Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Through the Looking-Glass, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Youth, Identity, and Growing Up
Adulthood and the Adult World
Rules and Etiquette
Sense, Nonsense, and Language
Summary
Analysis
Alice catches the shawl and sees the White Queen running toward her. Alice helps the queen put her shawl back on and, as the queen repeats "bread-and-butter," Alice tries to make conversation. She asks if she's addressing the White Queen, but the queen laments in reply that she wouldn't call this "a-dressing." Not wanting to argue, Alice asks for guidance so she can help. She notices that the queen's clothing and hair are very untidy and offers to straighten the queen's shawl. Alice gently puts the queen's clothes back in order and laughs when the queen offers to hire her as a lady's maid for twopence per week and jam every other day.
In this instance, Alice looks far more adult than the White Queen does—losing articles of clothing like this is usually something that's more common for children to do than adults. When Alice has to act like the adult, it suggests that adults are actually not as competent as children like Alice might think—they need help too, and may be just as lost in the world as someone who's young like Alice.
Themes
Alice turns down the job and says she doesn't like jam. The White Queen points out that Alice can't have the jam anyway—she can only have jam tomorrow and yesterday, but never today. Alice is confused, but the queen kindly explains that when one lives backwards, as she does, one can remember in both directions. Even more confused, Alice asks what the queen remembers. The White Queen says that now, there's a messenger who's being punished. His trial begins next week and he'll commit the crime last. Alice asks what happens if the messenger never commits the crime, and the queen says that'd be great. They argue about the purpose of punishment and the queen suggests that punishments are even better when a person hasn't committed a crime.
That the queen can remember in both directions (and not just the future, as one might suspect given the rules the Red Queen laid out for Looking-glass World) is another indicator that Looking-glass World doesn't function like Alice thinks it should: the rules don't apply evenly and instead they apply in every direction at various times. The argument about the purpose of punishment starts to pick at Victorian beliefs about how to raise and punish children. Alice has a far more sensible view of punishment than the queen does, suggesting that children can have a more defined sense of right and wrong than the adults in charge.
Themes
Literary Devices
Before Alice can suggest that they've made a mistake in their logic, the White Queen starts screaming that her finger is bleeding. The queen explains that she's going to prick it on her brooch. The queen's shawl flies open and though Alice tries to save the day, the White Queen catches the brooch and pricks her finger. Calmly, the White Queen says that it should all make sense to Alice now and when Alice asks why she's not screaming, the queen says she already did that.
This scene suggests that the logic of Looking-glass World is actually more straightforward than previously acknowledged, even if it still doesn't make sense to Alice: The progression of events makes perfect sense in a world that functions backwards. However, that this doesn't apply across the board still means that Alice struggles to figure out how things work and when they work this way or not.
Themes
The sky begins to get light and Alice observes that the crow flew away. She says she's glad, and the White Queen moans that she wishes she could be happy. Alice remembers that she's actually very lonely and starts to cry. The White Queen tells Alice to consider anything to stop crying. She asks how old Alice is and then admits that she's 105 years, 5 months, and 1 day. Alice laughs and says she can't believe things that are impossible. The queen declares that Alice needs practice. Her shawl flies off again and the queen races after it across a brook. Alice follows.
Alice's insistence that she can't believe impossible things makes it clear that while she may be an imaginative child, her imagination still has limits—she's not entirely comfortable accepting the nonsensical nature of this world unquestioningly, even if this world is a figment of her imagination. In other words, she's still trying to make this world make logical sense, something that the novel suggests is a futile endeavor.
Themes
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Alice asks if the White Queen's finger is better but, as the queen answers, Alice finds herself in a dark shop with a Sheep knitting behind the counter. The Sheep asks Alice what she'd like to buy. Alice says she wants to look around before she makes a decision. The sheep points out that Alice can look in many directions, but she can't look all around unless she has eyes in the back of her head. Alice turns to study the shelves. They seem to be full of interesting things but when Alice looks directly at a shelf, it's always empty. In pursuit of something bright, Alice "chases" the object to the top shelf and right through the ceiling. The Sheep tells Alice to stop making her dizzy and Alice notes that the Sheep is knitting with 14 pairs of needles.
The Sheep's insistence on semantics and the literal meaning of looking all around shows that in this situation, Alice isn't the one who's being the most logical and literal—part of understanding how language works is understanding that it can mean something more than what the words themselves mean on the surface. This is another case in which Alice will need to work hard to adapt in order to get along with this Sheep and make it through this portion of the chessboard.
Themes
The Sheep hands Alice a pair of knitting needles and asks if Alice can row. Alice begins to answer but discovers that the needles have turned into oars and she and the Sheep are in a little boat. The Sheep shouts, "Feather!" but Alice, perplexed, doesn't answer. Her oars occasionally get stuck and the Sheep continues to shout "Feather!" and says that Alice will soon catch a crab. This thought delights Alice, but hearing "Feather" over and over again begins to annoy her. She points out that she's not a bird, but the Sheep calls her a goose.
"Feather" is a rowing term that refers to holding the oars parallel to the water while they're above the water—and if a rower feathers too soon, they'll "catch a crab," or get the oar stuck. Alice doesn't understand this, so readers familiar with the terminology can laugh at her expense. Again, language can be expansive and mean many different things, which allows for all sorts of jokes depending on what a person does or doesn't know.
Themes
Alice notices beautiful scented rushes ahead and asks if they can stop and pick some. The Sheep insists it has nothing to do with whether or not the boat stops. Alice stops rowing and the boat drifts into the rushes. She begins to pluck the rushes but realizes, to her annoyance, that the prettiest rushes seem just a little further away than she can reach. The narrator notes that Alice doesn't notice that the rushes in the boat wilt and melt almost immediately. She rows on until one oar gets stuck and won't move. The oar sweeps Alice off her seat, but Alice manages to sort herself out. The Sheep compliments her on catching a crab. Alice cautiously says she would've liked to see the crab, but the Sheep just laughs at her.
When the most beautiful rushes are those that are furthest away, it symbolizes how children idealize adulthood and think that the future looks far brighter than their present—while the wilting rushes in Alice's boat stand for how it's so hard for anyone to tell in the moment that they're getting older and changing. The rushes more broadly represent childhood and the way that children, in Carroll's view, don't necessarily know how good they have it until they're already adults and it's too late to go back.
Themes
Literary Devices
The Sheep asks Alice what she wants to buy and suddenly they're back in the dark shop. Alice asks for an egg and the Sheep explains that they sell two for less money than one, but Alice has to eat them both if she buys two. Alice decides to buy one and gives the Sheep money. The Sheep says that she never puts things in other people's hands, sets the egg on a shelf, and walks away. Alice walks toward the egg but the shop seems to expand. She notices branches and crosses a little brook.
The Sheep's price system is just as silly as anything else in the novel. Alice has to make a choice about whether to argue or whether to go with it. Choosing to go with it suggests that Alice is getting better at adapting, while her lack of fear or suspicion as the shop expands supports this and shows that she's open to experiencing these kinds of strange occurrences.
Themes
Literary Devices
