Alice's Journey to the End of Night

Author(s): Donald Rackin

Source: PMLA, Vol. 81, No. 5 (Oct., 1966), pp. 313-326
Published by: Modern Language Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/460819
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 PUBLICATIONS OF THE-MODERN-LANGUAGE-ASSOCIATION-OF-AMERICA
Issued Seven Times a Tear
all..
VOLUME LXXXI OCTOBER 1966
ALICE'S JOURNEY TO THE END OF NIGHT
BY DONALD RACKIN
IN THE CENTURY now passed since the
publicationof Alice's Advenlures in Wonder-
land, scoresof criticalstudieshave attemptedto
account for the fascinationthe book holds for
adult readers.Althoughsome of theseinvestiga-
tions offerprovocativeinsights,most of them
treatCarrollin specializedmodesinaccessibleto
the majorityof readers,and they fail to view
Alice as a completeand organic work of art.
Hardly a single importantcritique has been
writtenof Alice as a self-contained fiction,dis-
tinct from Throughthe Looking-Glassand all
otherimaginativepieces by Carroll.Criticsalso
tend to confuseCharlesDodgson the man with
Lewis Carrollthe author; thisleads to distorted
readingsofAlice that depend too heavilyon the
fact,say, that Dodgson was an Oxforddon, or a
mathematician,or a highlyeccentricVictorian
gentlemanwithcuriouspathologicaltendencies.
The resultsare oftenanalyses whichfail to ex-
plain the total work'sundeniableimpact on the
modernlay readerunschooledin Victorianpolit-
ical and social history,theoreticalmathematics,
symbolic logic, or Freudian psychology. It
seemstime,then,that Alice be treatedforwhat
it mostcertainlyis-a book ofmajorand perma-
nentimportancein the traditionof Englishfic-
tion,a workthat stillpertainsdirectlyto the ex-
perienceoftheunspecializedreader,and one that
exemplifiesthe profoundquestioningof reality
which characterizesthe mainstreamof nine-
teenth-century Englishliterature.
The fact that Carroll'sfirstversionof Alice's
Adventures in Wonderlandwas called Alice's Ad-
ventures underGroundis surprisingly prophetic.
Perhapseventhefinalversionwouldbe moreap-
propriatelyentitled Alice's Advenluresunder
Ground,since,above all else,it embodiesa comic
horror-vision of the chaotic land beneath the
man-madegroundworkof Westernthoughtand
convention.
313
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. .i.
NUMBER 5
Alice's dogged quest forWonderland'smean-
ing in termsofherabove-groundworldofsecure
conventions and self-assured regulations is
doomed to failure.Her only escape is in flight
fromWonderland'scompleteanarchy-a desper-
ate leap back to the above-groundcertaintiesof
social formalitiesand ordinarylogic. Her literal
quest serves,vicariously,as the reader's meta-
phorical search for meaning in the lawless,
haphazarduniverseof his deepestconsciousness.
Thus, the almost unanimousagreementamong,
moderncriticsthat Alice is a dream-visionturns
out to be far more than a matterof technical
classification.If it were merelythat, one might
dismissthe work(aridsome criticshave) as sim-
plya whimsicalexcursionintoan amusing,child-
like worldthat has littlerelevanceto the central
concernsof adult life and little importancein
comparisonto theobviously"serious"worksthat
explorethese concerns.But if"dream-vision"is
understoodas serious thinkers(rangingfrom
medievalpoets to modernpsychologists)have so
oftenunderstoodit, as an avenue to knowledge
thatis perhapsmoremeaningful-andfrequently
morehorrifying-than any thattheunaidedcon-
scious intellectcan discover,thenit providesan
almostperfectdescriptionof the verysubstance
ofCarroll'smasterpiece.
Merelyto list the reversesAlice encountersin
Wonderlandis to surveyat a glance an almost
total destructionof the fabricof our so-called
logical, orderly,and coherentapproach to the
world. Practicallyall pattern,save the consis-
tencyofchaos,is annihilated.First,thereare the
usual modes of thought-ordinarymathematics
and logic:in Wonderlandtheypossessabsolutely
no meaning.Next are the even morebasic social
and linguisticconventions:these too lose all
validity.Finally,the fundamentalframework of
consciouspredication-orderlyTime and Space
-appears nowhereexceptin the confusedmem-
314 Alice'sJourney
totheEnd ofNight
ory of the befuddledbut obstinatevisitorfrom
above ground. Alice, therefore,becomes the
reader's surrogateon a frightful journey into
meaninglessnight.The only difference between
Alice and the reader-and this is significant-is
that she soberly,tenaciously,childishlyrefuses
to accept chaos completelyforwhat it is, while
the adult readeralmostinvariablyrespondswith
the only defenseleftopen to him in the face of
unquestionablechaos-he laughs. Naturally he
laughsforotherreasons,too. But the essenceof
Alice's adventuresbeneath commonlyaccepted
groundis the grimmestcomedyconceivable,the
comedy of man's absurd condition in an ap-
parentlymeaninglessworld.
If Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,then,is
best viewed as a grimlycomic trip throughthe
lawless undergroundthat lies just beneath the
surfaceof our constructeduniverse,what gives
the workits indisputablerelevanceto that uni-
verse, what keeps Alice itself from becoming
formless, inconsistent, and confusing? The
answerto thisquestionis at once an explanation
of Alice's literarynatureand a tentativeglimpse
at a fundamental problemofmodernman.
Let us beginat thebeginning. Aliceentersupon
her journeyundergroundsimplybecause she is
curious:she followsthe White Rabbit down the
rabbithole, "neveronce consideringhow in the
worldshe was to getout again" (p. 26).1Withthe
fearlessness oftheinnocentchild,theintellectual
and spiritualrecklessnessof a heedlessscientist
or saint, Alice takes her giganticand seemingly
irreversible leap into the worldbeneathand be-
yondordinaryhumanexperience.
Significantly, Alice brings along with her a
number of things from that old world above
ground,the most importantbeing her beliefin
the simple orderlinessof the universe.For ex-
ample,in themidstofherlongfallshe retainsher
old beliefin regularcausal relationsand puts the
emptymarmaladejar back into a cupboard in
orderto avoid "killingsomebodyunderneath,"
whatever"killing" may mean to her. She won-
ders,as she fallsand falls,about many things-
all in termsofthe worldshe has leftbehind,as if
she had notreallyleftit at all. She wonderswhat
latitude or longitudeshe has arrived at, even
though"latitude" and "longitude"are meaning-
less wordsto herand meaninglessmeasurements
underthe ground.She wonderswhethershe will
come out on the otherside of the earth,where
people called "The Antipathies"(pp. 27-28)walk
with theirheads downwards(a propheticpun,
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forthemajorityofthe"people" she willmeetwill
be truly"Antipathies"to Alice).
Already a pattern is discernible:Alice's as-
sumptionsare typicallyno morethanherelders'
operatingpremiseswhichshe maintainswith a
doctrinairepassion that is almosta caricatureof
immaturecredulity.For her,thesepremisesare
emptywords,yet herfaithin theirvalidityis al-
mostboundless.Carrollthuseconomicallyestab-
lishesone importantfacetof his protagonistbe-
foreher adventuresand her quest formeaning
beginin earnest:shehas reachedthatstageofde-
velopmentwherethe worldappears completely
explainableand unambiguous,thatmostnarrow-
minded,prejudicedperiod of life where,para-
doxically,daringcuriosityis wedded to uncom-
promisingliteralnessand priggish,ignorantfaith
in the fundamentalsanityof all things.With a
few deft strokes, Carroll has prepared us for
Alice's firstmajor confrontation withchaos. She
is ready to cope withthe "impossible"in terms
of the "possible," and we are ready to under-
stand and laugh at her literal-mindedreac-
tions.
