen often. Thus, having a party every day makes the concept obsolete. If every day is special then no day is special. Therefore, the word “celebrate” is meaningless in Wonderland. In the animated adaptation, the writers play with this notion having the White Rabbit's watch be an unbirthday present. Rather than just receive presents on one's birthday, people can receive unbirthday presents, too. In the sequel, Alice in Wonderland, Humpty Dumpty addresses the idea of an unbirthday.

“I mean, what IS an unbirthday present?”

“A present given when it isn't your birthday of course” (Carroll 177-178).

Considering, three hundred and sixty-four days of the year are one's unbirthday, which would be three hundred and sixty-four days of presents, cake, and cards. The word unbirthday can be easily understood by readers without much explanation or provided context. The prefix, “un” means not or having the opposite meaning (Dictionary.com). Pairing the prefix un with the word birthday, the ambiguity of the word is created on a basic level of language because no such word exists in the English language.

The Mad Hatter is not considered angry as mad can sometimes imply, but insane, invoking a secondary meaning of the word.13 Thus, the term “mad” becomes ambiguous in its usage.14 To further illustrate this point, in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts yells “off with his head,” at anyone who upsets her. The King interjects saying, “It's all her fancy that: they never execute nobody, you know” (Alice in Wonderland 1951). The Queen makes a declaration, but her subjects ignore her command, rendering her position as queen insignificant. Both characters can be called mad, but for different reasons.15

Another example of ambiguity occurs when the Duck and Mouse discuss William the Conqueror.

“And even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable –.”

“Found what?” said the Duck.

“Found it,” the Mouse replied rather crossly, “of course, you know what it means” (Carroll 17).

Carroll manipulates the meaning of words, causing confusion within the reader. Thus, the person taking part in the story finds themselves asking similar questions, should the word be it or what? In this instance, the reader questions the definition being offered. Grammar is thought to be a rigid structure that needs to be learned by anyone who reads and writes. For Carroll to include dialogue discussing the nature of grammar, as well as his own stylistic elements, the reader cannot help but question the importance of language.

Lacan wrote, “Such are the structural conditions that define grammar as the order of constitutive encroachments of the signifier up to the level of the unit immediately superior to the sentence, and lexicology as the order of constitutive inclusions of the signifier to the level of the verbal locution” (Lacan 742). Carroll removed the societal constructs, allowing the words to take on new meanings and uses. Interestingly, Carroll did not want Alice to speak definitively, so when she said, “I'm seven and a half exactly.” The Red Queen replied, “You needn't say exactly… I can believe it without that” (Carroll 165). The use of exactly was meant to enhance the conversation, but, in actuality, it detracted from Alice's point.16 Later, in the story, Alice says she is seven years old and six months. Similar to the Red Queen, Humpty Dumpty did not find her response to be acceptable. In order to communicate a precise answer, one must choose their words carefully.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen takes ownership of the word your. Since Alice is in her territory, Alice cannot refer to it as her way, such as saying “I lost my way.” According to the Queen, Alice has no right to say she lost her way since the roads do not belong to her. “All the ways about here belong to me” (Carroll 132). Carroll places a confine on Alice's dialogue in this sense restricting her from using the possessive form of locations or things. The Red Queen poses several questions to Alice, which cause her much confusion. For instance, she asks Alice if she knows, “The French for Fiddle-de-dee?” (Carroll 215). Fiddle-de-dee is a made up word, thus there is no translation for it. Thus, the word itself is incapable of being defined or used in any precise manner. After this comment, Alice says, “If you tell me what language ‘fiddle-de-dee is, I'll tell you the French for it” (Carroll 215). The Queen replies, “Queens never make bargains” (Carroll 215).17 The characters are having an intense disagreement over a word that has no real significance.

By having the Queen and Alice use this word multiple times during their conversation, the reader has to then question their own understanding of fiddle-de-dee and acknowledge this made up word as an actual word.

