The Identity of the White Knight: As one of the most endearing and important characters in the “Alice” stories, Carroll designed the White Knight with exquisite care. With his songs, awkwardness, chivalry and spirit of invention, the Knight was intended to be a compassionate caricature of Carroll himself. Carroll even told Tenniel to illustrate the Knight as a fairly young man. Perhaps in pure mischief (Tenniel and Carroll had a legendary frustration with one another), Tenniel made certain that the White Knight looked very much like himself. This included not only a prominent nose and grandiose moustache … the Knight was also certainly Tenniel’s own age, and quite a bit older than Carroll!
The Farewell of the White Knight: It must be remembered that Carroll wrote Through the Looking-Glass for a public audience, and that his relations with Alice Liddell were no more. The farewell of the White Knight has often been interpreted as Carroll’s own farewell to Alice. The young Alice, while sympathetic to the White Knight’s sorrow, is so eager to grow up and become a Queen that she does not regard this passing as anything more than a fleeting sorrow. Later, of course, memory will catch up with her and she will look back on the White Knight fondly. This section of the story bears a close relation to Lorina’s nostalgic daydreams at the end of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Chapter IX
Castling: Castling, in Looking-Glass Chess, occurs when the Queens align on the back row of the game board. Here, the Red Queen is appearing to challenge the rise of Alice. Now that Alice has left the dream-lingering of the White Knight (Carroll) and she is ready to grow up, she is beset by stern Victorian women who will see if Alice is worthy of ladyship just yet. And so the examination begins, leading directly into the feast, the endgame of the Looking-Glass Chess match. Castling, then, is the rite of passage out of childhood.
The Barrage of Lessons: Alice finds these two to be much more demanding than the Gryphon and Mock Turtle were. The emphasis is that these Queens are of two worlds; Alice from sensible England, and the Red and White Queens from Looking-Glass Land, where nonsense reigns. Of course, the real test behind the nonsense is one of wills.
Who Will Win?: The dominance of the Red Queen is very clear here. The White Queen feels compelled to follow the Red Queen’s lead in interrogating Alice, although she does so half-heartedly. She may well be secretly hoping that Alice will triumph, even as the aging White Queen falters. Alice served in the chess match as a White Pawn, and in reaching the last row she became an heiress and the second White Queen. Alice has the power to overthrow the Red Queen, if Her (overconfident) Red Majesty does not realize the full implications of what has transpired!
The Lot of the White Queen: This scene tells us quite a bit about Looking-Glass Land. The Red Queen is clearly the ruling matriarch, while the White Queen belongs to a challenging, but still inferior, lineage of royalty. The royal palace is on the Red Queen’s side of the board, while the poor White Queen only lives in a little house. We are also reminded that the White Queen is in desperate need of a lady’s-maid, and was eager to seek Alice’s dressing assistance.
Hush-a-By Lady: With this not-so-innocent lullaby, the Red Queen is condescending to the White Queen, implying that she is so helpless and childlike that the young Alice should take care of her.
Two Great Heads Suddenly Vanished: This curious scene tells us that the Red and White Queens have dreamed themselves into the palace. The parallels to the Cheshire-Cat’s vanishing act are interesting!
“Wexes It”: The old Frog is saying that knocking “vexes” the door. His accent indicates his rustic nature; he might indeed be the gardener or the grounds keeper.
“It Isn’t Etiquette to Cut Anyone”: The joke here is that “to cut” someone, in Victorian parlance, is to intentionally slight someone by refusing to acknowledge their handshake, introduction or conversation.
The Simplicity of Defiance: Alice begins to win the duel of wills when she contradicts the Red Queen’s order with one of her own. She is strengthened when she speaks out, and everyone honors her with silence. This moment is a more mature echo of the incident in Wonderland, when Alice first defied the Queen of Hearts.
“Leave All the Conversation to the Pudding”: This is a hostess’s dinner joke, as in “It’s bad manners to wait until desert before talking with your guests.”