To all ofus the conceptofconstantor predict-
able size is fairlyimportant;to a childofsevenor
eightit is oftena matterof physicaland mental
survival. However, since Alice wants to pass
throughthe tinydoor into the "loveliestgarden
you ever saw" (p. 30), she herselfwishes the
destructionof the principleof constantsize: she
wishesshe could findthe way to shut up like a
telescope.Fortunately,"so manyout-of-the-way
thingshad happenedlately" thatshe has "begun
to thinkthat veryfewthingsindeed [are]really
impossible"(p. 30). Here Alice's mindis operat-
ing along logical lines establishedbeforeher ar-
rival in the confusingunderground.She deals
withtheimpossibleas ifit had to conformto the
regularcausal operationsof herold worldabove
ground.But the adult reader knows better: in
addition to recognizingthe fallacies of Alice's
reasoningin termsof traditionalabove-ground
logic, the reader also realizes that in an under-
groundworldwhere"impossibility" is, as it were,
therule,Alicehas no rightto assumethattheold
logic itselfstill applies. The fact that Alice's
illogicalreasoningholds truein this case merely
indicates that if Wonderlandoperates on any
firmprinciple,that principlemostcertainlyruns
1 All references
in mytextto A lice'sAdventures
in Wonder-
land are to The AnnotatedAlice, ed. Martin Gardner(New
York, 1960).
 DonaldRackin
counter to the normal logic of the everyday
world.
In any event,Alice is comparativelysuccess-
ful this time-her apparentlogic seems to hold
true.No doubtherfirstlimitedsuccessesand her
abilitymore or less to controleventsat the be-
ginningserve to make her later setbacksall the
moreperplexing.Besides,althoughherabilityto
changehersize at willis at firstpleasurable(as it
wellmightbe to children,who oftenequate size
withpower), it soon becomes a mixed blessing.
Althoughshe "had got so muchinto the way of
expectingnothingbut out-of-the-way thingsto
happen,that it seemedquite dull and stupid for
lifeto go on in the commonway" (p. 33), rapid,
almost haphazard changes fromten inches to
ninefeetare usually accompaniedby downright
dangerouscircumstances like deep pools of tears
and frightfully crampedquarters.Nevertheless,
even here Wonderlandstill bears some relation-
ship to above-groundcausality: growingbig or
small still seems to have predictable effects.
Amidst all the comedy,however,the ominous
destructiveprocess has begun: two reasonably
constantaspects of ordinaryexistence-natural
growthand predictablesize-have already lost
theirvalidity.Whetheror not Alicerecognizesit,
a wedgehas been drivenintoherold structureof
meaning.
It is only natural that in such circumstances
of confusion,a child would tryto relate himself
to thesecurestabilityofthepast. Alicesoonsays,
"Dear, dear! How queer everythingis today!
And yesterdaythingswenton just as usual . . . if
I'm not the same, the next questionis, 'Who in
the world am I?' Ah, that'sthe great puzzle!"
(p. 37). This fallaciousand ironicallycomic"in-
the-world" approach bears watching. Earlier
Alice followedthe rabbit,"never once consider-
ing how in the worldshe was to get out again."
Alice typicallypersistsin fruitlessattemptsto
relate her truly "out-of-the-world" adventures
to her previous "in-the-world"assumptions.
Perhaps sensingthat her above-groundidentity
rested on arbitrary,constructedsystems like
arithmetic, she attemptsto re-establishit by re-
citingherrote-learned lessons:"Let me see: four
times fiveis twelve,and fourtimes six is thir-
teen, and fourtimes seven is-oh dear! I shall
never get to twentyat that rate!" (p. 38). But
Aliceis in WVonderland, whereold assumptions-
that rabbitscannottalk,that longitudeand lati-
tude can always plot position, that size and
growth must be fairlyregular-have already
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315
provenridiculouslyinvalid.Of course,herarith-
metic(as some specialistshave pointedout) still
makes sense,2but only to a relativelysophisti-
catedmind;and eventhenthesenseit makesonly
servesto strengthen a visionof the arbitraryna-
ture of common above-groundapproaches to
meaning.Alice herselfhas an intuitionof this
truthwhenshe asserts,"However,the Multipli-
cationTable doesn'tsignify:let's tryGeography"
(p. 38). But even beforeshe beginsher confused
geographyrecitation("London is the capital of
Paris," and so on), thereadersuspectsthatshe is
again headed forfailure,since the ordinarycon-
cept of Space, too, is alreadyon its way to obliv-
ion.
Directlyaftertheseamusingarithmeticaland
geographicalsetbacks,Alice attemptsto estab-
lish her previous identityby recitingWatts's
moralversesabout thebusybee and Satan's mis-
chiefforidle hands. Once again it is all wrong.
Even hervoicesounds"hoarseand strange,"as if
takingsome uncontrollable,demonicdelightin
the parody("How doth the littlecrocodile").In
thisone shortcomicpoem,anotherabove-ground
principleis subverted.For regardlessof the pa-
tentsentimentality ofverseslike "How doththe
little busy bee / Improve each shininghour,"
they are formany a child the only moralityhe
yet knows (indeed, the very tritenessof such
versesreflectsa truthabout the seeminglymore
sincere moral aphorisms of adults). Alice's
comic recitationalso subvertsthe sentimental
conventionthatanimalsare innatelymoral,3and
this subversionties in neatly with Alice's later
encounterswiththe animalsof Wonderland:for
the mostpart theywillnot be like Watts's busy
little bee; they will be more like Alice's nasty
crocodile(p. 38). Hence, moralprecepts,like or-
derlygrowth,are meaninglessor cruellytwisted
in Wonderland.And withso manyfamiliar,com-
fortingconceptsalreadylost,Alice naturallybe-
ginsto sense herisolation.She wishesthat those
she left above groundwould call her back be-
cause she is "so verytiredofbeingall alone here!"
(p. 39).
A numberofpsychoanalytic interpretations of
2 See, e.g.,AlexanderL. Taylor,The WhiteKnight:A Study
ofC. L. Dodgson(London,1952),pp. 46-47.
3 Alice's twistednurseryversesoftenmake farmoreDar-
winian sense than do their original models. See William
Empson, "Alice in Wonderland:The Child as Swain," in
EnglishPastoralPoetry(New York,1938) forsomecomments
on the DarwiniantheorybehindmuchofCarroll'ssubversive
satire.
316 Alice'sJourney
totheEnd ofNight
Alice stressthe importanceof this motifof self-
identity.4Psychoanalytictechniques,however,
seem rathersuperflnous in this case: most adult
readers easily recognizethat this most crucial
above-groundconvention-the nearlyuniversal
beliefin permanentself-identity-isput to the
test and eventuallydemolishedin Wonderland.
Alice is constantlyperplexedwiththesame ques-
tion: "Who am I?' When,in the fourthchapter,
the White Rabbit ordersher about like his ser-
vant Mary Ann, Alice (attempting,as usual, to
relate her adventuresto some orderlypattern
applicable to above-groundexperience)accepts
the new role and imagineshow the new identity
willfollowher back to her old world,whereher
cat Dinah willorderherabout in thesame fashion
(p. 56). In addition,her continuingchanges in
size representa variation of the self-identity
theme,since to a child differences in size repre-
sent definitechanges in actual identity.Alice's
tortured"What will becomeof me?" in reaction
to her apparentlyuncontrolledgrowth(p. 58)
and herfearfulacceptanceof the role as servant
to a rabbit are, then, more than the amusing
responses of a little girl to general confusion.
They are her reactions to the destructionof
three basic above-groundasumptions-orderly
growth,the hierarchyof animals and men, and
consistentidentity.
Not onlyis Alice's previousidentitymeaning-
less in Wonderland;the veryconceptof perma-
nentidentityis invalid.A pack of cardscan be a
groupofpeople,a childcan turnintoa pig,a cat's
grincan existwithouta cat. Even inanimateob-
jects like stones lack simpleconsistency;in the
fourthchapter,when the White Rabbit and his
groupthrowpebblesat Alice,who is trappedby
her enormoussize in the house whichis now far
too smallforher,she notices"withsomesurprise,
thatthepebbles[are]all turningintolittlecakes."
Well schooledin the above-groundprinciplesof
regularcausality and by now quite determined
to assume that the same principlesare operative
in this Wonderlandof impossibilities, Alice pro-
ceeds in her doggedlylogical manner:"If I eat
one of these cakes . . . it's sure to make some
changein mysize; and, as it can't possiblymake
me larger,it must make me smaller,I suppose"
(p. 63). It is the "I suppose" that humorously
hintsat whatmay be happeningsomewheredeep
withinAlice.Pedestrianas hermindis, she is be-
ginningto get a glimmerof the "principle"of
Wonderland-that it operates on no principle
whatsoever.Yet her subsequent eating of the
pebbles that are now little cakes representsher
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stubborndeterminationto act as if her above-
groundorderstillobtains.
From the verybeginningof the underground
adventures,another worldly convention-that
verbal communicationis potentiallylogical and
unambiguous- has beensurreptitiously assailed.