Contextualizing Meanings
During a tea party with the Mad Hatter and several other characters, Alice experiences their complete lack of manners. Upon stumbling across the Mad Hatter and his two friends, Alice finds herself across from a large table with dozens of empty chairs. After asking to join them, the Mad Hatter proclaims, “No room!” Taken aback Alice replies, “There's plenty of room” (Page 53). The Mad Hatter was not concerned with being polite or Alice's feelings, simply responding in a manner in which made him happy. His lack of warmth made Alice feel upset and confused. Why would he have all these place settings around the table if he was not open to guests? So, Alice felt entitled to sit down, even though she was not invited.

When a mouse does not respond to Alice speaking to him, she thinks, “I dare say it's a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror” (Carroll 13-14). Rather than believe a mouse chooses not to speak to her, Alice comes to the conclusion the mouse does not speak English. Alice reaches this conclusion because all of the other animals in Wonderland have the ability to speak. Back in her world, Alice talks to her cat, Dinah, but she never responds nor does she expect Dinah to. Due to Wonderland providing an expectation that animals can converse with her, Alice refuses to believe the mouse cannot speak.18

Another example of Alice attempting to contextualize an event is when she enters Wonderland. She falls down a deep hole and says, “Well…after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs” (Carroll 2). Alice uses a real world example to explain an unreal situation or at least provide context for the event taking place. Rather than refer to her fall as “long” or “far,” Carroll had Alice refer to a tangible object, stairs. Most people have a point of reference when they think of a stairwell. Alice's fall compared to a long staircase allows a reader to realize she is falling much farther than a typical distance.

A pivotal point in Alice in Wonderland occurs in the courtroom, when Alice finally recognizes that the world before her lacks order and needs order at the same time.19 The Queen wanted to sentence Alice first then hear the jury's verdict, “Sentence first – verdict afterwards” (Carroll 102). As most people are aware, the verdict comes first in a hearing then the sentencing occurs shortly thereafter. For someone to be given a punishment without knowing if they are thought to be innocent or guilty, and to what degree, is absurd. Alice's basic knowledge of legal actions allows her to realize Wonderland is not like her home back in the real world. Her history lessons may have been boring, but her schedule and classes provided a sense of security and acceptable expectations. Without standards, Alice is completely dumbfounded.

While structure may stifle creativity, or so some believe, it offers an unchanging framework people can refer back to. In this manner, Carroll demonstrates that order and socialization can be a good thing.

Text Becomes Symbolic
In both books, Carroll has breaks within the story to draw the reader's attention to the text. Some of the lesser breaks include the use of all upper case words: THEM, IT, YOU, LITTLE, MY, JUST, ARE, YOU, REJOICE, SHOULD, CAN, THREE, THAT, QUITE, VERY, WOULD, and THOUGHT. There are also several ballads in the stories, one such being the knight's ballad, Haddock's Eyes, which occurred in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Alice had just been in jeopardy with the Red Knight, only to be saved by the White Knight. On their journey to the next part of the chessboard, he sings a song to Alice to make her feel better and celebrate their quest to reach the eighth square of the chessboard. The song occurs to foster feelings of warmth, allowing Alice, and the reader, to feel at ease.

One of the poems that Carroll included in the text is The Mouse's Tale, which was relayed in Alice in Wonderland (Figure One). The Mouse offers to tell his tale to Alice, who was very interested at first. The Mouse replied, “Mine is a long and sad tale…It is a long tail, certainly” (Carroll 20). The first tale refers to his story, while the second tail is in reference to his actual physical tail, which all mice have. The words in the story are read as though they were a tail trailing behind a mouse as it moved. The Mouse's Tale “is perhaps the best-known example in English of emblematic, or figured, verse: poems printed in such a way that they resemble something related to their subject matter. The affection goes back to ancient Greece” (Garner 34). Other writers who partake in creating similar pieces include George Herbert, Dylan Thomas, Robert Herrick, Stéphane Mallarmé, E.E. Cummings, Dylan Thomas, and Guillaume Apollinaire (Garner 34).

