First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.12)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s see what the verdict is when we hear “Alice’s Evidence”. (Ch.12)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-11 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

Up to this point, the trail has been pointless in my perspective and now they called Alice to the stands, who is also growing larger and larger. I also took note that the King just wants to be in the action/trial instead of really knowing what he is suppose to do. This is shown when he randomly says “That’s very important” and the W. Rabbit corrects him “unimportant”. This is same with the Queen. All she wants to do is execute people. Is she doing it for attention or just for the authority?

Alice challenges both the King and Queen in this final chapter ending symbolizing her final transformation from an arrogant little girl, to a confident young woman. This is, of course, her personality not her appearance.

The verses on the letter are questionable to who the letter was for and who wrote it, although in the annotations, it poses the statement ‘If the Knave didn’t write it, asks Selwyn Goodacre, how did he know it wasn’t signed?’ Suppose the Knave took a chance and was correct, or maybe he did write it. I don’t believe we will ever know.

Could these verses be pertaining to Alice? She had a good character, couldn’t swim easily, the caterpillar proposed a similar question to ‘What would become of you?’, She gave the comfits to the animals and the Dodo returned her thimble as if ‘though they were mine before’, Alice does have a chance to set them (the Knave) free, before Alice realizes the truth she must conquer this obstacle, the letter warns don’t let her [Alice possibly] tell him [the King perhaps] that she liked them[the innocent] best, for this is a secret kept from all the rest. The book points to the Knave for these verses to be pertaining to, but I say it is Alice:

The ending is too sweet and vague to end this story full of important events and messages. To have Alice’s sister dream about Alice’s dreams reinsures that the reader does know that it was a dream [even though many people think it was real/because of drugs]. It is interesting to point out that Alice’s sister is older than her. She only half believed herself in Wonderland because she knew it was only a dream because of her greater knowledge and experiences she has acquired before Alice.

By the way…What ever happened to Dinah? Carroll never says that Alice picked up her cat and ran off to drink tea. Could Dinah have fell down the Rabbit Hole and become the Cheshire cat? Was Dinah ever real? She was a major thought of Alice in the beginning although as the story progressed she never mentioned Dinah. Any ideas?

This was the final blog of “First Thought? Of Course I Ought!” I hope everyone enjoyed following me and Alice down the rabbit hole and hope some of these thoughts encouraged you to think of even more questions and answers!

Feel free to check out my team’s blogs on the right side of your screen!

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First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.11)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? “Who Stole the Tarts” from the tart jar? Who me? Yes you! Couldn’t be! Than who? (Ch.11)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-10 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

The only tarts I know of thus far are the Duchess’s tarts, although why would they be of importance of this chapter? Honestly, the answer is never answered. Perhaps in the last chapter they will mention why, if not, it isn’t the end of the world.

I find it fascinating that the jurors were writing on a slate instead of a computer or paper. If they wrote on a slate, wouldn’t they run out of room or have to erase the comments before so they can write even more? This is a very peculiar method of choice. Of course, this trial does seem pointless; hence there is really no point in keeping the trial on record.

As for the jurors, I am not surprised the juror that Alice grabbed the pencil from was poor little Bill. He can never catch a break…could he symbolize bad karma?

As I wanted to see how the Lobster Quadrille dance plays out, I was curious to see how the director of the 1999 version portrayed the courtroom scene.

I have no idea what the black smoke chasing Alice was, but that’s how the director chose to transition from one scene to the next. In the book, Alice hears a cry of “The trial’s beginning!” and wonders to find out what it is. Alice is also sitting by the Gryphon in the Carroll’s book instead of the Duchess. Perhaps it was easier for the director to have the Duchess instead of the Gryphon in the scene.

In the video version, they actors bring the characters to life and the lines become much more comical (even if there are a few added puns). I especially love the Queen and the Hatter. “Chop off more heads. It’s wonderful! Chop! Chop! There’s blood everywhere!  Drag to clean.” This quote isn’t in the book, yet it’s a great add in pun! “We don’t do encores…” You sang at my concert…but this is even worse!” “I’ve been practicing” Another add in pun, yet they are so funny.