Finally, when Alice and the strange animals
emergesoakingfromher pool of tears,linguistic
order dissolves completely,appropriatelyin a
dramatized pun. The Mouse announces in all
seriousnessthathe willdrythem:hismethodis to
recite a passage froma historytextbook,the
"driest thing"he knows (p. 46). Here Wonder-
land,throughthecomicagencyoftheMouse and
his "dry" historylesson,subvertsa fundamental
principleof everydaylanguage.His confusionof
symboland object has far-reaching metaphysi-
cal significance,
but all we need note hereis that
this confusionis one more contributionto the
clear patternof destructionrunningthroughall
ofAlice'sadventures.
Much of the humorin thischapter,whichbe-
gins with the semantic mix-upover the word
dry,is based on similarlinguisticmayhem.The
assembledcreaturescannotacceptlanguageon its
own grounds.They wantit to do whatit cannot
do. For one thing,they want it to be logical.
When the Mouse states in his "dry" tale that
Stigland"foundit advisable," he is interrupted
by the Duck, whowantsto knowthe antecedent
noun for"it" beforethe Mouse has a chance to
continue(p. 47). Here is a twistin Wonderland's
destructivestrategy:insteadofcontradicting the
validityofman-madeconstructsand conventions
by merelycarryingon withoutthem,Wonderland
managesin the veryact of usingthemto be far
more subversive.Actually,the Duck's demand
is a dramaticreductioad absurdumof traditional
grammar.He implicitlyputs above-groundlin-
guisticassumptionsto thetestby askinglanguage
to do what is finallyimpossible-to be consis-
tentlyunambiguous.Such a new turnin strategy
enrichesthe complexityof the humorousattack
on above-groundconventionand our illusionof
cosmic order. By demandingthat language be
consistentlysequential,Wonderland,so to speak,
destroysthe falselogic oflanguagewithlogicit-
self. This new strategydemonstratesone more
weapon in Wonderland'scomic arsenal: when-
evertheworldabove groundclaimsto be strictly
consistent-as in Space, size, or mathematics-
Wonderlandis, by its veryoperations,madden-
4 See, e.g., PhyllisGreenacre,Swiftand CarrolI:A Psycho-
analyticStudyofTwoLives (New York, 1955).
 DonaldRackin
inglyinconsistent. But whenevertheworldabove
groundis admittedlyinconsistent-as in gram-
mar-then Wonderland strenuouslydemands
complete consistency.Such an oblique attack
forcesthe reader to rememberwhat he always
knew-one cannot expect ordinarylanguage to
be unambiguouslike mathematics.However,the
urgent,rude insistenceof Wonderlandcreatures
(like the Eaglet's cry "Speak English!" [p. 47]
or laterthe March Hare's "say whatyou mean"
[p. 95] withits implicationthat languageis not
reversiblelike mathematicalequations) neatly
satirizesthe commonworld'sillogicality;and so,
in themidstofall thefun,one moreconventional
propoforderbeginsto crumble.
As Chapter iii progresses,this conventional
prop finallydisintegrates.When Alice asks the
Dodo what a Caucus-Race is (that is, whenshe
asks him to definea wordwithotherwords)and
therebyunwittingly tests a fundamentalaspect
of language,his onlyansweris "the best way to
explain it is to do it" (p. 48). When the Mouse
assertsthat his "is a long and a sad tale," Alice
replies,"It is a longtail . . . but whydo you call
it sad?" WhentheMouse says "not,"Alicethinks
he refersto a knot(pp. 50-52).5 Here, then,an-
other above-groundassumption(one that per-
plexed Charles Dodgson all his life)-that
ordinarylanguage, whetherwrittenor spoken,
has at least the potential to be univocal-dis-
solves as swiftly and easily as the smiling
Cheshire Cat. And as Alice's adventurescon-
tinue,thiscomicsubversionoflinguisticconven-
tionincreasesin bothscope and intensity.6
In Chapterv, "Advicefroma Caterpillar,"the
destructionoftheabove-groundhierarchyofani-
mals and men obviouslysteps up in intensity.
This chapteralso continuesthe attack on Alice's
beliefin orderlylanguage and relatesthat belief
to anotherset of worldlyconventions,the cus-
toms of social etiquette.The Caterpillarplays a
rolesimilarto HumptyDumpty'sin Throughthe
Looking-Glass.Althoughhe is by no means the
incisive, dictatorial critic of language 'that
HumptyDumptyis, he is just as rude in his dis-
paragement of Alice's linguistic habits. The
Caterpillaralso demonstratesby his actionsthat
the conventionsof etiquettein social intercourse
are meaninglessin Wonderland.Alicehas already
sufferedthe rudenessof the White Rabbit, but
the brusque ordersof that timid authoritaiian
are almostpolitein comparisonto thebarbarisms
of the Caterpillar.Alice's own politenessto the
Caterpillarincreases at firstin practicallyin-
verseproportionto hismountingrudeness.As his
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317
demands upon her patience reach fantastic
heights,she makes it a point to address him as
"Sir" and to reply"verypolitely"to his ridicu-
louslyunfaircriticisms ofherspeech,"swallowing
downherangeras wellas she [can]" (pp. 67-69).
This amusingreactionby Alice, occurringas it
does in many places in Wonderland,is another
exampleof her attemptto findan orderunder-
groundthatsomehowcorrespondsto theorderof
herpreviouslife.Certainly,in thatlifeit is some-
times the most impolite,imperiouspeople who
commandthemostrespectand obedience;and to
a child under the domination of inscrutable
adults such a paradox may appear to be orderly
and right.
The mostimpoliteremarkofthe Caterpillaris
his very firstlaconic question. Its crudenessis
magnifiedwhenhe repeatsit contemptuously-
"Who are You?" With characteristiccomic un-
derstatement,the narratorobserves that "this
was not an encouragingopeningfora conversa-
tion" (p. 67). Indeed,in thelightofAlice'smany
previoustroublesabout self-identity, the direct
questionbecomesfar morethan a matterof or-
dinaryimpoliteness.
Alice respondswithanotherattemptto recall
a rote-learned,moralisticpoem fromher past.
This time she recites in response to the gruff
commandsofthe Caterpillar,but theresultis the
same-it comes out all wrong. "You are old,
5 HarryMorganAyres,in Carroll'sAlice (New York,1936),
pp. 63-65, points out that these misunderstandings derive
froma peculiarityof English-"it is rich in homophones."
This peculiarity,Ayres feels, accounts for the particular
verbal nonsensewhichcharacterizesEnglish humor.Ayres
also states that effectivecommunicationdepends to a great
extenton the emotionalattitudeof the listener:sincewords
are ''mere sounds thrownout to a listeneras clues to the
mentalstateofthespeakerwithrespectto thingsoractions,"
all the speakercan hope is that "the listenerwillpiece these
clues togetherintelligently and above all sympathetically."
Is it possible,then,to assumethatAlice'smisunderstandings
(talevs. tail,notvs. knot,etc.) hintat thebeginningofAlice's
revoltagainst the maddeningchaos of Wonderland?Is she
herebeingcovertlyantagonisticand playingthe same game
that Wonderlandplays all along-that is, asking her op-
ponentto do whatis finallyimpossible?
6 Ch. iii foreshadowsanotherfeatureoflinguisticconfusion
that will reachits absurd apex in the hilariousfinalpages of
the book. The Mouse's tale, printedemblematicallyin the
shape of a mouse'slong tail, is about the law; and certainly
our ordinaryconceptionsof the law dependin greatmeasure
on the commonassumptionthat language,at the bottomof
most law, is potentiallyunambiguous.The word trialitself
ideallyconnotesa suspensionofjudgmentas wellas a finalde-
cision. But in the Mouse's tail-tale,as in the finaltrial of
Alice (and in manytrialsofexpressionistic fictionsince1865),
the prosecutorcan also be the judge and jury,and the judg-
mentcan be passed beforethe trialhas begun.