Since Alice's adventures are all a part of her dream, she imagines an actual mouse's tail, which leads to the poem being printed in a twisted fashion. Alice's misunderstanding of tail compared to tale demonstrates the larger disconnect between the world of Wonderland and Alice's comprehension of her surroundings. Due to the words and circumstances in Wonderland constantly evolving, Alice cannot develop a baseline or precedent to work from. Similarly, the reader is constantly caught off guard with the story. Aside from the poem looking like a physical tail, it is also written in tale rhyme, which is a repetition of sounds (Garner 34). The story itself addresses how a dog tried to act as the judge, jury, and executioner for the Mouse.20 This is foreshadowing the trial that Alice must attend due to the Queen charging her with absurd crimes. The Mouse holds a grudge against the dog, having unresolved feelings towards him for the unfair actions he took. The story is trying to convey that there should be fairness and justice in the world. Sadly, the story does not resonate with Alice, who is confused and bored by the Mouse. If she had listened to his tale, she may have avoided her own trial. The story's structure forces a reader to pay close attention to the words Carroll used. There is a fluidity and musicality to the language allowing the reader to follow the story with ease. The break in the story, in this instance, simply draws the reader's attention to enhance their understanding of Alice's ongoing predicaments and lack of comprehension.

Similar to the removal of expectations, there are some instances in which Carroll draws the reader's attention to grammar. Lacan believed, “such are the structural conditions that define grammar as the order of constitutive encroachments of the signifier up to the level of the unit immediately superior to the sentence, and lexicology as the order of constitutive inclusions of the signifier to the level of the verbal locution” (Lacan 742). The Mouse's Tale is written in a unique format, tossing the regular grammar rules aside.

In novels, readers have come to expect a dialogue and scenes to be written in a certain format. Even the first novels adhered to certain standards to allow reader understanding.

In the poem, Jabberwocky is written in the book with inverted text, facing the opposite way, making it impossible for the reader to understand (Carroll 123) (Figure Two). Interestingly, Carroll wanted to invert every mention of the Jabberwocky, but later decided to only reverse this single passage (Garner 148). Charles Pierce believed that writing in this manner should be categorized as “art chirography,” which means, “the words formed so as to convey a visual impression of the poem's ideas” (Garner 35). The reader becomes acutely aware of the fact everything is backwards in Looking Glass Land.

Humpty Dumpty adds context to the Jabberwocky poem chapters after it is first introduced providing context after the fact. In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty tells Alice that the poem is made up of created words. For instance, he said, “That's enough to begin with…there are plenty of hard words there. Brillig means four o'clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things for dinner…Slithy means lithe and slimy. “Lithe” is the same as “active.” You see it's like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed into one word” (Carroll 179).

The Jabberwocky poem may not have been written to make sense.21 Considering the fact that Alice is in a dream, things can be nonsensical. Since seven years old, she may not have known how to construct a well-written poem, this the Jabberwocky poem, being a figment of her imagination, represents this lack of knowledge. Also, Carroll included made up words in Jabberwocky that were not intended to be comprehendible: beamish, brillig, bandersnatch, franjous, chortled, galumphing, mimsy, mome rath, slithy, snicker-snack, and tove are just a few of the nonsensical word choices.

Mirror, Mirror
As the title suggests, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice enters the Looking Glass Land through a mirror. “The fact that the printing appeared reversed to Alice is evidence that she herself was not reversed by her passage through the mirror” (Garner 148). Alice remains unaffected by her journey, but the Looking Glass Land operates in an unreal way. For instance, in order to reach the Red Queen, Alice must walk backwards. “An obvious allusion to the fact that forward and back are reversed by a mirror. Walk toward a mirror, the image moves in the opposite direction” (Garner 161).

