It is clear, in this particular extract of Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, that Alice performs as a voyager in Looking-Glass World, thus, conjuring recollections of past explorers that discovered new territories in the late Victorian era. In this sense, Carroll could be utilising the protagonist of Alice in order to portray the fears and paranoia of a Victorian society: discovery meant change and for much of the population, change was a thing to be feared. Like the English Imperialist explorers of Carroll’s era, Alice encroaches on a foreign land with predetermined notions about language, conduct and the way the extraneous world works.
Upon entering ‘Looking-Glass World’, Alice is met with the concept that this world is entirely different
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This is most imminent in the opening pages, when Alice states, “Oh Tiger-lily… I wish you could talk.” Specifically, there is an emphasis on “wish” which leads the reader to envisage the theme which overrides Carroll’s text: wishes becoming a reality. Indeed, Freud famously defined “dreams as being the fulfilment of wishes” which is highly applicable for this scene. The whole of ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ is about a world which has been created solely in the mind of Alice: indeed, the whole text is simply her dreams becoming a reality. Alice’s utter lack of knowledge about Looking-Glass World creates a complete culture clash between her and the “live flowers.” There is an air of confusion over the scene, especially during the interchange between Alice and the Daisies who pronounce that trees “bark” and “that’s why its branches are called boughs.”
The flowers in this extract appear very supernatural and somewhat ethereal, the Tiger-lily is noted as “waving gracefully about in the wind.” Likewise, Carroll states how “the air seemed quite full of little shrill voices”, the utilisation of voice in this aspect makes the flowers seem rather unearthly, yet also highlights the sense of danger that they encompass. The verb “shrill” indicates an alarm-like high pitched sound and the fact these miniscule voices seem to fill the air entirely reinforces the abnormal power that the flowers seem to enforce upon those