318 totheEnd ofNight
Alice'sJourney

Father William,"the livelyparodyof Southey's selves: when she violates her own dogmatic
didactic verses, is, like "How doth the little principleof decorum and rudely says to the
crocodile,"morethana humorouspoem. It is, in Hatter, "Nobody asked youropinion,"he "tri-
thiscontextofoutlandishimpoliteness, a kindof umphantly"retorts,"Who's makingpersonalre-
versifiedparaphraseofthe almostimmoralrude- marksnow?" (p. 101). And poor Alice findsher-
ness of the Caterpillar.Alice's Father William selfat a new impasse: she does "not quite know
seems the antithesisof Southey's pious, tem- whatto say to this" (p. 101). She has been tested
perate old man who has come gentlyto the end by her own principleand has been discredited,
ofhis days. Her FatherWilliamhas the air ofan at a loss forwords.
and she is, significantly,
impoliteold rake,and a connivingone at that: In the same chapter with the Caterpillar,
Carrolltouchesso lightlyupon anotherabsurd
"In myyouth,"said thesage,as he shookhisgrey
"impossibility"that it almostescapes our atten-
locks,
"I keptall mylimbsverysupple tion the way it completelyescapes Alice's. The
By theuseofthisointment-one thebox-
shilling Caterpillarleaves Alice with a rudenessso bla-
Allowme to sellyoua couple?"(p. 70) tant that it is funny.He "yawned once or twice
... got down offthe mushroom,and crawled
The Caterpillaris thuscloser to the truththan away into the grass,merelyremarking,as [he]
Aliceis whenhe tellsherthatherrecitationis not, went,'One side will make you growtaller,and
as she says, merelywrongbecause "some of the the other side will make you grow shorter'."
words have got altered"; it is, as he asserts, Alice,in a quandary,thinksto herself:"One side
"wrongfrombeginningto end" (p. 72), because of what?"And the Caterpillarsays, "'Of the
it runs counterto the wholemoral spiritof the mushroom,'. . . just as if she had asked it
originalpoem. Again in a recitation,Alice has aloud" (p. 73). No moreis said of this unusual
yielded to that uncontrollableimp withinher occurrence, but readersmay wellbe impressedby
and joined willinglyin the comic destructionof such clairvoyance.For it is still one of our
above-groundconvention. cherishedabove-groundbeliefsthat communica-
The rudenessof the Caterpillarcontributesto tion betweenseparate minds necessitatessome
the continuingantipathybetweenAlice and the exchangeof tangiblesymbols,and, even if we
creaturesof Wonderland.Generally,she is met admit the validityof extrasensoryphenomena,
withcondescensionor mistrust, and most of the we do so withsome wonder.But the Caterpillar,
creaturesshe encountersare quick to contradict naturally,acceptshis clairvoyanceas a matterof
her.No doubt thereis an elementoffearin their course-thereis notthe slightesttraceofwonder
authoritarianrudeness: they probably suspect in his nonchalantattitude.The fact that Alice
thatAlice,somewhatlikean adult withchildren, fails to relate this extraordinary occurrenceto
holds thepoweroflifeand death overthem.She her pre-Wonderlandexperienceis, in part, ex-
can reject them,seeminglydestroythemwitha plained by the nonchalanceof the Caterpillar:
few words like "nonsense" or "You're nothing she obviouslymissesthe significance of his men-
but a pack of cards!" But whatevertheirmo- tal feat. However,thisunwittingacceptanceby
tives,thesecreaturesofWonderlandare, accord- Alice may also markan incipientchangein her
ing to all of Alice's acquired standardsof social motivation.Perhapsat thispointshe has begun
decorum,extremelydiscourteous(in fact, since unconsciouslyto sensethat Wonderlandis notin
theyare strangersand Alice is somethinglike a any way like her old worldabove ground,even
guest, they should be more polite, not less). thoughshe will vainly attemptin later adven-
Alice, clingingto her above-groundcode of be- turesto findor constructa meaningfulconnec-
havior,is eitherassiduouslypolite or ignorantly tion.
determinedto educate themin herold etiquette. In Chaptervi an importantaspectofthechaos
Significantly,most of her rules consist of is that the creatureshere,like the clairvoyant
"don'ts," obviouslylaid downby adultsand now Caterpillar,rarelyconsidertheirenvironment or
taken on completefaith by this literal-minded theiractions as anythingbut normal.To them
and priggishchild. At the Mad Tea-Party, for thereis certainlynothingwonderful about Won-
example,Alice says to the Mad Hatter, "You derland.This is made explicitwhena largeplate
should learn not to make personalremarks... comesskimmingout the door,barelymissingthe
It's very rude" (p. 94). But here again, as in Frog-Footman'shead, and we are told that the
Wonderland'sattacks on her illogicallanguage, footmancontinueswhat he is doing,"exactlyas
Alice'sconventionsare wittilyturnedupon them- if nothinghad happened" (p. 81). This accep-

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 DonaldRackin
tanceofchaos by the inhabitantsofWonderland
has at least twosignificantrelationsto thebook's
wholemeaning.First,it servesto pique further
Alice's curiosityabout the "rules" of Wonder-
land. Since the creaturesdo not thinktheirlives
and worldare in any way strangeor disorderly,
Alice takes this attitude-albeit incorrectly-as
a sign that therehas to be an order.In general,
she fails to considerconsciouslythe possibility
that the veryanarchyof theirrealmmay be di-
rectlyrelatedto theirownheedlessand irrational
behavior-that they live in chaos and thus act
accordingly.Indeed, herreason,orderingmecha-
nismthatit is, is totallyincapableoffunctioning
outsidetheboundsofsomekindoforder.Second,
the creatures'acceptanceofchaos can be viewed
as a fantasticparodyofwhathappenseveryday
in the worldabove ground.Here,in fact,may be
thecorrelationbetweenthetwoworldsthatAlice
seeks but never fullydiscovers.The creatures
above ground,with their constructsand arbi-
traryconventions,act in the same way. If the
Frog-Footman,say, wereto visit the London of
the 1860's, would not the average Englishman's
nonchalantacceptanceof such preposterousno-
tions as orderlyTime and Space strikehim as
insane? This gentlycomic exposureof the rela-
tivityoforderthat we findin Lewis Carroll'sfic-
tion has been discussedby a numberof critics,
but none has pointedout its organicfunctionin
Alice. It is an importantcomponentofthebook's
vision of universalanarchy;for what mankind
(or Alice in her Wonderland)typicallydesiresis
not an adjustable frameof meaning,but an un-
ambiguous and permanentorder. Alice's reac-
tionto the Frog-Footman'sargumentativeness is
representativeof her total reactionto this uni-
versal anarchy: "It's really dreadful. . . the
way all the creaturesargue.It's enoughto drive
one crazy!" (p. 81). Like her previous"I sup-
pose," the key words "dreadful" and "crazy"
subtlyrevealwhatis happeningto Alice without
her knowingit: she is slowlycomingto an un-
consciousperceptionof Wonderland'smadden-
ing-and dangerous-nature.
Soon Alicemeetsthe Duchess, whosehilarious
rudenesssurpasseseven the Caterpillar's.Alice
again responds with her best manners. The
Duchess, likethe Frog-Footman,takes no notice
of the bedlam around her: surroundedby the
howlingof the baby, thekitchenutensilsthrown
by the cook,and the generaldisorder,theDuch-
ess single-mindedly persists in her barbarous
treatmentof the baby and her guest Alice. Her
"lullaby" is anotherof Wonderland'ssubversive
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319
parodies. For example, a verse of the original
poem by David Bates reads:
Speakgentlyto thelittlechild!
Its lovebe sureto gain;
Teachit in accentssoftand mild-
It maynotlongremain.7
The Duchess sings:
Speakroughly to yourlittleboy,
Andbeathimwhenhe sneezes:
He onlydoesit to annoy,
Becausehe knowsit teases(p. 85)
This parody, like the earlier ones uttered by
Alice,activelydeniesAlice'spreviousmoralcode.
The Duchess, so fondof aphorisms,hererecom-
mends what Alice's world would call sheer
cruelty.Moreover,the Duchess practiceswhat
she preaches,constantlyshakingand tossingthe
baby as she singsher "lullaby." The baby soon
turnsintoan ugly,gruntingpig, rightin Alice's
hands. Such a dramatizedreversaloftheconven-
tionalsentimentalattitudetowardschildren(the
Duchess evenshouts"Pig!" at thebaby) is some-
thingbesidesa hit at above-groundmorality-it
is more like a denial of a customaryemotional
response.We maynoteherethat Carrollhimself,
usually so fearfulof committingany social im-
propriety,could not in his lettersand conversa-
tionalways restrainhis deep-seateddisgustwith
all babies. But such information merelycorrob-
orates what any adult reader easily perceives:
the baby-pigepisode humorouslyportraysthe
arbitrarynature of conventionalattitudes to-
wards infants.We need go no furtherthan the
text; Alice herselfmuses about "other children
she knew,who mightdo very well as pigs" (p.