I wonder why when the Rabbit presented the case at the beginning he said that the Queen baked some tarts, although at the end of the chapter it was the Duchess’s tarts that were questioned. Did Carroll mean for this to happen? & why did Alice grow when she did not eat nor drink anything? Could this be a sign that it was not the “Drink Me” or the “Eat Me” objects did not change Alice’s growth, it twas what she was thinking and feeling that made her grow either larger or smaller.

Stay tuned for the final “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 12)

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.10)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Get your dancing shoes and pants on as we do-si-do “The Lobster Quadrille”. (Ch.10)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-9 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

When I first saw the title I thought of food, perhaps it was because it was lunch time when I was reading this chapter… Anyways I found out it was a dance! So of course while reading, I was trying to picture how this dance would have gone.

In my research, I found the 1999 version of “Alice in Wonderland.” Here Gene Wilder (aka Willy Wonka in the 1^st movie version – not Johnny Depp- so of course he was brilliant) plays the character of the Mock Turtle and sings beautifully the “Lobster Quadrille Song” and “Beautiful Soup”.  In this version, the full lyrics are not sung, yet the message is still shown.

Note:

I also find it amusing the use of puns throughout all of these chapters. From shoes are shined by blacking, yet shoes under the sea are done with whiting, to ‘With what porpoise?’

Disregard the scene from 6:46 to the end, for in this version the director combined Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.

I also noticed the several times Alice actually checked herself when talking to the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle. She is learning how to control her thoughts and start becoming patient with herself. I believe this is a perfect example of how Alice is transforming through Wonderland.

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 11)

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.9)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s travel with Alice to go her “The Mock Turtle’s Story”! (Ch.9)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-8 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

In the beginning of this chapter, we see the Duchess again, yet her personality has changed dramatically. She shows affection, kindness, and sympathy unlike her grouchy, violent, selfish attitude when Alice first met her in Chapter 6. I agree with Alice’s assumption with “perhaps it was only the pepper that had made her so savage when they met in the kitchen” (pg. 90). Could other object/elements change other personalities of the creatures and Alice throughout Wonderland?

We also come upon five important morals:

‘Oh, ’tis love, ‘tis love, that makes the world go round!’

‘Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.’

‘Birds of a feather flock together.’

‘The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.’

‘Be what you would seem to be.’

All of these morals can be related to Alice’s journey throughout Wonderland, yet these aren’t quite the meaning of her journey since it is much more complex than a simple moral.

I also find it interesting that out of blue the Queen suggests Alice to go meet the Mock Turtle and here his story. Could this be a distraction for Alice or could this meeting change her whole perspective on Wonderland?

I also find it offensive that Carroll adds  (If you don’t know what a Gryphon is, look at the picture.)  I can quite see that the picture on pg. 95 is a picture of a creature that is not Alice, the Queen, or the Mock Turtle, so out of process of elimination the picture must be of a Gryphon. Nevertheless Carroll sees the need to add this comment into his story.

Finally after laughing at the numerous ‘puns’ at the end of this chapter, Alice poses an excellent question “And how did you manage on the twelfth?” She asks this when the turtle explains to Alice that one learns a subject 10 hours on the first day, 9 hours the second day, and so on… thus on the 11 day there was a holiday and the 12 day?

The annotations wonder if the pupils start teaching their teacher, which could be plausible yet I know from feedback that teachers learn many things from their students everyday. The fact that the Gryphon quickly changes the subject when Alice asks this question, raises suspicion if the Mock Turtle was making up the whole story or if they didn’t want Alice to know.

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 10)

Image can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.8)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s get some popcorn and our megaphones out to watch the battle at “The Queen’s Croquet-Ground”! (Ch.8)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-7 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

I was very excited to read this chapter, for it has the famous quote “painting the roses red!” which in the Disney version was made into a song!

