Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Essay Example

However, the interaction of the Wonderland characters with Alice is only a reflection of their interaction with each other and would remain the same even in her absence. The social interaction in Wonderland is characterized by the constant pun on words, quarrelsome attitudes and haphazard rules of behavior of the inhabitants. Conversation in Wonderland is constantly punctuated with puns. The mouse attempts to dry the bedraggled creatures who fall into the Pool of Tears with “the driest thing I know” (Carroll, Chapter 3): a boring (dry) story.

The characters regularly indulge in witticism. When the Dormouse relates a story of three sisters and Alice protests, “But they were IN the well,” the Dormouse replies, “Of course they were', said the Dormouse; `--well in” (Chapter 7). The conversation is liberally sprinkled with double entendres. When Alice refers to the earth’s rotation on its axis, the Duchess immediately retorts with “Talking of axes,' said the Duchess, `chop off her head!'” The play on words continues throughout the narrative.

The schoolmaster who taught the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle is called a Tortoise. The reason: “We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle” (Chapter 9). They give their etymology of the word ‘lesson’: “That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: `because they lessen from day to day” (Chapter 9). Again, the Gryphon explains to Alice that just as ‘blacking’ is used to shine shoes in the real world, “‘Whiting’ is used to do shoes underwater” and it is made of “Soles and eels, of course” (Chapter 10).

These quibbles on words is the most characteristic feature of social interaction among the creatures in Wonderland, both with Alice and with each other. The characters in Wonderland are quarrelsome and aggressive to a fault. The epitome of this is obviously the Queen of Hearts, who is ever-ready to take offense and fall into a rage, and “keeps shouting, “Off with his/her head”: in fact, during the croquet match, “within half an hour, all of the other players have been taken into custody and put under sentence of execution” (Chapter 8).

The quarrel among the three gardeners at the start of Chapter 8 is a typical example of the argumentativeness which characterizes social interaction among the creatures of Wonderland. The players take part in the game “quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs” (Chapter 8). Not only do the players fight, but the hedgehogs used as balls are also busy fighting each other. At the Duchess’ house, the belligerent cook, apparently without any reason, throws “everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby- -the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes” (Chapter 6).

Again, when the King asks the cook to give evidence at the trial of the Knave of Hearts, the cook remains contrary, saying, “Shan't” (Chapter11). At the Mad Tea-Party, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare pinch the Dormouse, pour hot tea on its nose and attempt to stuff the hapless creature into the teapot – without the least provocation. All the creatures take offense at the least pretext. The Lory “turned sulky”