The Caterpillar sits atop the magic mushroom that Alice finds in the forest. He has the appearance of a wise old professor – he smokes a hookah lazily and takes a very long time to say anything. He treats Alice wearily and with condescension, but also gives her advice and shows her how to eat the mushroom to grow and shrink.
The Caterpillar Quotes in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Alice's Adventures in Wonderland quotes below are all either spoken by The Caterpillar or refer to The Caterpillar. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.
Related Characters:
Alice, The Caterpillar
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5
Quotes
'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'
Related Characters:
Alice (speaker), The Caterpillar (speaker)
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Alice in Wonderland LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Caterpillar Character Timeline in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The timeline below shows where the character The Caterpillar appears in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4 - The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill
...gets on tip-toes to see the top of it. Sitting on the mushroom is a Caterpillar, smoking a hookah pipe.
(full context)
Chapter 5 - Advice from a Caterpillar
The Caterpillar lazily addresses Alice, by saying “Who are YOU?” Alice explains that she doesn’t know how...
(full context)
Alice turns away, but the Caterpillar calls her back and tells her he has something important to say. He tells her...
(full context)
After another long pause, the Caterpillar wants to know what size Alice would like to be. Alice says she doesn’t have...
(full context)
Chapter 10 - The Lobster Quadrille
...from the beginning. They listen intently. They are very interested in the part about the Caterpillar, and they tell her to recite another rhyme to see if she has forgotten it....
(full context)