It gets into you head huh?

I find it interesting that in the Disney version, Alice arrives into the garden, aka the Queen’s Ground, by a whole/door in the tree that was opened by the Cheshire Cat. In Carroll’s story, there is a door in one of the trees, yet it leads Alice to the room of doors in which she opens the garden door with the golden key and nibbles her way to being a foot tall so she can enter the Queen’s garden. Similar? Yes, yet not all of the components of the Disney version are exactly like Carroll’s story.

I also think it is funny that it was the 2, 5 and 7 of spades that Alice encounters in Carroll’s version and in the Disney version it was the Ace, 2, and 3 of clubs. Really Disney? Was it that hard to draw a 5 or 7 spade of cards? If the cards were spades, the rose trees could not have been in the shape of a spade, or an upside-down heart. The annotations show what each suit of cards represents: Spade-Gardeners, Clubs-Soldiers, Diamonds-Courtiers, and Hearts-Royal children. If Disney wanted any part of this symbolism, they probably would not have put the gardeners as clubs and the other suits of cards various slave-like people to the Queen.

By the way, what a weird ladder the cards are using. I don’t think I have ever seen a ladder with one of the legs a straight poll/stick. Anything can happen in Wonderland I guess.

When I was looking at this picture, I noticed that the King and Queen’s noses were shaded. What does this mean? From the annotations, they say that the shaded nose signify boozers. Since both of their heads are pointed to the sky, I believe the shading could be a bad sunburn and Tenniel was adding realistic features into his drawing. It could be either one. It is also interesting to think about the symbolism of the cards. The entire base cards, Ace-10, are not to be seen in this picture.

What does this mean?

It could mean many things. One, this picture could illustrate the political differences between Alice and Royalty. Two, the facial expressions of the Royal Cards have a different interpretation than if the base cards were reacting to the scene. Here is yet another example of Nobility vs. Peasantry, Upper-Class vs. Lower-Class or what ever you want call it.

*Can you spot the White Rabbit?*

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 9)

Image 1 can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.7)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s all sit back and relax as we have a cup of tea at “a mad tea-party!”(Ch.7)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-6 under one of our categories found in the side bar, ”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

By the look of the title I have a pretty good feeling we will be saying “cheerio!” and putting our pinkies out while sipping cups of tea with the Mad Hatter and March Hare. I was disappointed that the Disneyfide “Happy Un-birthday!” was not originally in Carroll’s story although the ongoing conversation of Time did entertain me throughout this chapter.

The Dormouse was a very unusual character in this chapter. Out of all the different kinds of mice in the world, why did Carroll pick a dormouse? Perhaps it was to balance out the hyper/madness of the Hare and Hatter. Was it just me or did was Tenniel’s illustration of the dormouse quiet out of proportion? Although, Alice would think it was rather “queer” for a mouse to be the same size of a Hare or even a little girl.

Though who is to say that a mouse can’t be bigger than an elephant in Wonderland?

I was very surprised to see that May 4^th was the birthday of Alice Liddell. Why? My birthday is May 4^th! What a coincidence! To think that in Wonderland, it was always 6 o’clock is a strange thing to think about. If it was 6 all the time…then when would one know the day is over and a new one is beginning?

Oh…my brain hurts.

On that note: Let’s go to the riddle!

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch.8) !

Feel free view the results of the riddle when you vote!

Image 1 can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.6)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s see what happens when Alice gets a “Pig and Pepper”. (Chapter 6)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-5 under “First Thought? Of Course I Ought!“, too, if you want.)

***
My first thoughts?

From the title I had no idea what was going to happen in this chapter. This scene did not happen in the Disney version, so that could not aid me in figuring out what would happen. Let’s see what I discovered!

One of the things I like about Carroll’s writing style is that he describes the scene in detail that allows the reader to picture the scenery and have a thought on how the voices of the characters are suppose to sound like. As Alice laughed at tone and actions of the Footmans, I too did chuckle when trying to picture these peculiar creatures.