In the 1933 film adaptation, Alice holds up the Encyclopedia Britannica volume seven to the looking glass in order to read the title.22 The words were inversed and undistinguishable without the mirror reflection. In order to make sense of the world around her, she needed the mirror. In a mirror, all asymmetrical objects go the other way, thus the mirror can allow the inverted image to be reframed. The mirror provides context for the unreal world Alice entered. In his writings, “Lacan stresses that the mirror-stage identification is one of misrecognition, but mis(re)cognition requires a certain intentionality on the part of an infant in the sense of apprehending its gestalt as something external yet somehow already similar or familiar to a position it now occupies – as a dependent nursling” (Vasseleu 146). Being seven years old, Alice had been viewing herself in the mirror for years. She knew how to use the mirror to read and understood that the images were inverted.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, there are many references in both books to such left-right reversals. “Tweedledee and Tweedledum are…mirror image twins; the White Knight sings of squeezing a right foot into a left shoe; and it may not be accidental that there are several references to corkscrews, for the helix in an asymmetric structure with distinct right and left forms” (141-142). The characters could be thought to be interchangeable. “Tweedledum and Tweedledee are what geometers call “enantiomorphs,” mirror-image forms of each other” (Garner 182). To illustrate this point, Tweedledee's favorite word to use is “contrariwise.” When meeting Alice, they each extend a different hand; Tweedledum extended his right hand, while Tweedledee extended his left. In the picture by Tenniel, Tweedledee and Tweedledum are standing exactly the same, are the same height, weight, and appear the same (Garner 183).

Inversion themes occur…throughout all of Carroll's nonsense writing. In the first Alice book, Alice wonders if cats eat bats or bats eat cats, and she is told to say what she means is not the same as meaning what she says. When she eats the left side of the mushroom, she grows large; the right side has the reverse effect. These changes in size, take place so often in the first book, are in themselves reversals (Garner 142).

The mirror is thought to have the ability to distort images. “The mirror is the means to transformation, allowing as it does a space in which to break with norms and create another time and space” (Lignell 24). In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dunpty makes a comment, “Some people have no more sense than a baby,” referring to the fact that some people go blindly through life never questioning the world around them (Carroll 178). People may look at themselves in a mirror, but they may not really be seeing what they truly look like. Only after an epiphany or a certain extraordinary experience can one's eyes truly be opened.

Body Image & Self Worth
Being seven years old, Alice can be thought to be in the narcissistic stage of Lacan's mirror theory, always thinking of herself.23 “Throughout all her adventures, Alice learns she must acquire an aesthetic sensibility in order to share her life with the animals in an uncertain world where she must walk away from a place in order to reach it or run fast in order to remain where she is” (Lignell 25). Alice thinks of her cat, Dinah, from time to time, but never mentions her mother, father, or sister. She does not think of her leaving them behind worried about her well being, but is only concerned about herself in Wonderland and Looking Glass Land. Alice is driven by her own curiosity in Alice in Wonderland to find the White Rabbit and her own greed in Alice Through the Looking Glass, hoping to become queen. By entering the dream world, Alice's other worldly concerns seem to either be left behind, having been disregarded, or completely forgotten, in a selfish fashion. Alice “soberly, tenaciously, childishly refuses to accept chaos completely for what it is, chaos” (Rackin 314). Throughout both pieces, Alice tries to impose her thoughts and beliefs onto the characters around her, rather than give into her circumstances. Her headstrong nature causes several difficult situations to arise such as a confrontation between herself and the Red Queen and White Queen.

In Wonderland, Alice correlates her body image to the circumstances around her. She was too tall, too small, and not the right size in a number of circumstances. Alice is too large to fit through the locked door to enter Wonderland. Then, she is too small to reach the key (on top of an end table) she needs to unlock the door to Wonderland. After this incident, she is too large to exit the rabbit's house. When Alice was confronted with a door much too small for her to fit through, she said, “How I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin” (Carroll 5). Alice's inability to take the key off the table, being too small, may be representative of her age. Most children rely completely on others, thus when she is forced to act on her own accord, she cannot succeed. But, when Alice is too large, she is also unable to enter the door. Rather than go about the proper steps, such as aging gracefully, Alice tried to skip steps. In this manner, Alice could be trying to go from infancy to adulthood, skipping puberty entirely.