87).
In thissame chapter,Alicehas herfamouscon-
versationwiththe CheshireCat. In the lightof
Wonderland'sincreasingdestructionof the com-
monworld'sprincipalfoundationsforsanityand
order,the Cat's remarksbecome especiallyim-
portant.He is the one creaturewho explicitly
presentsAlice withan explanationof the chaos
thatsurroundsher. WhenAlice asserts,"I don't
want to go amongmad people," the Cat replies,
"Oh, you can't help that ... we'reall mad here.
I'm mad. You're mad." Alice answers,"How do
you know I'm mad?" And the Cat says, "You
must be . .. or you wouldn'thave come here"
(p. 89). Throughthisbriefexchange,theamused
reader-not Alice-gets a tentative, fleeting
7Quoted by Roger Lancelyn Green, The Lewis Carroll
Handbook(London, 1962), p. 281.
320 totheEnd ofNight
Alice'sJourney
glimpseat the "meaning" of Wonderlandthat
Aliceinstinctively seeks.In addition,theenigmat-
ic Cat, who vanishesand appears as easilyas he
smiles, here intimatesthat Alice's curiosityis
madnessor at least themotive-power behindher
mad act-her leap into this insane land. That
Alice is, as the Cat states, just as mad as the
natives of Wonderlandis still difficultfor the
reader to admit, indeed even to perceive. For
Alice comes fromand alone representsthe or-
dinaryreader'sworld,which,forthe sake of his
existenceas well as hers,mustappear sane. The
narratorsays, "Alice didn'tthinkthat [hissyllo-
gism]provedit [hermadness]at all" (p. 89), and
the reader laughs and tacitlyagrees,forgetting
that the Cat's reasoningcan be just as valid as
Alice's. For Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the
reader are all now in Wonderland.Alice ap-
parentlylearnsnothingfromthe Cat's important
revelation.Whileshe is "not muchsurprised"at
his vanishing-forshe is "gettingso wellused to
queer thingshappening" (p. 90)-she still fails
to perceiveWonderland'smeaningforthosewho
live by the illusoryprinciplesof above-ground
order.Furthermore, afterbeing told specifically
by the CheshireCat that the Hatter and the
March Hare are bothmad, Alice,whenshe meets
themin hernextadventure,remainsuninstructed
and stubbornlypersistsin herattemptsto relate
their disorderedactions to her old notions of
sanity.
Is it because Aliceis a childthat she failsafter
all thisto see Wonderlandforwhatit is? Is it her
youthfulignorancethat makeshermissthe dan-
geroussignificance ofa grinwithouta cat-an at-
tributewithouta subject? All she can thinkat
thispointis: "Well! I've oftenseena cat without
a grin,. . . but a grinwithouta cat! It's themost
curiousthingI ever saw in all my life!" (p. 91).
But thisrepresentsthe responseof most adults,
too. In a sense,we are all childishlyignorantin
the face of supremedanger;forwoven into the
whole complex fabric of implicationsin this
laughable colloquywiththe Cat is one implica-
tion that easily escapes our attention:another
above-groundoperatingprinciple-theseemingly
indestructiblebond between subject and attri-
bute- has been graphicallysubvertedby theap-
pearance of a cat's grinwithouta cat.
In Chaptervii Alice's old conceptofTime dis-
solves,in one ofthefunniestand yetmostgrimly
destructivescenesin thebook. Whilemanyother
commonbases of ordercontinueto be subverted
in this adventure,"A Mad Tea-Party" focuses
on Time, one major above-groundsystemthat
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still appears to have some validity.Up to this
point,the attack on Time has been onlyinciden-
tal and certainlynot overwhelming, and Time
stillhas had somemeaningbecause thenarrative
itselfhas progressedthrougha vague chronologi-
cal framework.
In the beginningof "A Mad Tea-Party,"
Alicecomesupon a situationthatapparentlyhas
had no temporal beginningand probablywill
never have an end. The March Hare, Mad
Hatter,and Dormousesit at a tea table,engaged
in a trulyendlesssuccessionof tea and pointless
conversation (perhaps a representationof a
child'sview ofpolitemealtimes).In the midstof
all the disconnectedtalk, the Hatter suddenly
asks Alice,as ifit werea test,"What day of the
monthis it?" and, like the White Rabbit, looks
at his watch "uneasily" (p. 96). This question
opens a whole seriesof ridiculouscommentson
watchesand Time. These commentsthemselves
seem pointless;and theircompletelack of co-
herence or sequence intensifiesthe chapter's
pervasiveatmosphereof timelessness(especially
since Alice,like the ordinarynineteenth-century
reader,stillclingsto her old conceptionof Time
as linearand progressive).
When the Hatter admitsthat his riddleabout
the raven and the writingdesk has no answer,
Alice sighs, "I think you mightdo something
betterwiththetime. .. thanwastingit in asking
riddlesthat have no answers." The Hatter re-
plies,"If you knewTime as wellas I do . . . you
wouldn'ttalk about wastingit. It's him" (p. 97).
This nonsensicalpersonification of Time con-
tinuesin the conversationthat follows.Amidst
the by now familiarpuns that tend to destroy
linguisticorderlike those on beating or killing
Time, Time itself,like a person,is revealed as
malleable,recalcitrant,ordisorderly. Such a view
of Time as finiteand personal,of course,comi-
cally subvertsthe above-groundconventionof
Time's infinite,orderly,autonomousnature.This
finallyputs Time in itsproperplace-another ar-
bitrary,changeableartifactthat has no claim to
absolute validity,no bindingclaim, in fact, to
existence.SinceTime is nowlikea person,a kind
of ill-behavedchildcreatedby man, thereis the
unavoidabledangerthat he willrebeland refuse
to be consistent.That is exactlywhat has hap-
pened in this Wonderlandtea-party:the Hatter
says Time "won't do a thingI ask! It's always
six o'clocknow" (p. 99); thatis, it is always tea-
time.Time is thusfrozen,and one ofthemostim-
portantconceptsofcommonhumanexperienceis
laughedout of existence.
 DonaldRackin
Wonderland seems to compensate for this
frozenTime by substitutingSpace-the crea-
tures move around the tea-table in a kind of
never-ending game of musical chairs.We might
take this substitutionof Space as Carroll'shint
at a moreaccurateconceptionofTime; but,like
the underlying accuracyof Alice'sconfusedmul-
tiplicationin Chapter ii, this subtle hintat the
realityof "reality" is a bit too sophisticatedfor
most readers,as it certainlyis for poor Alice.
Besides, the concept of Space, as we have seen,
has already been demolished.At this midway
point in the narrative,then,the destructionof
thefoundationsofAlice's old orderis practically
complete.
Alice (in Chaptervii) has almostreachedrock
bottomin her descentintochaos-betokened by
the word mad whichis part of the title of the
chapter,part of the name of one principalchar-
acter,and part ofthecommonepithetapplied to
another("mad as a MarchHare"). Her dramatic
experienceofthesubversionoftheabove-ground
systemofmeaningseemscomplete,but thereis at
least one foundationof that old systemthat re-
mainsintact.Despite thefactthatinanimateob-
jects like stones have lost stable identity,they
have up to Chapter viii remained withinthe
class ofinanimateobjects-with the possibleex-
ceptionhintedat in Chapter vii that tea-trays
can flylike bats.
"Twinkle, twinkle,little bat" (pp. 98-99)-
Carroll's charming parody of Jane Taylor's
nurseryrhyme"The Star"-occupies a rather
pivotal positionin the patternof destructionI
have been tracing.First,the poem uses, as paro-
dies do in general,the originalversesas part of
the total context.Carroll'ssubstitutions(batfor
star,at forare,youflyforso high,and tea-tray for
diamond)mustbe consideredin thelightofJane
Taylor's poem. Viewed thisway, Carroll'spoem
becomesa compressedstatementof much of the
destructionthathas alreadytakenplace in Won-
derland,as wellas a gentlehintat whatis to come
in the next chapter. A bat representsto most
readers ugly nature-active and predatory;a
star,on the otherhand,usuallyconnotesbeauti-
ful, remote, static nature. Moreover, "what
you're at" and "fly" intensifythe Darwinian,
predatory,grossstruggleimage and increasethe
humorous incongruitybetween Carroll's lines
and Miss Taylor's. All this harks back to the
earliercomicsubversionof the sentimentalview
of animal moralityseen in such versesas "How
doth the little crocodile,"another hit at false
pietyand falsenaturalhistoryin popularnursery
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321
rhymes.This, in turn,leads the reader's mind
back to the originalstar, whose moral connota-
tionshave nowbeensubverted:it no longerseems
to deservethe purityimpliedby "diamond." In
addition,"Twinkle,twinkle,littlebat," withits
delightful mix-upofanimatebat withinanimate
starand flyingtea-traywithflyingbat, servesas
an appropriatetransitionto Chapterviii where
the fabricatedseparationbetweenanimate and
inanimateobjects is finallydestroyed.
