Review: Through The Looking Glass

"'I'm seven and a half exactly.'

'You needn't say "exactually,"' the Queen remarked: 'I can believe it without that. Now that I'll give you something to believe. I'm just one hundred and one, five months a day."

'I can't believe that!' said Alice

'Can't you?' the Queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.'"

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

I've finished reading Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in two days time, not that it's a 'huge' book.

A head's up. It will be impossible for me to discuss about this book without revealing any spoilers or talking about the details in the book. So, if you don't mind being spoilt, you can go on reading this.

My own synopsis for this book:

Alice entered the Looking-Glass House by stepping into the other side of her room's mirror (a.k.a the looking glass). She left the House and went into the garden, meeting the flowers (Tiger-lily, Rose, Daisies etc) and the Red Queen who couldn't stop correcting Alice's manners. Meanwhile, she saw a huge game of chess in progress and she told the Red Queen that she wanted to join. The Red Queen then explained to her that she can be one of the White Pawns and if she survives through the end of the game, she will become a queen.

Here, begins the journey of Alice throughout the chess game.

The moral of this story: If you deal with something you don't like with patience, for example, hearing unkind characters reciting long poetries, riddles and songs, you'll achieved your aim or be rewarded, for instance, being one of the Queens.

Jokes.

It's just something I've discovered, because Alice seemed so annoyed every time the creatures she met started singing or reciting poems.

Through The Looking-Glass remains to be a huge pile of nonsense, but it has high quality. It contains a lot of mathematical and linguistic theories that would really interest young readers; almost every page has a wordplay or riddle.

"'What is it you want to buy?' the Sheep said at last, looking up for a moment from her knitting.

'I don't quite know yet,' Alice said, very gently. 'I should like to look all round me first, if I might.'

'You may look in front of you, and on both sides, if you like,' said the Sheep: 'but you can't look all round you - unless you've got eyes at the back of your head.'"

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

*Win liao lo?*

"'Seven years and six months!' Humpty Dumpty repeated thoughtfully. 'An uncomfortable sort of age. Now if you'd asked MY advice, I'd have said "Leave off at seven" - but it's too late now.'

'I never ask advice about growing.' Alice said indignantly.

'Too proud?' the other inquired.

Alice felt more indignant at this suggestion. 'I mean', she said, 'that one can't help growing older.'

'One can't, perhaps,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven.'"

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

*Omfg?!?!?!?! Humpty Dumpty you're a genius?!?!?!*

The most interesting thing is, in this story, everything goes backwards so you think of memories first and then, only you do something.

For example, cakes are passed out before being cut, destinations are reached by walking in the opposite direction.

Ridiculous, right?

Alice, the creator of the Looking-Glass World with her active imagination, longs to take control of her surroundings and that is why she made it clear that she wanted to be a queen at the end of the chess game.

I'm pretty sure this chess game means something; it could mean, fate or journey, because Alice is required to move from one box to another to achieve her ultimate aim.

Life is like a traditional game of chess, both has its own rules. I think, Carroll is trying to tell his readers the idea that, in reality, many things, such as the process of growing up, may have already been decided with determined events. In a way, free will is a fantasy because there is always this unseen force guiding us back to the road of growing up. Just like Alice, we are pawns in our lives, we have to move forward even though we have limited knowledge and understanding of the real world.

Compared to Alice in Wonderland, Alice is kinder to the creatures in the Looking-Glass World by treating them with courtesy, for example, listening to the creatures talking even though she couldn't agree with them.

The change of her behaviour includes her being more sociable and she craves for company because of her loneliness in her own wealthy Victorian household. Before she created the Looking-Glass World, her only companions are her cats. However, when she entered the World, she was still disappointed because she failed to seek compassion from the creatures as most of them treated her rudely.

Besides that, a few characters from Alice in Wonderland appeared in this sequel too, for example, the arrogant Red Queen. I realised that, it was always about manners whenever the Red Queen was talking to Alice. She actually reminds me of Alice's governess back in Alice in Wonderland. Plus, the way a governess talks to her pupil is usually supercilious and overbearing, which coincidentally matches the way the Red Queen treated Alice.

Plus, the Red Queen's theories are illogical or unworkable in the mind of Alice. I'm pretty sure, when we were younger, we didn't quite understand why our parents or teachers stop us from dong something and we may even thought them to be unreasonable. Yet, from a 7 years old child's standpoint, these figures have arbitrary authority (the Red Queen/parents/teacher) and we (Alice/us) must obey them. So, it's pretty obvious the Red Queen is the antagonist in this story, but not entirely a villain.

Other than the Red Queen, there are Tweedledee and Tweedledum (they look creepy), the Humpty Dumpty (even creepier), the Lion and the Unicorn. Most of the characters were inspired by nursery rhymes. So, the only difference Alice in Wonderland and this sequel is that, Carroll created the characters on his own in the first book.

Speaking of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, they told Alice a story about the Walrus and the Carpenter. It's one of my favourite parts in the book and also, in the Disney animated film. It's kinda nasty but I think the twins were trying to teach Alice and readers that, there are people who would do anything, pleasant or not, to reach their aim.

The moral behind this tale was well-hidden from younger readers. After reading this part, I realise that, Carroll is a cautious author; it's the way he writes, so that, a child can imagine in his mind without accidentally giving out the negative side of the real world that a child has yet to be able to deal with.