She had to constantly keep redefining her existence. In Alice Through the Looking Glass, the Lion asked Alice, “Are you animal – vegetable – or mineral?” (Carroll 192). The creatures were unsure of who or what she was thus they kept asking her to explain herself. Due to her changing body image and interrogations, Alice began questioning herself. In this particular instance, Alice did not even respond to the Lion. She was so frustrated and tired of informing the people in Looking Glass Land of her life. Prior to this both the Red Queen and Humpty Dumpty mocked Alice's attempt to explain how old she was. Thus, when the Lion could not decide if she were a monster or not, Alice knew it was a futile attempt to explain anything.

In Alice in Wonderland, after drinking the concoction on the table, Alice became ten inches high, “her face brightened up at the thought she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden” (Carroll 9). This feeling of happiness didn't last too long though because Alice did not have the key from the table in order to open the door. Now, Alice was the wrong size. Upon eating a slice of cake and then drinking more from the bottle, Alice became small once again. Alice's perfect body size varied depending on the task at hand and what she desired in that certain moment.

Today, women stuff their bras with tissues in the hopes of filling out their cocktail dresses a little more, while other times female athletes wear minimizing bras in order to become more aerodynamic. The concept of body image changes moment-to-moment and event-to-event depending on the woman. Alice is not concerned about her physical attributes, such as waist or bust size, but her actual height. Not too much later in the story, in Alice in Wonderland, Alice becomes too large nearly destroying the White Rabbit's house. After this incident she becomes too small. Thus, when the Caterpillar meets her, she is still befuddled by the incidents that previously occurred.24

“Who are you?”

“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 changed several times since then...I can't explain myself, I'm afraid because I'm not myself, you see – being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing” (Carroll 34).

Alice is correlating her personality and self worth with her body. Alice informed the caterpillar, “three inches is such a wretched height to be” (Carroll 38). She believed it to be a problem, while he embraced his size. Near the end of story, at the trial, Alice's height almost affected the verdict, “Rule forty-two. All persons more than a mile high are to leave the court” (Carroll 98). Alice's size contributed to the story and conflict directly, but in each instance, she was unsure of what would occur. She may have wanted to change, but Alice had no control over how much. This type of ineptness relates to a lot of people who cannot control how much weight they gain or lose, or how much their bodies change while undergoing puberty. Carroll's distortion of Alice represents these common types of problems. Lacan would acknowledge that people wish to see themselves in a certain light, creating a false sense of understanding in regards to their body image. Alice desired herself to be a certain size, but it seemed to allude her by a small margin in each occasion.

Dream Within a Dream
In Alice Through the Looking Glass, the King fell asleep and Alice wondered what he was dreaming. Tweedledum informed her, “If that there King was to wake...you'd go out-bang! – just like a candle!” (Carroll 157). In this scene, there was a dream within a dream. Alice is the one dreaming, but even she thinks, “Only I do hope it's my dream and not the Red King's25“ (Carroll 196). When Alice awakes in Alice Through the Looking Glass, she is in her armchair with Kitty on her chest. She was not in control of her dreams even though they occurred in her own mind.

“How can you go on talking so quietly, head downward?”

“What does it matter, where my body happens to be? My mind goes on working all the same way” (Carroll 204).

When a person falls asleep, his or her body can remain inactive, but their brain keeps working. This quote could be a reference to sleeping. A person's mind can wonder, even if their body cannot. Alice's fall down the rabbit hole could be representative of her falling into a deep sleep.

The only true control Alice exhibits in either story is her ability to wake up and cause the confusion to vanish.

In the 1933 adaptation when Alice is all wet, she asks the dodo bird how to dry off and the bird responds, “History is the driest thing I know. Shall we dry you with history?” (Alice in Wonderland 1933). The viewers realize instantly that history will not literally dry Alice's clothes off, but the bird does not realize the subject of history cannot remove dampness from one's clothing. In the 1951 animated version, Alice's older sister is reading a history textbook to her, which inspires her daydreams. Alice finds history to be a boring subject thus her dreams reinterpreted history to reflect her inner thoughts. In this context, Alice's dislike of history manifested itself in a strange way. Similarly, in the 2010 Tim Burton film, Alice visited Wonderland as a child and remembered her experiences there in the form of dreams. The movies felt compelled to include a reference to dreams due to their importance in the actual text.

