Chapter 12 ended in a more predictable manner, but I thought it fit well within a children’s story. What child wouldn’t want to doze off only to find themselves in wonderland? However, there is one thing that baffles me about the way Carroll ended his story. Isn’t it a little ironic that his ending made perfect sense? Of course the only logical explanation acceptable to our reality would be for these particular occurrences to be merely a dream, but I was expecting an ending that made complete nonsense.
I also noticed that Alice is one again in normal proportion compared to the animals and cards. There are minor indications that her link with the reality outside of her dream is gradually coming back into focus. Alice is now trying to putt events back into logical perspective, even stating “I don’t believe there’s an atom of meaning in it.” It seems Alice is also less acceptable of the queer customs in wonderland, perhaps that also means she has developed her own views (and her own identity?). Alice is more confident, and a little disbelieving as well towards the end of her dream. This is the first time she rejects the reality of wonderland saying “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” By not believing those cards are more than they seem, the magic of wonderland seems to have worn off. It’s like Alice has matured, and when we grow older the things that seemed magical to us when we were little are made mundane by our capacity to explain everything with calculated reason.
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The Alice Project #12 
For kids, the ending of Alice is perfect and magical. They know that it was only a story, but they also know that it can come to life. Not in reality, but in their imaginations. For older readers the ending might seem typical and they may be dissapointed. I mean we are reading and it is almost ending and you are on your toes to see what happens, but she wakes up to find it was all a dream. Overall I wish that there could have been a different ending that fits more in the realm of Wonderland. However, without knowing that it was a dream we can’t determine why Alice was in Wonderland. Basically, it would have less meaning.
I was disappointed by the ending. I too was waiting for a nonsensical ending, but it never came. I was hoping for something spectacular and totally random, but it ended like any normal children’s story. It may have been because Carroll wanted to end it with something normal and boring because, like you said, “…things that seemed magical to us when we were little are made mundane by our capacity to explain everything with calulated reason.” As we get older we are less entertained by the simple things that caught our undivided attention when we were younger.
It’s pretty much like she’s coming out of the dream-sleep state and waking up. She’s finally coming back to the real world. I actually have had this experience… this morning actually. My mom came in to wake me up, and, I don’t really remember what I said, but I was just babbling about something. Not really sure what I was talking about though. The only real explination is that it was about my dream. After realizing where I was, I was fine and couldn’t even remember what I was dreaming about. I believe this is what Alice is going through. She is simply just waking up. Of course if your looking for the meaning of why it ended like this it’s a different story. Maybe because he just wanted it to be a happy ending for Alice L.? Not really sure about that one.