Immediatelyafterthe highlysubversiveMad
Tea Party, Alice meetsin Chapterviii a whole
newset ofcreatures-playingcardsthatarealive,
so alive, in fact,that one has becomeone of the
mostwell-known "persons"in Englishliterature,
the furiousQueen of Hearts. Carroll'smethodof
makingthesecards appear humanis an example
ofhis technicalabilitythroughout Alice. For one
thing,he skillfullyemploysdevices whichmake
theirconversationswithAlice seem natural.Al-
mostimmediately, one of the gardeners,the two
ofspades,speaksin a slightdialect(dialectshave
been attributedpreviouslyto a numberof ani-
mals). Carrollalso carefullyindicatesthevolume
and emotionalqualityofthe dialogue-a kindof
humorousreversalof the above-groundnotion
thatspeechis a primarydistinctionbetweenani-
mals and men. Some card-charactersmerely
"say" theirlines,others"shout" or "roar"; some
are "silent," or speak in "a low, hurriedtone";
Alice herselfgives "a littlescreamof laughter,"
and the Queen sometimesspeaks "in a voice of
thunder" (pp. 105-117). Anothierdevice for
makingthese inanimateobjects appear human
and theirscenes realisticis the inclusionofal-
ready well-established characterslike the White
Rabbit and the Duchess whose "humanness"is
now taken forgrantedand who hererespondto
the playing-cardQueen as if she weresupremely
vital.
In this way anotherabove-groundprinciple-
that thereis a distinctcleavage betweenthe ani-
mateand inanimateworlds-is humorously over-
thrown.One thing,however,remainsconstant:
these card-creaturesare just as irrationaland
chaoticas all the previousanimal inhabitantsof
the insane underground.Indeed, the chaos is
compounded, when these inanimate-objects-
turned-human treat the normallylive creatures
ofAlice'sformerexistenceas inanimateartifacts.
Wonderlandhas again turnedthe tables,hereby
usinglive animalslikehedgehogsand flamingoes
forcroquetballs and mallets.Alice,stillclinging
to her "in-the-world"approach, says to the
CheshireCat, "you've no idea howconfusing it is
322 totheEnd ofNight
Alice'sJourney
all the thingsbeing alive" (p. 113). The Cat, of
course,has no idea how confusingit is, since he
neitherpossessesnor is possessedby Alice's old,
above-groundstandardsofregularity. Moreover,
this appeal to the Cat marks another step in
Alice's slowly disintegrating sense of order: al-
thoughshe stillclingsto herold constructedcon-
cepts of reality,she forgetscompletelywhat the
Cat is and wherehe dwells.
Since Alice rarelyrelinquishesher notionsof
orderwithoutsome struggle,it is fittingthat in
"The Queen's Croquet-Ground"she should try
to remindherselfofthe above-grounddistinction
betweenlive and inanimateentities.When the
Queen of Hearts rudely demands, as so many
othercreatureshave demanded,that Alice iden-
tify herself,Alice "very politely" says: "My
name is Alice,so please yourMajesty," but adds
to herself,"Why, they'reonly a pack of cards,
afterall. I needn'tbe afraidof them!" (p. 108).
At this point, Alice is not yet preparedto say
such a thingaloud. Nevertheless,thissilentcom-
ment may indicate that Alice is beginningto
sense the finaldangerinherentin Wonderland-
her own destruction-and is beginningto fall
back on her only defenseagainst this ultimate
devastation which has lurked ominously be-
neath all the rest of her problems.She is falling
back on those now inoperative above-ground
principleswhich,illusoryor not,can preserveher
sanityand herveryexistence.
Alice has many reasons for such subversive
thoughts.She has certainlybeen cheated: the
Queen's Croquet-Ground-withits paintedflow-
ers,its exasperatingand insanegame,itswildand
dangerous creatures-is that same "beautiful
garden" she has been seekingfromthe outset.
Perhaps it is the realizationthat her arduous
journey beneath the groundsof her old, dull,
constrictedworldof rote-lessonsand unexplain-
able, arbitraryadult rules has broughther,not
to "those beds of brightflowersand those cool
fountains"(p. 30), but to a chaoticplace ofmad-
ness ruledby a furiousQueen who ordersexecu-
tionswithalmosteverybreath-perhaps it is the
realizationofall thisthat encouragesAlice to be-
ginherrebellion.
A more importantreason for Alice's driftto-
wardrebellionis thatshe has begunto sensethat
her quest forunambiguousmeaningand immor-
tal orderis fruitless.Haphazard as her tripmay
at firstseem,Alicehas nevertheless been moving
towardsthe groundsof Wonderlandwhichcor-
respond to the groundsof her old world. The
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rulersof Wonderland(the King and Queen of
Hearts) and their"beautifulgarden" have been
Alice's spiritualgoal almostfromthe beginning,
and it is appropriatethat the rulersand courtof
Wonderland should hold the secret of their
realm'smeaningand be theultimatesourceofits
order.The fact that they are court cards and
heartsemphasizestheircentral,vital position,as
does thefactthattheyare introducedwithnames
writtenall in capital letters,a devicestressedby
Carroll in his revisions.Ironically,Alice is for
once correctin judgingWonderlandon the basis
of her previous"in-the-world"experience.But
what do theserepositoriesof meaningand order
turn out to be? Mere abstract,manufactured,
and arbitrarysymbols-just a pack of cards,
picturesof kingsand queens, men and women.
Theirgroundsofmeaningturnout to be croquet-
groundsand theirprinciplesthe rules of an in-
sane, topsy-turvy game.
Alice's firstrealizationthat she need not be
afraidbecause, "afterall," she is dealingwitha
merepack ofcardshas an effect, althoughan im-
permanentone, on hersubsequentbehavior.Im-
mediatelyafterherbriefinsight,she is extremely
rude to the Queen, so rude that Alice herselfis
"surprisedat her own courage." She interrupts
the Queen's repeated "Off with her head!" by
saying "'Nonsense!' . . . very loudly and de-
cidedly."The King's and Queen's immediatere-
action to this single word is significant:the
"Queen was silent"and "the King laid his hand
upon her arm and timidlysaid, 'Consider,my
dear: she is onlya child!"' (p. 109). Amongother
things,thisreactionof the rulersof Wonderland
is a humorous,metaphoricalequivalent of the
above-groundworld'sreactionto the ridiculous
challengeofa Wonderland.Wheneitheris named
for what it is, it is left,as it were,speechless.
Paradoxically,by the power of one of the most
artificialconstructsofall-the word-these rulers
are renderedpowerless,that is, withoutwords.
That the childAlice has had thissupremepower
all along goes withoutsaying. Alice, however,
does not realize the potencyof her weapon or,
for that matter,that she even has a weapon.
Hence, even thoughshe can say to herselfthat
"they'reonlya pack ofcards,afterall. I needn't
be afraidofthem!"she soon revertsto herseem-
inglyunwarranted fear:"Alice began to feelvery
uneasy:to be sure,shehad notas yethad any dis-
pute withthe Queen,but she knewthat it might
happen any minute, 'and then,' thought she,
'what would become of me? They're dreadfully
 DonaldRackin
fondof beheadingpeople here: the greatwonder
is, that there'sany one leftalive!"' (p. 112).
Fromthispointto theend oftheadventures,it
is the main businessof the narrativethat under-
lies all the funand gay nonsenseto traceAlice's
preparationforherfinal,overtdenialofWonder-
land, the destructionof herfearfulvisionforthe
sake ofheridentityand sanity.To gain strength
and courageforthat act ofdenial,Alice seeks the
aid of allies (meanwhile,of course,she continues
to play what she has already viewed as a crazy
game). In Chapterviii she makes the mistakeof
assumingthat the CheshireCat is such an ally.
