Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Chapter 1-6
Written by Katlyn
SummaryAlice is at home and realizes that one of her cats (a black kitten) has strewn her nicely rolled ball of yarn around the room. She scolded the cat while she rolled the ball neatly together again. Her thoughts wandered to a chess game she was playing. She tried to make the kitten look like the Red Queen, but since its arms did not cross properly she decided to punish it by threatening to put it in the Looking-Glass House. She begins to tell the kitten about the looking-glass where everything is the same but backwards. She imagines what it is like to live there and then the glass turns soft and Alice climbs through. The chess pieces are alive and are talking and walking. One of the pieces is crying so Alice tries to help by putting the White Queen next to her. She also picks up the White King and dusts him off. They cannot see her so the pieces are very surprised at their sudden movements. Alice picks up a book and all the words are backwards, she brings it to the mirror to flip the words and it is a strange poem called 'Jabberwocky'. She realizes there isn't a lot of time before she has to get back so she wants to explore the rest of the house. She gracefully glides downstairs to the garden.
Alice tries to get to the garden from the paths but she always ends up back at the house. She eventually arrives at a flower bed where the flowers are speaking. Alice is curious and asks questions about the different flowers and why she has never seen other flowers speak before. The tell her that there is another flower that looks like her. They point to the Red Queen who has grown to be taller than Alice. They begin talking and Alice realizes that the country is a giant chessboard, and she asks the Queen if she could be a Pawn. The Queen tells her she can take the place of Lily as the White Pawn. Alice and the Queen run two times as fast as normal to get to the first square. She tells Alice when she gets to the eighth square she will be a Queen. The Red Queen then disappears.
Alice looks in the distance to what looks like bees making honey, but it turns out they are elephants. She goes down the hill and crosses a brook which takes her to the next square. Suddenly she is in a train and a Guard is asking her for her ticket. Alice explains that she did not get a ticket, and then realizes that everyone in the car can think and speak to each other simultaneously. She begins talking to the other creatures surrounding her and all of a sudden the car jumps over a brook. Her surroundings change again and she ends up sitting under a tree next to a Gnat. They speak about insects and then he suddenly departs. Alice goes into the woods where creatures have no names and she then forgets her own name. She meets a Fawn and they walk together discussing how they can't remember their names. When they reach an open field they remember their names again, and the Fawn realizes that Alice is a human so he runs off into the woods. Alice comes across a forked path where posts were marked 'To Tweedledum's House' and 'To the House of Tweedledee'
As Alice comes upon Tweedledee and Tweedledum they are still as statues and she forgets they are alive. When they come around they shake hands with Alice and begin to spin in a circle together. When they stop, Alice asks them how to get out of the forest. They ignore her request and retell 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' to her. The trio seek out the Red King and they tell Alice that she is only a part of his dream and when he awakes she will disappear. Tweedledum finds a rattle and begins to reenact the poem with Tweedledee. They include Alice by telling her dress up in layers of material. Right before they fight, a giant crow flies by causing strong winds and darkness. Tweedledee and Tweedledum run away while Alice runs for the woods.
Alice runs after a shawl that is blowing in the wild winds and then see the White Queen running towards her. She helps the While Queen put the shawl back on and brushes her hair. The Queen asks Alice to be her lady maid but Alice politely turns the job down. They discuss living backwards in this world and how here you can remember things before they happen. The shawl once again is blown away in the wind and they both cross a brook after it. The White Queen seems to transform into a sheep that is behind a counter in a store. Alice looks around seemingly jam-packed store but when she takes a closer look at anything, the shelf appears empty when all the shelves around it are full. The Sheep hands Alice knitting needles and suddenly they are in a boat and she is holding oars. They glide on the water and Alice picks some rushes and they fade as soon as she picks them. They end up back in the shop and Alice decides to buy an egg. The Sheep places the egg on a shelf and Alice goes to retrieve it but it appears to get farther away as she gets closer. Soon she sees trees growing in the shop and comes across another brook.
Alice is still walking toward the egg when it seems to get larger and more human-like. She determines that this egg is Humpty-Dumpty. He is offended that she calls him an egg and that his name suits him for what he is. Alice tries to get Humpty down the wall before he falls but he is confident that the king's men would put him back together again. Alice asks the meaning of the Jabberwocky poem and Humpty explains that he can make words mean whatever he wants. He then recites a made-up poem for her which suddenly ends and then says goodbye to her. Alice walks away and hears a crash in the forest.
Quotes`Let's pretend that you're the Red Queen, Kitty! Do you know, I think if you sat up and folded your arms, you'd look exactly like her. Now do try, there's a dear!' And Alice got the Red Queen off the table, and set it up before the kitten as a model for it to imitate: however, the thing didn't succeed, principally, Alice said, because the kitten wouldn't fold its arms properly. So, to punish it, she held it up to the Looking-glass, that it might see how sulky it was -- `and if you're not good directly,' she added, `I'll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that?'
`Never mind!' Alice said in a soothing tone, and stooping down to the daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, `If you don't hold your tongues, I'll pick you!'
There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies turned white.
At the next peg the Queen turned again, and this time she said, `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!'
Alice thought to herself, `Then there's no use in speaking." The voices didn't join in this time, as she hadn't spoken, but to her great surprise, they all thought in chorus (I hope you understand what thinking in chorus means -- for I must confess that I don't), `Better say nothing at all. Language is worth a thousand pounds a word!'
`I don't rejoice in insects at all,' Alice explained, `because I'm rather afraid of them -- at least the large kinds. But I can tell you the names of some of them."
`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.'
`must a name mean something?' Alice asked doubtfully.
`Of course it must,' Humpty Dumpty said with a sort laugh: `my name means the shape I am -- and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like your, you might be any shape, almost.'
Questions for consideration
Why do you think everything is not exactly the same in the Looking-Glass House? Is this foreshadowing for the good or bad?
Why do you think the Red Queen helps Alice? Do you think the Red Queen expects Alice to become a Queen?
What do you think is the significance of the "jumps" to different places?
Why do you think the Fawn was so afraid of Alice after realizing she was human?
Do you think that Tweedledee and Tweedledum are telling the truth about Alice being a figment of the Red Kings dream?
Would you enjoy backwards memory?
Why do you think everything Alice wants is out of her reach?
Do you think humans are looked down upon my most of the creatures in the Looking-Glass world?
What was your favorite quote(s) from these chapters?
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