Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park, NY. Pictured are Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse, and the Cheshire Cat

Let’s look at one of my favorite stories by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. For those who have not read or seen on film this exciting adventure story, I’ll briefly explain it in linear mode (there are many Internet sites where you can download the entire book, including the original drawings).

A worthy game about Alice in Wonderland is Electronic Arts’ American McGee’s Alice where upon Alice’s return to Wonderland she learns of its chaotic and demented state and must return the world to its proper happy state. This theme is similar to the film Journey Back to Oz, which was based on Baum’s Ozma of Oz and a few characters and situations from The Marvelous Land of Oz.

An Overview of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

Chapter 1,	A: Alice, a young girl who owns a cat, Dinah, sees a White Rabbit with a waistcoat and a pocket watch run across her lawn exclaiming “Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I shall be late!”
Chapter 1,	B: Alice follows the rabbit down the large rabbit hole under the hedge.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat

Chapter 1,	C: Alice falls down the hole slowly. She sees cupboards, bookshelves, maps, and pictures upon pegs as she falls.
Chapter 1,	D: Alice touches down and follows the White Rabbit down a long corridor lit by a row of hanging lamps.
Chapter 1,	E: Alice ends up alone in a hall filled with locked doors. A three-legged glass table appears with a tiny golden key on top of the table. Alice finds a small 15-inch door behind a curtain that the little golden key fits. A liquid in a “Drink Me” bottle is swallowed by Alice who begins to shrink to ten inches. Alice leaves the golden key on top of the glass table. An “Eat Me” cake is eaten and Alice grows nine feet high.
Chapter 2:	White Rabbit appears, dropping his white kid gloves and a large fan after seeing large, giant Alice. Giant Alice cries, creating a pool of tears. Using the White Rabbit’s fan, Alice begins to shrink.
Chapter 3:	Alice is swimming with several animals and birds that assemble on a bank. To dry off, the group, consisting of Alice, a lory, a dodo, an eaglet, a duck, a magpie, a canary, and two crabs (a mother and her daughter), run in a circle or “caucus-race.” Alice gives everyone candy and presents herself with a thimble.
Chapter 4,	A: The White Rabbit commands Alice to go to his house and return with a pair of gloves and a fan. Alice travels to the White Rabbit’s house and collects a pair of gloves and a fan. Alice finds and drinks from an unlabeled bottle and begins to grow, filling up the entire house. The White Rabbit, a lizard named Bill, and two guinea pigs begin to throw pebbles that turn into little cakes when they hit the floor near Alice. Alice eats one of the cakes and begins to shrink.
Chapter 4,	B: Alice runs into the woods. She sees an enormous puppy who playfully wants to fetch after a stick. Alice escapes into a flowered, grassy area where on top of a large, growing mushroom sits a hookah-smoking large caterpillar.
Chapter 5:	The Caterpillar tells Alice that eating one side of the mushroom will make her grow and the other side will make her shrink. Alice eats the right side and begins to shrink. Alice manages to eat the left side and grows enormously. A pigeon flying overhead sees Alice’s head and long neck and assumes that Alice is a serpent. Alice tries pieces of the mushroom: left-hand pieces to grow, right-hand pieces to shrink, until she is back to a normal size.
Chapter 6:	A Fish Footman and a Frog Footman are chatting as the door shuts. The door opens and Alice enters a large kitchen filled with smoke where a Duchess sits nursing her baby on a three legged-stool with her cook stirring a cauldron of peppered soup. Sitting on the hearth is a wide grinning Cheshire Cat. The cook begins to throw pans, plates, and dishes at the sneezing Duchess and her baby whom she is violently tossing in the air. Alice steals the baby, who turns into a pig, and she lets it go trotting away. Alice chats with the Cheshire Cat who tells her that traveling to the right leads to the Mad Hatter’s and traveling to the left goes to the March Hare’s.

The Mad Hatter

Chapter 7:	At a large table under a tree, the March Hare and the Mad Hatter are drinking tea with a half-sleeping and half-awake Dormouse between them.
Chapter 8:	A large rose garden of white roses is being painted red by three playing cards. Ten diamond suit card soldiers, ten heart suit card royal children, the Knave of Hearts, the Kings and Queens, the White Rabbit, and the King and Queen of Hearts attend the Royal Croquet game where hedgehogs are croquet balls, flamingos are the mallets, and the playing cards are the arches. During croquet, Alice chats with the Cheshire Cat.
Chapter 9:	The Duchess is freed and walks with Alice until the Queen of Hearts appears and the Duchess flees. Alice meets the Gryphon and they visit the Mock Turtle.
Chapter 10:	The Lobster Quadrille (a Sea Dance with Lobsters) happens.
Chapter 11:	The Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. In the court are the King and Queen of Hearts, a pack of cards, the Knave of Hearts in chains, the White Rabbit, the Gryphon, the guinea pigs, and Lizard Bill. The first witnesses are the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse. The next witnesses are the Duchess’ cook and Alice.
Chapter 12:	In court, Alice grows large. Finally, giant Alice realizes that everything in court is nothing but a pack of cards. Alice’s sister awakens her as Wonderland disappears.

Get involved with your vision as the author joins Alice in Wonderland