“We Must Support You”: This is an ominous glimpse of the Queens keeping up appearances before their subjects, and hiding their quarrelsome battle. In fact, the whole theme of the formal chess match might be ritualized combat, to avoid civil war in Looking-Glass Land through the creation of “bread and circuses.”
“Something’s Going to Happen”: Indeed! The White Queen knows that Alice will either lose (and perhaps be trapped in Looking-Glass Land), or wake and leave forever. The White Queen hides in the soup-tureen for shelter. The Red Queen, her temper finally percolating past the boiling point, is causing the environment to change. But unlike the White Queen’s kindness, with the gentle lessons of the Sheep Shop and the river of dreams, the Red Queen’s change of the feast-hall is one of direct challenge. Alice, however, succeeds in defying the Red Queen, just as she did the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, by refusing to give in to fear and standing up for herself. And with that, she is ready to begin growing up, and is woken out of Looking-Glass Land.
Chapter XI
Shaking, Waking: In this scene, Alice is finally angered into forgetting all meek propriety. She simply defies the Red Queen’s mischief. In doing so, she reveals the true nature of what has happened: in the dream of the Red King which Alice fell into, Kitty (the black kitten of Alice’s reality) embodied the Red Queen. Once Alice asserted herself and punished the Red Queen/Kitty for her flaws in behavior, Alice woke herself out of the Red King’s dream, and found herself safely back in the drawing-room of the Deanery.
Chapter XII
Which Do You Think It Was?: It’s a grave question, with no certain answer. If Alice was dreaming, then Looking-Glass Land was her own creation, and she was simply struggling with different aspects of herself until she resolved to begin growing up. If the Red King was dreaming, then Looking-Glass Land was a trial of life and death, since Alice would have “gone out like a candle” if she had not woken up in time.
The Closing Poem
Still She Haunts Me: This is Carroll’s farewell to the Alice of youth. As Alice grows up and begins to lose interest in imagination and grows enamored with the reality of life, there is no real place for Carroll to be with her any longer. But he remembers her with an eternal affection, and for that reason alone these stories were written down.
The Name in Farewell: The first letters of each line spell out ALICE PLEASANCE LIDDELL.
The Wasp in a Wig
The Nature of the Wasp: The Wasp character is a continuation and extension of the concept introduced by the Gnat: namely, the idea of the downtrodden lower class with their own hopes, insights and sorrows. Whereas the Gnat was morbidly aware of his life’s futility and nearness to death, the Wasp is similarly very old and resigned in his belief that nothing will ever change. His insights come not through mere depression, but through defeating experience. The fact that a young girl as well-to-do as Alice is willing to speak with him, however, gives him a glimmer of hope.
Worrity: This simply means “worry,” but the usage tells us that the Wasp has probably always belonged to the struggling lower class.
The Latest News: This aside is a parody of those African and Indian adventures that were often in the Victorian papers, as technology rushed through the world and colonialism marched boldly on.
“I Think I Must Be Going Now”: Alice has shown a considerable degree of patience with the crotchety Wasp, and much goodwill. Carroll probably intended this episode to show that Alice did not simply desire to be a Queen, but she was also worthy of it. The fact that Alice gently departs from the crotchety Wasp—but still departs, all the same—tells us much not only about the dream-child, but also about the young lady Alice Pleasance Liddell.
Specula
tive Chronology of Looking-Glass Land
By Kent David Kelly
THE FOLLOWING dates, as before, can be derived from the hints and allusions hidden throughout the text.
June 3, 1758 (Saturday): The White Queen is born. (We can calculate this day by the White Queen’s precise reckoning of her age during her conversation with Alice.)
November, 1765: The White Queen, practicing hard, teaches herself the art of believing as many as six impossible things before breakfast. (The White Queen says to Alice, “When I was your age ...” which indicates seven-and-one-half years of age.)
October?, 1859: The Hatter is released from prison in Wonderland.