Additionally, in the Walt Disney animated film, Alice speaks to the doorknob who informs her “nothing is impossible.” In a person's unconscious state, anything is possible. When Alice begins to cry, she believes she is real because she has the ability to shed tears, “If I wasn't real…I shouldn't be able to cry” (Carroll 157). But, crying did not make her real because she was, in fact, dreaming. In dreams the concept of real is difficult to define. The last line of Alice Through the Looking Glass, “Life, what is but a dream?” (Carroll 231). Alice could not tell she was dreaming when she was in Wonderland, thus it is difficult to tell if she has truly awaken or entered another dream world.

Conclusion
When someone reads Alice in Wonderland and Alice Though the Looking Glass, they too can question the symbols in society. On the other side of the mirror, Alice can only succeed if she adheres to the rules of the Looking Glass Land. Alice needed to conform in order to reach her desired goal. But, at the same time, she wishes to be acknowledged as a unique individual. By analyzing both pieces in regards to the ambiguity of language, text becoming symbolic, contextualizing meanings to define words, Alice's evolving body image, the implication of mirrors, and the importance and symbolism of dreams, Carroll's use of language can be considered nonsensical to represent a larger set of questions. The societal norms people have been brought up with may lack creativity and originality, thus when someone is in a new place, they can expect things to break within their expected norm.

1 It is important to note that Alice's curiosity is what brought her to Wonderland. She saw the White Rabbit and was compelled to follow it. Similarly, when the rabbit mistakenly thought Alice was his maid, she was curious what he needed and wanted. Thus, due to her curiosity she was in his house. When she stumbled upon a bottle labeled, “drink me,” she had the opportunity to act impulsively and drink it due to her snooping.

2 In the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice's previous experience may have desensitized her to the shock of chaos because she used the curious correctly, “The most curious part of the thing was” (Carroll 134). Another reason for this sudden correctness may have been the fact she was a little older. Her age may have implied the fact she received more education and or tutoring in between the time the first and second story took place.

3 According to Gardner, the Caucus Race is a critique of the politics occurring in England. Carroll found the politics to be meaningless, thus the animals ran in a circle, never going anywhere. Therefore, if this metaphor is accurate, Carroll believed that the politicians would not advance their causes or gain any ground (Garner 21).

4 Lacan's most famous ideas revolve around the mirror stage, “The mirror stage is a drama whose internal impetus lunges forward from insufficiency to anticipation – and which, for the subject captivated by the lure of spatial identification, machinates the succession of phantasies which go From an image of the body in its and pieces to a form which we call orthopedic of its totality – and to the armor finally assumed of an alienating identity, which will mark with its rigid structure his entire mental development” (Lacan 736) `. “The moment the mirror stage gains traction in an individual occurs when the person experienced jealousy, a dialectic that will henceforth link the I to socially elaborated situations” (Lacan 737).

5 In Looking Glass Land, there are also new rules. For instance, a rule of battle is that one must “always fell onto their heads” (Carroll 198).

6 Lacan also write, “We see then, that, metaphor occurs at the precise point at which sense emerged from non-sense, that is, at the frontier which, as Freud discovered, when crossed the other way produces the word that in French is the word par excellence, the word that is simply the signifier ‘espirit' it is at this frontier that we realize that man defies his very destiny when he derides the signifier” (Lacan 746).

7 “If what Freud discovered, and rediscovers ever more abruptly, has a meaning, it is that the signifier's displacement determines subjects' acts, destiny, refusals, blindnesses, success, and fate, regardless of their innate gifts and instruction, and irregardless of their character or sex; and that everything pertaining to the psychological pregiven follows willy-nilly the signifier's train, like weapons and baggage” (Lacan 756).

