11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
often receive the same questions by e-mail. I like
receiving e-mails, but this page might save us both some trouble. So here is
a summary of the most-asked questions and their answers (according to my opinion).
- Was Carroll on drugs when he wrote the Alice books, or are the books about drugs?
- Was Carroll a pedophile?
- The Mad Hatter has a card on his hat which says '10/6'. What does it mean?
- So why is a raven like a writing desk?
- I have a very old edition of the book. Do you know how much it is worth?
- Are the books and the pictures still copyright protected?
- I want to throw my own Unbirthday party / Mad Tea party! Do you have any suggestions?
- I'm looking for a specific quote from one of the books. Can you help me?
- I've seen an Alice movie, but I cannot remember which one it was. Can you help me?
- Did the Dormouse actually say "Feed your head", like they sing in Jefferson Airplane's song "White Rabbit"?
- During the oyster scene (in the Disney movie) the 'R' in March flashes. Why?
- Can you explain the chess moves from Through the Looking Glass?
- I heard the Alice books were banned in China. Is this true, and why?
`I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father; `don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
Q: Was Carroll on drugs when
he wrote the Alice books, or are the books about drugs?
A: No. Carroll did not use drugs while
writing the story. The larger part of the story was invented when he was on a
boat trip with a friend, the real Alice and her sisters. He invented it
while they rowed. The drug rumor was
first spread in the 1960's by supporters of the then new LSD subculture. The
rumor is believed to have originated from the psychiatrists who introduced LSD
into our society.
Some people insist that one has to be on drugs to write such a
creative story. But why shouldn't someone have a
creative mind of his own?
If Carroll was on drugs, the Alice books would probably be a series of rambling, disconnected,
surrealist scenarios. But the Alice books are far from random. They contain some
very intricate logic problems and very clever puns (not to mention Alice's
journey in "Through the Looking-Glass", which follows the moves of a chess
game), that could only be the work of a sharp mind in full control of its
abilities. Furthermore, you'll find the same style of writing in the magazines
he wrote in his youth, his various poems, stories, and other writings, and
especially in the letters he wrote. If the Alice books were drug induced, the
rest of his voluminous output would seem to suggest he was on drugs 24/7.
There is indeed one part in the book that may describe the use of
drugs: the hookah smoking Caterpillar who advises Alice to eat from the mushroom. But
with the story Carroll made fun of all aspects of society, and it may be
possible that he was just reflecting the age with this part (note that this
chapter wasn't even part of the original story, but was added later!). In the Victorian
era there were no drug laws like we know them. Opium, cocaine, and laudanum (a
painkiller that contained opium) were used for medicinal purposes,
and could be obtained from a pharmacist. Mind that LSD was not even invented yet!
So in Carroll's days it was not uncommon to experience the effect of being 'high', whether
or not accidentally. However, it was definitely not Carroll's intention to write a book about drugs: he wanted to entertain a
little girl whom he loved. No evidence has ever been found that linked Carroll to drug use.
Even in his diaries, Carroll has never made any reference to the use of drugs.
Q: Was Carroll a pedophile?
A: No, probably not. He certainly
liked little girls at a level that was more than normal. However, there is no
evidence at all that he was sexually attracted to them. He did photograph them
in the nude, but only with permission from their mothers, and only if the children
were completely at ease with it. He made sure that after his death those pictures
were destroyed or returned to the children to prevent them from getting embarrassed.
In his time making nude photographs of children wasn't uncommon; all Victorian
artists did studies of child-nudes, it was a trendy subject for the time. When
his child-friends grew up, they told only positive stories about their warm
friendship. It is suggested that Carroll loved little girls so much because
he had many sisters which he loved to entertain when he was a young boy.
Q: The Mad Hatter has a card on his hat which says '10/6'. What does it mean?
A: An anonymous person gave what
I consider to be the correct answer on my message board. As the discussion has
been deleted, I'll reproduce his/her answer here once again:
"The tag on the hat is the price in 'old money', pounds shillings and pennies
written l/s/d (believe it or not). 10/6 cannot be 10 pounds/6 pennies (that would be
10/0/6), it is possibly 10 pounds/6 shillings but I suspect it is 'ten-and-six'; 10
shillings/six pennies...a large sum in the mid- 1800's..."
I received an email from Colin Davey in which he added the following:
"The price on the hat is
definitely 10 shillings & sixpence, expressed in conversation as "Ten &
Six". Ten shillings was half of one pound. There were 240 pence (d) in a pound, so
sixpence was half a shilling. The currency was happily decimalised in, I think, 1971 so
that a pound had 100 pence in it and the sixpence coin disappeared, though the shilling
coin did duty for several years as 5 new pence."