November 1, 1859 (Tuesday): A massive thunderstorm passes through Looking-Glass Land.
November 3, 1859 (Thursday): This is the day before the chess match begins in Looking-Glass Land. The Red Queen marshals her forces. The White Queen, meanwhile, loses her comb. (The White Queen also tells us that she has a hippopotamus in her home on Thursdays!)
November 4, 1859 (Friday): Alice has her adventures in Looking-Glass Land. (She is exactly seven and one-half years old, and her birthday was on May 4, 1852.)
November 4, 1859 (Early Afternoon): Lewis Carroll and Alice play chess in the Deanery drawing-room. Dinah, meanwhile, grooms the black kitten.
November 4, 1859 (Early Afternoon): The chess match between red and white begins in Looking-Glass Land. (Most likely, at the same time that Alice begins playing chess in the Deanery.)
November 4, 1859 (Throughout the Afternoon): In Looking-Glass Land, many of the chess pieces are captured, and red begins to win the match.
November 4, 1859 (Mid-Afternoon): Alice plays with Kitty and Snowdrop in the drawing-room. (Carroll tells us in the text that it is afternoon, and has been for awhile.)
November 4, 1859 (3:30 PM?): Alice reads Jabberwocky and passes through the looking-glass. (The exact time is inconclusive, but from Tenniel’s illustration, the time may be 3:30 PM.)
November 4, 1859 (Mid-Afternoon): Alice explores the Looking-Glass House and enters the Garden of Live Flowers. She meets the Red Queen and becomes a White Pawn in the ongoing chess game.
November 4, 1859 (Mid-Afternoon): Alice boards the train and journeys further into Looking-Glass Land. She meets the Gnat and sees the Looking-Glass Insects.
November 4, 1859 (Mid- to Late Afternoon): Alice wanders through the nameless wood, and finds the Fawn.
November 4, 1859 (Late Afternoon): Alice meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
November 4, 1859 (Late Afternoon): The twin brothers have their battle. (We do not know how long it lasts, but Tweedledum says that they will fight until 6:00 PM, and then have dinner. They are of course interrupted by the monstrous crow.)
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets the White Queen (and the Sheep), and boats on the river of dreams.
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets Humpty Dumpty, the Anglo-Saxon Messengers, the White King, the Lion and the Unicorn.
November 4, 1859 (Early Evening): Alice meets the White Knight and enjoys his company. (Carroll tells us that the sun is setting at this time.)
November 4, 1859 (6:15 PM?): Alice castles, and dines with the Red and White Queens. (It may be a bit after 6:00 PM, since Tweedledum and Tweedledee were intending to fight until 6:00 PM and then have dinner.)
November 4, 1859 (Late Evening): Alice returns home to the Deanery, and scolds her kittens.
November 4, 1859 (Night): The royal ball is held in Looking-Glass Land, which Alice is not there to attend. Hopefully, the White Queen asserts herself in a more considerable fashion, now that the Red Queen has been defeated.
PART VI
ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND
Introduction
ALICE’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND is something of a “non-secret secret” amongst the more studious devotees of Alice’s adventures. Few readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are aware that the published edition is actually an expanded version of a unique narrative, which was originally written solely for an audience of one, Alice Pleasance Liddell.
Following the boating journeys from Folly Bridge up to Godstow, young Alice entreated Lewis Carroll to write his extemporized stories down for her, so that she could enjoy them again and again. After some continued insistence, Carroll relented and began to write a manuscript which he entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Far from being only a first draft, this fascinating work was created as a gift piece to be lovingly presented to Alice alone. It was handwritten, and filled with whimsical illustrations by the amateur draftsman Carroll himself. Needless to say, once it was finally done, it was one of Alice’s most cherished possessions. (Later in Alice’s life, this manuscript set records at a Sotheby’s auction and became a national treasure. See the chronology of the Alice works, later in this collection, for further details.)
