By Angela Maria Hart
Continuing with my "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking-Glass" themed videos and posts, today I am talking about some of my favorite nonsensical quotes from the texts.
JAM TODAY!:
Alice couldn't help laughing, as she said, "I don't want you to hire me – and I don't care for jam."
"It's very good jam," said the Queen.
"Well, I don't want any to-day, at any rate."
"You couldn't have it if you did want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day."
"It must come sometimes to 'jam to-day'," Alice objected.
"No, it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam every other day: to-day isn't any other day, you know."
"I don't understand you," said Alice. "It's dreadfully confusing!"
I CAN SEE:
"You may look in front of you, and on both sides, if you like," said the Sheep: "but you can’t look all round you — unless you’ve got eyes at the back of your head."
MEMORIES:
“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' says the White Queen to Alice.”
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).[1] 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.
[1] 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.
If you have any thoughts on "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking-Glass" let me know!