Chris Somerville amplificated:
The actual amount was significant also. Professional people (doctors, lawyers, architects etc) all charged fees, not in pounds but in
guinneas. One guinnea was one pound plus one shilling. And while pounds were the currency of trade, guinneas were the currency of the professions. We used to have a gold coin called, and valued at a
guinnea, and a smaller gold coin, a half guinnea, valued at ten and six (10/6). The pound, however was merely a paper note, as was the half-pound or ten shillings.
So the hat worn by the Mad Hatter was priced at half-a-guinnea, signifying its superior style.
The fact that it is a price tag (and not a size tag) has been confirmed by Disney.
Q: So why is a raven like a writing desk?
A: Originally the riddle had no answer, but Carroll made one up later (see
the Trivia section for details).
Many readers
have invented their own answers ever since, including the most famous "because
Poe wrote on both", and my personal favorite "because there's a B in
both and an N in neither".
Q: I have a very old edition of the book. Do you know how much it is worth?
A: No. Unfortunately there is no "price guide" to determine the current value of antiquarian books. The value of your edition depends on a lot of different factors.
As I am not an antiquarian bookseller, I have no knowledge of appraising books and can only advise you to visit a reputable antiquarian book dealer in your vicinity.
For a start, you can take a look at the site of the ABAA, which contains a lot
of information about the appraisal of old books. Start with this introduction
to the evaluation of books. Their FAQ-page
offers a lot of other useful information. Also check out the rest of the site, you'll find advise about how to locate an expert!
Remember, however, that booksellers will seldom pay much more than 25% or 30% of a book's current retail price, because of their own high costs.
Q: Are the books and the pictures still copyright protected?
A: No. When the Alice books were
published, they were copyright protected until 42 years after the first publication
or 7 years after the author's death, whichever was the longer. Later, the 1911
Act replaced the 1842 Copyright Act which extended the period to 50 years after
the author's death.
This means that the copyright on "Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland" subsisted until 1907 and that of "Through the Looking-Glass
and what Alice found there" until 1948. As Tenniel died in 1914, his illustrations
came out of copyright in 1964. The Disney movie still remains in copyright.
Q: I want to throw my own Unbirthday party / Mad Tea party! Do you have any suggestions?
A: Here are some ideas for an Alice in Wonderland party theme that I got from other visitors.
Decoration:
How about setting up a huge table, covered with all different kinds of
teapots, teacups, chandeliers, etc.? Have an assortment of 'odd' chairs around the table,
so that people have to sit at different heights. Use a loud tablecloth, hide a stuffed toy
representing the dormouse in one of the teapots and attach labels with the words
'eat me' and 'drink me' to all kinds of things. Hang up signs with 'this way' and 'that way' painted on them,
like in Disney's Tulgey wood. Put some clocks in the room that are
stopped at tea-time. Decorate the walls with playing cards, and the floor with a chessboard-like
pattern. Scatter around some chess pieces. Hang a branch to the ceiling
with a Cheshire Cat (or just it's grin) in it.
For more inspiration, take a look at these great accessories for decorating your Unbirthday or Mad Tea party.
What to do:
Play croquet (with hedgehog plush toys as balls, or perhaps hedgehogs painted on the balls?), chess, or "pin the
grin on the Cheshire Cat" with your guests. Make up silly riddles to entertain your guests
and have them wear top-hats or rabbit ears. Grease-paint the children as rabbits, or cats, or other
Wonderland characters. Turn on the TV and play Alice movies during the party.
Paint eggs so they resemble Humpty Dumpty. For small children, do the Caucus race. Make them run around in
a circle, and when you shout 'stop' the last one to sit down/run to the middle is out.
Play games with a 'Contrariwise' theme: make people name stickers, where you write their names on backwards.
Everyone must call everyone else by their backwards name, or risk a forfeit. You could invent a game where names must
be called, or you could just have this going on throughout the party. Also, you could ask people questions and
they must give the opposite answer. Or, say the answer, but backwards. For most of these games, some kind of
time pressure is essential to make it more difficult and to make people make mistakes and have to do forfeits.
The more adult the party, the more adult the questions. 'Have you ever done xyz?' would be interesting if people
have to say the opposite. It becomes more like a truth or dare game then.
What to eat:
Serve little cakes and lots of tea, pepper soup or Mock Turtle soup, and oysters.
Make a game of Clean Cup: have guests assemble at table.
They fill their plates with food and make their tea (or other drink) as they like for a certain
amount of time. When the time is over, say "Clean cup. Clean cup. Move down. Move down."
The guests move to the next place and put more food on the plate and change the tea however they wish.
This goes on and on until everyone returns to their own place setting. Now, everyone must eat and drink
what the others have put. Prizes can be awarded to the most weird concoction.