From the detached perspective of modern readers (outside of these personal anecdotes between Alice and Carroll), Alice’s Adventures Under Ground is probably creatively inferior to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Many of the most-loved classic scenes—such as the Mad Tea-Party, the house of the Duchess and the extended trial of the tarts—are completely missing, due to being written after the Under Ground had been completed and given to Alice. But there are some additional Wonderland treasures in this manuscript which can be found nowhere else. Some unique jokes, names and sub-scenes were included only in this original manuscript, and were later excised from the published version. The story of the Under Ground is included here in full, so that the reader can enjoy the story (and these secrets!) as Alice did, on the River Isis some 150 years ago.
The illustrations themselves may well require some further explanation. Carroll was, by his own admission, an amateur draftsman. His works cannot hold a candle to the masterworks of Sir John Tenniel. Carroll’s drawings, however, are full of life and humor, and perfectly accent the story he was trying to tell. They are fascinating in their own right not only for their differences from the published versions, but also for the deeper insights they give us into the nature of Wonderland itself. (For example, take a good look at Carroll’s drawings of the Pool of Tears and White Rabbit’s house to see some more “secret” characters. Also, study the croquet-ground pictures for some other intriguing details concerning the nature of the cards and Kings and Queens.)
Due to the material nature of Carroll’s illustrations, however—drawn more than a century ago in a single manuscript, and poorly reproduced in later publicized versions—they may well seem lacking compared to the far more professional works of Tenniel and Holiday. I have taken every effort to position, brighten, solidify and resize these pictures to the finest extent that the Kindle allows. Those who would like to see the drawings in their finest light, however, are invited to explore the excellent online book exhibit hosted by the British Library, beginning at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/alice/accessible/introduction.html. The page enlargements on the British Library site give a clear indication of Carroll’s wonderfully sketched details, nuance, humor and delicacy of line.
Similarly, due to the difficult-to-read handwritten nature of the original manuscript, I have carefully edited and re-entered the full text of the story here. Carroll’s original handwriting, for those who are curious, can be studied at the link provided above. This version, however, has been uniquely created, edited and formatted specifically for enjoyable reading on the Kindle.
I sincerely hope that you will find this amazing, “secret” version of Alice’s adventures to be a worthy supplement to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Just when you think you know everything there is to tell, something will be certain to surprise you. And so we go down the rabbit-hole once again. I will see you there!
A Letter to Alice Hargreaves
(NOTE: Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was later published for the public, long after the original Alice books had become classics. In 1885, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) wro
te the following letter to Alice Hargreaves—Hargreaves being the married name of Alice Pleasance Liddell.)
Christ Church, Oxford
March 1, 1885
My Dear Mrs. Hargreaves,
I fancy this will come to you almost like a voice from the dead, after so many years of silence—and yet those years have made no difference, that I can perceive, in my clearness of memory of the days when we did correspond. I am getting to feel what an old man’s failing memory is, as to recent events and new friends (for instance, I made friends, only a few weeks ago, with a very nice little maid of about 12, and had a walk with her—and now I ca’n’t recall either of her names!) but my mental picture is as vivid as ever, of one who was, through so many years, my ideal child-friend. I have had scores of child-friends since your time: but they have been quite a different thing.
However, I did not begin this letter to say all that. What I want to ask is whether you have any objection to the original MS being published in facsimile? The idea of doing so occurred to me only the other day. If, on consideration, you come to the conclusion that you would rather not have it done, there is an end of the matter. If, however, you give a favourable reply, I would be much obliged if you would lend it me (registered post I should think would be safest) that I may consider the possibilities. I have not seen it for about 20 years: so am by no means sure that the illustrations may not prove to be so awfully bad, that to reproduce them would be absurd.
There can be no doubt that I should incur the charge of gross egoism in publishing it. But I don’t care for that in the least: knowing that I have no motive: only I think, considering the extraordinary popularity the books have had (we have sold more than 120,000 of the two) there must be many who would like to see the original form.
The Complete Alice in Wonderland (Wonderland Imprints Master Editions) Page 26
