Why this site?
Alice in Wonderland is a great nonsense story, but as it was written for British readers of another century, it is necessary to know the background of the story if you want to fully enjoy it. Many jokes that are interwoven in the story were meaningful to people in the Victorian era, but now we need to have them explained. The story also contains some private jokes that could be understood only by the intimate friends of the author!
With this site I am trying to point out that Alice in Wonderland is more than just a children's book and that the nonsense is not as random as it seems at the first glance.

The Red Queen shook her head, "You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"

What it is not about
This site does not tell you 'the truth' about the meaning behind the books. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" can be read on many levels:

• a children's story with jokes and wordplay
• a story with references to Victorian society, the life of the author and his favorite child friend
• a story that contains hidden meanings, like drug promotion, sexual speculations, etc.

This site focusses on the second level and lightly touches the third.

Bear in mind that there is no solid evidence that any hidden meanings exist at all - it is mere speculation. As the author died about 100 years ago, we cannot be sure what exactly he had in mind when he wrote the books.
The following text, from PinkMonkey.com, verbalises it in a very good way:

"The study of literature is not like the study of math or science, or even history. While those disciplines are based largely upon fact, the study of literature is based upon interpretation and analysis.

There are no clear-cut answers in literature, outside of the factual information about an author's life and the basic information about setting and characterization in a piece of literature. The rest is a highly subjective reading of what an author has written; each person brings a different set of values and a different background to the reading. As a result, no two people see the piece of literature in exactly the same light, and few critics agree on everything about a book or an author.

In your course of literature study, you or your professor/teacher may come up with a different interpretation of the mood or the theme or the conflict. Your interpretation, if it can be logically supported with information contained within the piece of literature, is just as correct as [the one's you'll find here]. So is the interpretation of your teacher or professor. [...]

Literature is simply not a black or white situation; instead, there are many gray areas that are open to varying analyses. Your task is to come up with your own analysis that you can logically defend."

"-- But you make no remark?"
"I -- I didn't know I had to make one -- just then," Alice faltered out.
"You should have said, 'It's extremely kind of you to tell me all this' -- however, we'll suppose it said."

Questions?
I welcome all commentary about my Alice in Wonderland website! I try to answer all e-mails, but please understand that I get LOTS every day, and that I probably won't be able to help you if you have a paper due tomorrow.
You may also want to post a message on the Alice in Wonderland forum. Other visitors might be able to help you out.

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

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