8 At the end of Alice in Wonderland, her sister is daydreaming about what Alice might be like in the future. The story thus ends with a dream.

9 In this stage, the child begins to understand the images before him or her. In Alice's case, the lines blur. Is she a mere child or is she an adult in a childish world, Wonderland?

10 “I can't explain myself I'm afraid sir,” said Alice, “because I'm not myself, you see” (Carroll 35). Alice could not be anyone else, except herself, but due to the circumstances of Wonderland she is unsure of who she is connected to where she is.

11 At the end of their story, Alice could not decide which character was “mean” because both the Walrus and the Carpenter ate the innocent oysters. Alice decided they were both at fault even though the Walrus ate many more oysters.

12 The Mad Hatter also lives in a constant state of teatime, believing that it is always six o'clock. Time is not a thing, but a person. Thus, there is no stability in any sense.

13 In Carroll's time, many hatters went insane due to mercury poisoning (Garner 66). The name Mad Hatter was written with this cultural understanding in mind.

14 Lacan said, “Madness, you are no longer the object of the ambiguous praise with which the sage decorated the impregnable burrow of his fear; and if after all he finds himself tolerably at home there, it is only because the supreme agent forever at work digging its tunnels is none other than reason, the very Logos that he serves” (Lacan 755).

15 “The words he uses suggest vague meanings, like an eye here and a foot note there is a Picasso abstraction, or they may have no meaning at all – just a play of pleasant sounds like the play of nonobjective colors on a canvas” (Garner 150).

16 As opposed to using the word nonsense three times in Alice in Wonderland, Carroll wrote it seven times in Alice Through the Looking Glass. When the Red Queen speaks to Alice, their conversation involves the use of several “now,” “this,” “yet,” “that,” “very,” and “quite” (Carroll 165-166).

17 In chapter two, The Garden of Live Flowers, the Red Queen informs Alice to “Speak in French when you can't think of the English for a thing – turn out your toes as you walk – and remember who you are” (Carroll 136). She acts an authority figure telling Alice how to speak and think.

18 Similarly, Alice did not know if flowers could talk, but once she knew they could, she expected them to on each occasion she encountered them. “O Tiger-lily…I wish you could talk.” “We can” said the Tiger-lily (Carroll 128). After this moment, anytime Alice came across flowers, she expected them to be able to speak. But, alas, this was not the case.

19 French Philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, said, “A truly dangerous man, one who defines himself neither in relation to the real or action, nor in relation to the imaginary or dreams, but solely in relation to the force through which he projects images into the real” (European Graduate School). In this sense, Alice could be trying to define herself in relation to the real. Alice's real world knowledge is being used in an unreal place.

20 In Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, animals act as humans. Upon further analysis different animals may represent different races or countries of origin for people. Thus the Mouse hating dogs and cats may be representative of a minority fearing a world superpower; i.e. Nazis despising the Jews.

21 Carroll only wrote the first stanza of Jabberwocky in Alice Through the Looking Glass, he wrote a longer poem for publication much later (Garner 148-149).

22 “What appears to precede the mirror stage is simply a projection or a reflection. There is nothing on the other side of the mirror” (Gallop 121).

23 “Lacan's mirror-stage is to some extent a heuristic device. It supplies a representation of self-origin and a structural dynamic, which facilitates a psychoanalytic explanation of processes by means of which the psyche of the conscious subject may be interpreted” (Vasseleu 141). Being so young, Alice can still be developing her understanding of self.

24 Garner makes note that caterpillars change shape then they undergo sexual maturity. Thus, Alice's viewing of the Caterpillar as an enemy is an attempt to recognize her own immaturity.

25 In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice thought “I shall dream about a thousand pounds to-night, I know I shall!” (Carroll 138). This is another reference to her dreaming within a dream. Similarly, it could be in reference to Alice's ability to dream. She is aware of her ability to have complex dreams, yet does not realize that she is currently in one.

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