The most interesting part of this whole chapter was the Duchess and the Cheshire-Cat.

As for the Duchess, her attitude is like none of the other characters Alice has encountered thus far. She is very opinioned, ugly, and very rude. I say she is ugly but the illustrations and annotations.

As you can see by John Tenniel’s illustration, the Duchess, the baby, and the cook are all quiet ugly. The Cheshire-Cat is either grinning because he thinks the whole situation is quiet funny or perhaps he was waiting for Alice and knew it was time to show her the way.

I also find it interesting the Duchess calls Alice a pig and moments later when Alice grabs the baby, it turns into a pig. Is there any importance to this?

The whole Cheshire Cat scene is just brilliant. From the “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to” and “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” to “We’re all mad here.”  The way that he tells Alice she will see him at the Queen’s crocket event, foreshadows that she will in fact be there too. Even though I love cats, especially my cat Max, the character development of the Cheshire Cat is my favorite out of all of the Alice Characters thus far.

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 7)

Image 1 can be found here. Max’s picture can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.5)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s see what happens when Alice gets “advice from a Caterpillar”. (Chapter 5)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-4 under “First Thought? Of Course I Ought!“, too, if you want.)

***
My first thoughts?

I have to admit, when I saw that the Caterpillar was smoking a hookah I could not stop laughing. Yes, I did know that he did in the Disney version although the fact that a Caterpillar is smoking cracks me up.

One of the aspects of this chapter that interested me was how the Caterpillar never really explained any of his answers to Alice. He either asked more questions or replied succinctly to Alice’s questions. Could this be because the Caterpillar wanted Alice to discover the answers to her own questions by herself?

I was also analyzing the words in italics that sparked my interest in the very first chapter, which you can read in my first blog. Perhaps the words in italics are just emphasizing the overall importance of the sentence it is in. The italics are mainly used to emphasize who the comment is pertaining to. For example, “Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,” said Alice: “all I know is, it would feel very queer to me.” “Who are you?”

I also think it is peculiar that the Caterpillar is so concerned with Alice realizing how she has changed thus far. He reiterates the question “Who are you?” and also called after Alice when she was about to leave him to tell her “So you think you’re changed to you?” The Caterpillar is also the creature who leads her to her size alter #6. Which brings me to my final question:

If she nibbles on the mushroom until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height…who is to say that what she think is her “normal” height could be 40ft or 2 inches in the “real” world or even in the room of doors?

Just a thing to ponder…

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 6)

Image can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.3)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s see how Alice deals with her first “Caucus Race” and her thoughts of the “Long Tale”. (Chapter 3)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-2 under one of our categories found in the side bar,”First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***

My first thoughts?

Before even reading this chapter the title already had me puzzleing of what will happen to Alice next. So, like any good student would do *wink*, I looked up “caucus” on www.dictionary.com. This is what I discovered.

Caucus:

–noun

1.	U.S. Politics. a. a meeting of party leaders to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc.

Well going to my Disney resource, I still had no idea how a caucus race was going to be an event Alice would witness or even be in. If you have seen my Biography, then you would know one of my favorite parts in the Disney movie was the story of the Walrus and the oysters (clams). When I saw that there was going to be a “long tale” I was overly excited that it could be that story. Although I was disappointed when the chapter ended and my oyster story was not mentioned. Nevertheless, throughout this chapter there were many puns and “haha” moments that kept me interested and entertained.

I find it odd that Alice keeps referring to things in Wonderland as “queer”. I could understand if she just entered Wonderland, yet she keeps emphasizing the fact that everything is not what it seems. Although, for me, its just annoying. I can’t help wondering if Carroll is symbolizing the mouse and the other animals as people in the “real” world. I know from the annotations, it says the Mouse represents Miss Prickett the children’s governess, yet could the Mouse be more than that? This is how I see it:

Mouse Other animals

1. High Authority                        1. Subjects to the Mouse

2. Intelligent                              2. Not as Intelligent

3. Easily Offended                        3. Easy to Manipulate

As I look at this basic chart, I could easily say Mouse could represent the nobility and the other animals as peasants. I could also assume the Mouse could represent an adult or the “wise/experienced” one. It all just comes down to your opinion.