Furthermore, I found out that the White Knight was modelled after Carroll himself! In fact, they are quite similar, since the White Knight always invent ridiculous or pointless things, just like Carroll writing this huge pile of "nonsense".

The scene where the White Knight sang a song for Alice when he was sending her off to be the queen at the last square is a sad one. I can imagine, Carroll, as the White Knight, feeling sad as he realised he, eventually, had to let Alice to take on her role of Queen.

Actually, the transformation of Alice to be a Queen is a metaphor for Alice growing up to a mature lady. I don't think the White Knight or Carroll feeling nostalgic suggests that Carroll has pedophiliac obsession. I read about Carroll. He felt discomfort in the presence of adults. Contrariwise, he felt understood around children. I believe, he/the White Knight was sad because he had to mourned the loss of his child friends/Alice growing away from him as they/she matured.

Here I quote one of the letters he wrote to the mother of one of his childhood friends,

"It is very sweet to me, to be loved by her as children love: though the experience of many years have now taught me that there are few things in the world so evanescent as a child's love. Nine-tenths of the children, whose love once seemed as warm as hers, are now merely on terms of everyday acquaintance".

I think, Carroll's way of living is clear enough to explain the melancholiness in this scene. Moreover, if you realise, the White Knight is also the only character in the book that treats Alice with kindness and that is why Alice remembers his image so clearly after many years have passed.

"Of all the strange things that Alice saw in her journey Through the Looking-Glass, this was the one that she always remembered most clearly. Years afterward, she could bring the whole scene back again, as if it had been yesterday - the mild blue eyes and kindly smile of the Knight - the setting sun gleaming through his hair, and shining on his armour in a blaze of light that quite dazzled her - the horse quietly moving about, with the reins hanging loose on his neck, cropping the grass at her feet - and the black shadows of the forest behind - all this she took like a picture, as watching the strange pair, and listening, in a half-dream, to the melancholy music of the song."

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass

It's quite sad because I can't help realising how real this story is. Throughout our process of growing up, we will meet rude or harsh people (like the flowers or Humpty Dumpty), dominant figures (the Red Queen) or people who can't accept who we are (the Fawn).

As a matter of fact, this chess game represents our transition into adulthood and it's inescapable that anxieties of growing up (loneliness) will be one of our problems, because, for myself, I had thought that no one will ever understand what I felt when I was a teenager.

"'I see nobody on the road,' said Alice.

'I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. 'To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too!'"

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

Having mentioned the chess board is the location of the Looking-Glass World, there's no harm in discussing about the movement of Alice and other creatures during the game, right? If you're familiar with chess, a pawn ranks the lowest amongst all. It can move only one space at a time except for its first move, in which he can move two spaces.

In the beginning, Alice started as a pawn, having the ability only to see one square ahead of her. When she later becomes a queen, she can see the whole view of the chess board because her mobility has been upgraded.

A queen chess piece has unlimited view; this explains the Red and White Queens' movability; they can move in any direction and as many spaces at a time. That is why, the White King in the book did not bother chasing after the White Queen because a king chess piece can move in any direction but only one space at a time. In other words, the Kings have restricted mobility.

"'...Take a bone from a dog: what remains?' Alice considered. 'The bone wouldn't remain, of course, if I took it - and the dog wouldn't remain; it would come to bite me - and I'm sure I shouldn't remain!'

'Then you think nothing would remain?' said the Red Queen.

'I think that's the answer.'

'Wrong, as usual,' said the Red Queen: 'the dog's temper would remain.'

'But I don't see how?'

'Why, look here!' the Red Queen cried. 'The dog would lost its temper, wouldn't it?'

'Perhaps it would,' Alice replied cautiously.

'Then if the dog went away, its temper would remain!' the Queen exclaimed triumphantly."

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

*Carroll wins, once again*

What's more, in one of the discussion boards for Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, some readers pointed out that trains were frequently mentioned in the book. For example, the Red King's snores resembling a train engine, the White Queen screams like a train whistle and Alice finds herself on a train shooting through the forest (mimicking Alice's first movement as a pawn). It has been suggested that the train imagery was used to hint that, the transformation of Alice to Queen (process of growing up) is irreversible and unstoppable. Mind-blown, right?

I prefer this sequel, maybe, because I didn't have high expectations of it since I haven't watched any movie about it. Plus, it doesn't have a whole chapter about Alice turning big and small repeatedly. Not forgetting that it has better quotes than the first book!

It's a fun read, one full of humour. I enjoy this sequel very much and I found myself smiling through the reading process. If I'm a pre-school teacher, I might even make my pupils to perform a play based on this story.

Although this book belongs to children literature, I very much hope that this will be read and studied by students in the schools, especially in my country, for it is not just an entertaining and meaningful read, but they also most definitely will learn a thing or two from this book.

I hope this post provides some explanation or guidance to you when you're reading the book. Most importantly, a few observations and interpretations I've suggested are merely my opinion. There's no right or wrong when it comes to opinion, right?

The story ended with Carroll asking us, is the Looking-Glass World a dream of Alice or that of the Red King (before the poem). This question was imposed on Alice and she was very afraid that it was Red King's. In my opinion, Carroll is reminding us how trivial our existence is in the universe that, human life may exists as a dream in the mind of a greater divine being (God knows who?).

"Life, what is it but a dream?"

--- Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass

Perhaps, it is no more than the shadowy dreams of a greater consciousness.

Rating: ★★★★