The Precarious Reality of Alice's World
E.C.Constable - '94 (English 61 1993)
"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 around 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 around you -- unless you've got eyes at the back of your
head."
But these, as it happened, Alice had not got: so she contented herself with turning
around, looking at the shelves as she came to them.
The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things--but the oddest part of it all
was that, whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it,
that particular shelf was always quite empty, though the other round it were crowded as
full as they could hold.
"Things flow about so here!" she said at last in a plaintive tone, after she had
spent a minute or so in vainly pursuing a large, bright thing that looked sometimes like a
doll and sometimes like a work-box, and was always on the shelf next above the one she was
looking at. "And this one is the most provoking of all--but I'll tell you
what--" she added, as a sudden thought struck her. "I'll follow it up to the
very top shelf of all. It'll puzzle it to go through the ceiling!"
But even this plan failed (Through the Looking Glass, pp. 154-5).
his passage demonstrates the essence of fantasy literature as it so frequently appears in
both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. According to
"Fantasy and Conceptions of the Real" (Landow), fantasies can be distinguished
from other styles of narrative by the "problem of knowing." Fantastic literature
continuously challenges the reader's (and the protagonist's) sense of "the ground
rules" or what can be assumed. This insecurity of knowing characteristic of fantasy
should penetrate all aspects of a story, including setting, characters, and plot. In the
above passage, within two pages of text, Alice is faced with several problems of knowing.
At first, the common phrase "I should like to look all around me first," fails
to convey the meaning that Alice intended. She assumes that the Sheep who is waiting on
her will understand her comment to mean that she'd like to browse (as the reader has
surely done), when, in fact, the Sheep takes her words literally. Furthermore, the Sheep
stretches the meaning of Alice's comment to imply that Alice wants to stand perfectly
still and see, simultaneously, everything that surrounds her. Not only is this an
interpretation of speech that Alice is unprepared for, but it also challenges the
convention of speech that the reader is accustomed to.
Alice's physical surroundings are also very precarious in this scene. The Sheep, the
counter and the floor of the shop are all as they should be--conforming to the
"ground rules" of gravity and solid objects--however, the shelved items float
about in an unexpected and hitherto unencountered manner. Despite the irrationality of the
situation, Alice quickly adjusts to the new rules of her environment and develops a plan
to trap the item she admires by forcing it to the ceiling (where, as she understands
things, it should not be able to escape). However, Alice's rationale is virtually useless
in this shop and, as she finds out, the objects have no trouble whatsoever in passing
right through the ceiling.
Even in the smaller details of Alice's encounter in the store, assumptions are challenged
and old rules must be abandoned. As Alice tries to investigate the contents of the
shelves, she looks at them more closely (assuming that a closer look will reveal more
detail) and finds that the harder she looks, the less she sees. In addition, the specific
object that Alice tries to catch isn't really a specific object, but an ever-changing
combination of two very unrelated items: a doll and a work-box. After this scene, it seems
amazing that Alice can function in a world where it is impossible to know anything for
certain, and where it is challenging to carry out the most common of tasks.
Despite ever-changing environment and logic, Alice continues to deal with the challenges
that beset her. No prior experience in Wonderland can teach her about what to expect in
her next adventure, nevertheless, she manages to get through each bizarre encounter, ready
to face new situations that will challenge and re-challenge her assumptions and ability to
"know."