What to wear:
Of course you and your guest all dress up as Wonderland characters! If you need costumes, or ideas to design your own costume,
visit my costume page.
If you have more ideas, let me know and I'll add it to this list!
Q: I'm looking for a specific quote from one of the books. Can you help me?
A: Here are some most wanted
quotes and the corresponding chapters. If the one you're looking for isn't included you
can e-mail me.
"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."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)
"Would you
tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only
walk long enough."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)
"...and
the moral of that is - 'Take care of the sense, and the sounds will
take care of themselves.'"
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 9)
"Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" He asked.
"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go
on till you come to the end: then stop."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter
12)
`Contrariwise,' continued
Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but
as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
(Through the Looking Glass , Chapter 4)
`When I use a
word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose
it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different
things.'
`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.'
(Through the Looking Glass , Chapter 6)
Q: I've seen an Alice movie, but I cannot remember which one it was. Can you help
me?
A: As my site is only about Carroll's books and
the Disney movie, you will not find a complete list of all Alice movies here. Take a look at the Internet Movie Database and
you'll find information about other movies (search for 'alice in wonderland',
'through the looking glass' or the name of one of the actors), or take a look
at http://www.alice-in-wonderland.fsnet.co.uk.
You can also buy various Alice movies via the webshop.
Q: Did the Dormouse actually say "Feed your head", like they sing in Jefferson
Airplane's song "White Rabbit"?
A: No, The Dormouse never says that in the book, nor in Disney's movie. Jefferson
Airplane made it up.
Q: During the oyster scene (in the Disney movie) the 'R' in March flashes. Why?
A: The old saying is that one
should only eat an oyster during the months spelled with an "R". This,
historically, was more preventative medicine than culinary discretion. Summer
months bring warmer waters and warmer waters bring spawning oysters and higher
bacteria counts. While today there is nothing really wrong with a spawning oyster,
they are a bit "creamy" in appearance, texture and flavor (This is
quoted from another site on the web).
Mother Oyster recognizes that March is
a good month for eating oysters and as she doesn't want her children to be eaten,
she advises them to stay with her.
Q: Can you explain the chess moves from Through the Looking Glass?
A: There are two ways to describe the moves of
the pieces. I'll try to explain both of them, but as I'm not very familiar with
chess notations there can be some errors in it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Carroll pointed out that red and white do not alternate moves properly and
that some of the moves listed do not represent actual moves of the pieces on the
chessboard (for example the 'castling' of the Queens). However, the check mate is completely orthodox.
The first way of notation is as follows: you
describe the square the piece moves to by writing down the first letter of the
piece that was on it when the game started (i.e. R when the piece goes to one of
the squares in the column where the Rook started, B for the one of the Bishop,
etc.). As there are two columns for most of the pieces, you should also put a Q
or a K in front of it (if the piece moves to the left rook column, you add a Q
because it is the side of the Queen. The right columns are those of the King).
This isn't necessary if it is the column of the Queen or King. Then you add the
number of the square, counting from the side the piece started (if it is a red
piece, you count from the top to the bottom, for a white piece, count from the
bottom to the top). This is the idea:
In that case the moves are:
| 1. (...)
2. W.Pawn to Q4 3. (...) 4. W.Pawn to Q5 5. W.Pawn to Q6 6. W.Pawn to Q7 7. W.N.to K7 8. W.Pawn to Q8 9. (...) 10. (...) 11. W.Pawn to K8 |
1. R.Q. to KR4
2. W.Q. to QB4 3. W.Q. to QB5 4. W.Q. to KB8 5. W.Q. to QB8 6. R.N. to K2 7. W.N. to KB5 8. R.Q. to K1 9. (...) 10. W.Q. to QR6 |
The other notation is as follows. Numbers and
letters are assigned to the squares, as in the picture. You start by naming the piece that moves (except if
it's a pawn). Then you describe the starting position of the piece and the ending
position.
In that case the moves are:
| 1. (...)
2. d2 - d4 3. (...) 4. d4 - d5 5. d5 - d6 6. d6 - d7 7. WN f5 x e7 8. d7 - d8 9. (...) 10. (...) 11. d8 x e8 |
1. RQ e2 - h5
2. WQ c1 - c4 3. WQ c4 - c5 4. WQ c5 - f8 5. WQ f8 - c8 6. RN g8 - e7 7. WN e7 - f5 8. RQ h5 - e8 9. (...) 10. WQ c8 - a6 |
View the starting positions of the pieces.
Q: I heard the Alice books were banned in China. Is this true, and why?
A: The Alice books were indeed banned in China; it was in 1931 by the Governor
of Hunan Province, on the grounds that "animals should not use human language"
and that it was "disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level."
(source: The
File Room)