At this point, all of the animals are soaking wet, so their dilemma is how to get dry. The Dodo proposes to have a Caucus-race. Of course, a Caucus-race in Wonderland is totally different than in the “real” world. Thus, the animals, including Alice, ran around in a circle for half an hour until they were dry.

Smart huh?

To back up my theory of nobility vs. peasants, the annotations suggest the thimble that is taken away from Alice and then retuned to her could symbolize taxation on the lower class people. Perhaps even the comfits, hard sweetmeats, given to the animals as “prizes” could symbolize the increases of food grown/given to the poor during the Agricultural Revolution.

I believe it was also interesting that the animals could not taste these comfits and they almost choked on them. A coincidence? Is symbolism calling my name? I honestly do not know…

Any ideas?

As for the Tale or aka Tail poem, it really didn’t interest me that much. It felt like this was an add in, coming out as a “Hey! Guess what else I can do other than create a wide known children’s story!”, so really didn’t concern me at all.

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of course I ought!” (Ch. 4)

Image one can be found here. Image two can be found here.

First Thought? Of Course I Ought! (Ch.4)

Summary: What quirky images/ thoughts pop up in my head as I dive into each chapter of The Annotated Alice? Let’s see what happens when “The Rabbit sends in a Little Bill”. (Chapter 4)

(Note:  If you’re interested in these ideas, feel free to check out the previous posts on Ch. 1-3 under one of our categories in the side bar, “First Thought? Of Course I Ought!”, too, if you want.)

***
My first thoughts?

I have no idea why I didn’t think of the lizard named Bill in the movie when i saw the title, but I honestly was clueless on what was going to happen in this chapter. I even made a note in the margins asking myself “is Bill as in $ or legislation?”. Oh, was I in for a surprise!

One of my problems with this chapter was when the W. Rabbit called/possibly mistaken Alice for “Mary Ann” or a servant. If he knew that Alice was following him or at least he acknowledged her, than how could he have mistaken her as a servant?

Again with the death references! “She’ll get me executed” is a very disturbing quote. What is next? Suicide? (I wouldn’t put it past Carroll.)

We also see the 4th and 5th time Alice’s size is altered. Although this time Alice ignores all of her “real” world instincts and blatantly drinks the bottle with no desire to see if it could perhaps have POISON or maybe DANGEROUS SIDE EFFECTS. Alas! Every time she does eat or drink in Wonderland she always seems to wish she hadn’t done it.

Will she ever learn?

As I was reading the Pat digging apples scene, this somehow referencing to French in a jokingly way, I really didn’t understand the whole scene. I don’t really think it’s an important scene, although I also never like to be the person “out of the loop”. Any ideas?

My all-time favorite quote out of this chapter would have to be a general chorus of “There goes Bill!” as he flies out of the chimney. Hilarious I tell you!

Was there anyone else who was confused on Alice’s comment on trying to find the lovely garden she saw through the key hole of the door? Is Alice still in the room of doors but just keeps adjusting her size to her surroundings? That is an interesting thought though. What could be a giant in the W. Rabbits house could be very tiny, perhaps even microscopic, in the room of doors. The transition from the doors to the sea of tears and then to the bank was so smooth and unnoticeable that one can just accept Alice is somewhere else other than where she started.

I will leave all of you with this comment. I find it very funny that the large blue caterpillar is sitting on top of a mushroom. A mushroom that could symbolize drugs. To top that off, the Caterpillar is smoking a HOOKAH!!!

Of course, that is just my first thought.

Stay tuned for “First thought? Of Course I Ought!” (Ch. 5)

Image 1 can be found here. Image 2 can be found here.