She spies his grinin the air and says, "It's the
CheshireCat: now I shall have somebodyto talk
to" (p. 113). But whenAlice,"feelingveryglad
she had some one to listento her," complainsto
the Cat about the game she is playing-saying
"theydon't seemto have any rulesin particular"
-his only reply is the apparentnon sequitur,
"How do youliketheQueen?" (pp. 113-114). He,
of course,sees no fault in a game withoutany
rulesbut a mad queen's; ifhe wereto play thein-
sane games above groundwiththeirmany arbi-
trary"rules," he would probablyfindthem as
disturbingas Alicefindsthemad,seeminglyrule-
less croquetgameofWonderland.
In much the same way that she mistakesthe
CheshireCat for an ally, Alice mistakenlyas-
sumes that "logical" rules still have validity.At
the very beginningof the next chapter ("The
Mock Turtle's Story"), she meets the Duchess
again, and, findingthat previously irascible
creaturein good humor,assumes that her anger
was merelythe resultof the pepperin her soup.
"Maybe it's alwayspepperthatmakespeoplehot-
tempered,"Alice muses. And she begins to ex-
trapolatefromher new-foundhypothesis,"very
muchpleased at havingfoundout a new kindof
rule" (p. 119). Here, althoughthereis thepromi-
nent "Maybe," Alice reveals that she stillstub-
bornlybelieves there is a cause-effectorder in
Wonderlandand one that can be applied to her
own worldtoo: this in spite of all the mounting
evidenceto the contrary.The Duchess herselfis
thepersonified reductioad absurdumofAlice'sat-
titudetowardrules:the Duchess findsa "moral"
in everything.Alice is faced witha new curious
problem: once again Wonderland forces her
above-groundassumptionsto the finaltest,and
once again it laughsthemout of existence.Poor,
doggedAlice,however,is unable to see the"mor-
al" in the Duchess's preoccupationwithfinding
morals; that is, Alice failsto perceivethat such
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323
remarksas "Everything'sgota moral,ifonlyyou
can findit" (p. 120) are essentiallysatiricalcoun-
terthrusts at her own determination to findthe
rules in Wonderland.
Finally,Alice meets two creatureswho seem
capable of servingas allies-the Gryphonand
the Mock Turtle,twoofthemostfantasticchar-
actersin Wonderland'swholelaughablegallery.
For both of these animals,nonsensicalas they
are, seem to see WVonderland for what it is, at
least forwhatit is to Alice. WhenAlicerecounts
to themheradventures,the Gryphonsays, "It's
all about as curiousas it can be" (p. 138). When
Aliceattemptsto reciteanothermoralisticWatts
poem(" 'Tis thevoiceofthesluggard")and again
twists it into a cruel, amoral, survival-of-the-
fittestcommentaryon nature,the Mock Turtle
assertsthat"it soundsuncommonnonsense"and
says, "It's by farthemostconfusing thingI ever
heard!" (pp. 139-140). Their words "curious,"
"nonsense," and "confusing" are drawn, of
course,fromAlice's vocabulary.
This sympathyforAlice,it shouldbe observed,
is not as simpleas it firstappears. For one thing,
the solicitudeof the Gryphonand Mock Turtle
is-as theirnames suggest-undoubtedlyfalse.
Both creaturesare palpable sentimentalists: the
Mock Turtle's mawkish song about beautiful
soup,sungin "a voicechokedwithsobs" (p. 141),
is themeasureoftheirsentimentality. Once again
Wonderlandtests an above-groundconvention
by carryingit to its extreme:here,insteadof at-
tackingone particularkindofabove-groundsen-
timentsuchas thecommonemotionalresponseto
babies or to starsand bees,Wonderlandcomical-
ly overthrows sentimentitself.Alicecannothope
to findgenuinesympathyand real allies in the
Gryphonand Mock Turtle.In any event,she has
no time to react,forthe great trial (of the last
chapters)is about to begin.
Beforeturningto that trial,we should tryto
assess the fullfunctionof the Mock Turtle and
Gryphonin the Wonderlandmotifofsubversion.
Afterthe Queen's Croquet-Game,no remnantof
ordinaryabove-groundorderremainsintact.The
only orderpoor Alice can possiblyperceivein
Wonderlandis theconsistentantipathyofall the
creaturestowardsher and all her previousas-
sumptions.Now, Chaptersix and x serveto sub-
vert and finallydestroythe "order" of Wonder-
land itself,because here the two sentimental
friends, the Gryphonand the Mock Turtle,argue
neitherwith each other (as most of the other
creaturesdo) nor withAlice's above-groundas-
324 Alice'sJourney
totheEnd ofNight
sumptions.In a sensetheyarethealliessheseeks:
theytake herside,seeingheradventuresand re-
versesas she sees them.8This sympathy-wheth-
er genuine or false-breaks Wonderland'spat-
tern of antipathyand is perhaps the ultimate
destruction:order,as Alice once knewit, is now
so hopelesslysnarled that she must, in literal
self-defense, take thatinevitableleap back to her
own insane, illusory,but livable world of arbi-
trarylogic and convention.
If "The Queen's Croquet-Ground"has con-
vinced Alice that her quest for Wonderland's
principleoforderin thepersonalitiesor gamesof
Wonderland's playing-cardrulers is pointless,
thelast twochaptersofthebookrevealthateven
beyond these rulers and their mad croquet-
groundthereis no fundamentallaw,save perhaps
the furiousQueen's "Off with his head!"-and
even that persistentdemand,Alice has been told
by the Gryphon,is never obeyed: "It's all her
fancy,that: they never executes nobody, you
know" (p. 125). At the end, Alice is finally
broughtto what should be the last refugeof
order-the court of law.
Chapterxi beginswitha crowdscene. As the
chapterprogresses,we realize that many of the
creaturesAlice has encounteredfromthe begin-
ning are assembled here. This strengthensthe
impressionthat the trial is the final test of
Wonderland'smeaning,the appropriateconclu-
sionofAlice'squestforlaw and order.What is on
trialhereis notreallytheKnave ofHearts.What
is on trialis the"law" itself,whetherit be thelaw
ofWonderlandor,by extension,thelaw wherev-
erit is encountered.Alicehas alreadylostfaithin
her own search forthe law of Wonderland,but
thenshe forgetseven that loss. In the finaltrial,
whereherforgotten suspicionsreturnto becomea
frightful apperceptionof the total intransigent
chaos underlyingher artificialworld, Alice is
moved to her only salvation-a complete and
active denial of the horrible,unacceptabletruth.
In these last two chapters,afterall the de-
structionof the old bases of order,all that is left
is the hollowformof things.The trial now ap-
pears in its true light:since the worldin which
the trialtakes place is withoutorderor meaning,
the trial is a pointlessformality,anothergame
withoutrules and withouta winner.And when
Alice is herselfforcedto participateand is again
drawnintothe mad proceedings,herrebellionis
inevitable.
That Aliceat thebeginningofthetrialhas not
yet abandonedherold cherishedfaithin orderis
revealedin a numberof ways. The narratortells
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us that "Alice had neverbeen in a courtof jus-
ticebefore,but she had read aboutthemin books,
and she was quite pleased to findthat she knew
the name of nearlyeverythingthere" (p. 144).
Once more,Alice persistsin viewingthe under-
groundbedlam froman "in-the-world" perspec-
tive. Part of the wittycomedyhere,naturally,
derivesfromthe fact that many adult readers
havebeenin a court:theyknowthatthisWonder-
land courtis an outlandishtravesty(especially
whenit is called a "court ofjustice"). Yet they
also sensethat at the corethereis a greatdeal of
similarity between"real" trialsabove groundand
thisinsanelyunjusttrialofthe Knave ofHearts.
They also sense the significanceof Alice's com-
fortin findingthatshe can name theitemsin the
court-another illustrationof Wonderland'sin-
cessant attack on man's groundlesslinguistic
habits, intensifiedwhen the narratorironically
remarksthatAlicewas ratherproudofherabili-
ty to name everythingin the court, "for she
thought,and rightlytoo, that very few little
girls of her age knew the meaning of it all"
(p. 144). An evenmoreimportantresultofAlice's
"in-the-world"approach to the trial is that she
will again be frustrated,this time by the fact
thatwhiletheWonderlandtrialis similarin out-
ward formto "real" trials,it characteristically
ignoresor subvertsall the significant principles.
The last chapteris called "Alice's Evidence."
The titleitselfhas a multiplemeaning.Literally,
Alice is forcedto participateactivelyin the in-
sanityofWonderlandby giving"evidence,"even
thoughshe has now grownso large that she can
at any secondrebelifshe so desires.More impor-
tant, Alice in this last scene acquires the "evi-
dence" she needs in orderto make her decision
about Wonderland.At first,Alice reacts with
fear;whenshe is calledto thestand,she criesout,
"'Here!' . . . quiteforgettingin the flurryof the
momenthow largeshe had grownin the last few
minutes"(p. 153). Alongwiththisfear,however,
is a growingsense of the meaninglessness of the
trial (and thus,she thinks,of all Wonderland).
Whenshelooksoverthejurymen'sshouldersand
8 Note how the Mock Turtle's song that accompaniesthe
Lobster Quadrille twiststhe sadistic original-" 'Will you
walk intomyparlour?'said thespiderto thefly"-into an in-
nocuous nurseryrhyme. This parody demonstratesthat
Wonderlandrefusesto be consistentto itself:if the above-
ground rhymestend to hide or deny Darwinian theory,
Wonderland'spoems will be vengefullyDarwinian; but if
above-tound rhvmesadmitthecrueltyofnature,thenWon-
derland producesharmlessnonsenseverseswhere the crea-
tures of the sea join in dance or whereowls and panthers
share pies.
 DonaldRackin 325

sees the nonsensetheyare writing,Alice says to journey,her mind,by that very assertion,im-
herself,"it doesn't mattera bit" (p. 156). Here poses an artificialbut effectiveorderupon that
she is becominlgjust as subversivetowardsWon- whichcan neverbe organicallyordered.By the
derlandas Wonderlandhas been towardsherand timeAlice and thereaderreachthislast scenein
herabove-groundprinciples.Soon Aliceis coura- Wonderlandit should be quite obvious to all
geouslycontradicting the King and Queen open- that language itselfis an inadequate construct.
ly: Yet it is by this constructthat Alice preserves
"That proveshis guilt,ofcourse,"said theQueen: hersanityand identity.She uses wordsto put all
"so, offwith-." Wonderlandinto a categoryof manufactured,
"It doesn'tproveanything ofthesort!"saidAlice. non-human, arbitrary entities-"a pack of
(pp. 157-158) cards." Insane as heract maybe in termsofwhat
Wonderlandhas demonstrated,it providesher
And afterthe XVhite Rabbit readshismajorpiece withthemeansto dispelhervisionand thuspro-
of evidence against the Knave of Hearts, the
tectherfromthedangersofcompleteperception.
mad poem full of unclear pronoun references,
Alicehas thuscomefullcircle:hermad curiosity
Alicedaringlystatesaloud:
led herto the visionof absurdity;herfailureled
"If any one of them[thejury]can explainit," her to dismay;and her instinctforsurvival,as-
(shehad grownso largein thelast fewminutesthat suredidentity,and sanityled herto escape from
shewasn'ta bitafraidofinterrupting him[theKing]), herfinalhorrifying perception.
"I'll givehimsixpence. I don'tbelievethere's
an atom It must be rememberedthat Alice's Adven-
ofmeaning in it." (p. 159)
turesin Wonderland is not a piece offormialphi-
Finally, when the Queen asserts, "Sentence losophy;it is, instead,a comicmythofman's in-
first-verdict afterwards,"Alice says loudly, soluble problem of meaning in a meaningless
"Stuffand nonsense!" The Queen turnspurple world. Thus, the fact that Alice herselfis un-
withrage, Alice activelydenies the Queen's de- aware of the significanceof her journey to the
mand to be silentwitha forceful"I won't!" and end ofnightand unawareofherreasonsforfinal-
the whole undergroundadventureexplodesand ly denyingthe validity of her vision is by no
disintegrates(p. 161). means a flawin the book. Alice,as the mythical
We see here,withthe progression fromAlice's representativeof all her fellowsabove ground,
thinking"to herself"to her final words said acts appropriatelyand appropriatelyis unaware
"loudly" and her absoluterefusalto keep silent, of the meaningof her actions.AlthoughAlice's
that part of her rebellionrests on her growing quest for meaningis unfulfilled, and she con-
abilityto speak thenecessarywords-to give the sciouslylearnsnothing,she does survivebecause
necessary"evidence." In Chapterviii Alice was an instinctual"lesson" takesoverat themoment
outwardlypolitewhileshe inwardlysaid,"they're of supremedanger.Unlikethe artificial, illusory
onlya pack ofcards,afterall." At the end,she is lessons of her nurseryreading,schoolroom,or
completelyopen, and she terininatesher night- elders, the innate and unconscious drive for
marishadventurewith her own weapon of de- identityandself-preservation cannotbe perverted
struction,her loudly proclaimed,"You're noth- by eitherWonderlandor the worldabove. The
ing but a pack of cards!" (p. 161). questionis not whetherthisdriveis a valid prin-
Alice's final,overt rejectionof Wonderland, ciple,but whetherit is pragmaticallysound. In
herflightfromthefrightful anarchyofthe world Alice it is. And upon its pragmaticsoundness
underneaththe groundsof commonconscious- reststhe validityof all the otherillusoryprinci-
ness, is a symbolicrejectionof mad sanity in ples and conventions.Alice'squestforreasonable
favorof the sane madnessof ordinaryexistence. experiencewhisksher back to her onlypossible,
Perhaps it is best to view the normalconscious albeit artificial, worldwherethe ultimatelyirra-
mind as an automatic filteringand ordering tional makeslifesane.
mechanismwhich protectsus fromseeing the Thus, the book is paradoxicallyboth a denial
world in all its chaotic wonderand glory-at and an affirmation of order-a kind of catharsis
least it seems best to view the mind this way ofwhatcan neverbe trulypurgedbut whatmust,
when we attemptan explanationof the serious forsanity'ssake, be periodicallypurgedin jest,
themethat emergesfromthe delicious,sprightly fantasy,or dream. The Wonderlandcreatures
wit and humorof Alice's Adventures in Wonder- and theirworldare not a pack of cards,afterall.
land. WhenAlice at last namesher tormentors a They are,so to speak,more"real" thanso-called
pack of cards and therebyends herunderground reality.But wakinglife,as most of us know it,

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326 Alice'sJourney
totheEnd ofNight

mustfunctionas iftheyare unreal,as ifchaos is and definition outsidetheawarenessoftheevery-

amusing"nonsense."
On thesurface,then,Aliceis clearlynottrueto
ordinaryexperience.Indeed, it is destructiveof
the verygroundwork of that experience.Yet the
book is certainlytrue to an extraordinaryex-
periencefamiliarto us all, the dream.For theap-
parentlynonsensicalelementsofAlice,like time-
lessness, spacelessness, and fusion of discrete
entities,are, as modernpsychologyhas demon-
strated,whatlie just belowthesurfaceofrational
consciousnessand what we experienceevery
nightin the dream state.
I began thisessay by pointingout the similar-
ity between Alice and the traditionalliterary
dream-vision.Some may arguethat Alice would
be betterclassifiedas a "nightmare-vision" be-
cause a nightmareis an unsuccessfuldream,
whilea dreamis a methodwherebythe dreamer
successfullyworks out and solves in dramatic
forma deep-seated problem,often a problem
whose existencethe consciousfacultieswill not
allow themselveseven to admit. CertainlyAlice
does deal withand dramatizewhat is by nature
day consciousintellect;and somereadersassume
that Alice's dreamdoes not come to any satisfy-
ing conclusion,that the problemof the disorder
beneathman-madeorderis leftunsolved;but I
have arguedherethat thisis not so, that Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland solves the problemby
a kind of alogical dreamworkaffirmationof
man's artificiallyconstructeduniverse.Whether
or not everyreader'sunconsciouscan be satisfied
with this extra-rationalsolutionis, it seems to
me, an unanswerableand finallyan irrelevant
question. Alice's unconsciousis what matters;
and it is herethat we can be sure the conclusion
is satisfactory.Afterwaking,she runsofffortea
because "it's gettinglate" (and this after the
timelessMad Tea-Party), "thinkingwhile she
ran,as wellshemight,whata wonderful dreamit
had been" (p. 162),completelyat ease in hermad
but possible worldabove the chaos of Wonder-
land.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
Philadelphia,Penn.

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