Research Paper On Through The Looking Glass

Rhieannae Cory
Mr. O'Brien
English 12
19 February 2016
A Mirror that Gives Two Perspectives
In the novel Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll, Alice goes into an alternate world much like wonderland. At first, Alice is playing with her kitten, Snowball. Then Alice thinks about what it would be like to see what the world is like on the other side of a mirror's reflection. After pondering for some time about the Looking-Glass world, she climbs upon the fireplace and goes through the mirror on the wall. Going into a world much like her own, she meets strange people and finds stranger things. In the beginning of wonderland when Alice wanted to get into the garden she saw, she finally got to see the flower garden. Alice wished the flowers

Through the novel, Alice is treated coarsely by the flowers and Humpty Dumpty. First, the flowers insult Alice by the way she looks and interrupt her constantly. As said before, the rose and violet criticize Alice by calling her stupid and saying she can never think (129-30). Children in the Victorian perspective were essentially seen not heard. Children were to act proper and look pristine, so to speak. By Alice choosing to be polite to the flowers, even though they are being rude, she is showing how children a supposed to act when insults are thrown at them. Alice also shows how to cope with people who are irritated by the slightest remark. For instance, Humpty Dumpty was sitting on the wall and Alice said he looked much like an egg and he did (173). Alice meant not to insult Humpty, she just thought he looked like a character from a nursery rhyme. Since Humpty felt insulted and irritated, he insulted Alice by saying her name was stupid. Adults in the Victorian era often mistake when a child says something as an insult. Humpty thought a name should mean something and since Alice could not explain her name's meaning, Humpty said it was stupid. During the conversation, Humpty seemed to make a riddle out of everything. Most adults try to make children understand something by making the conversation more relatable to a child's perspective. Humpty

At the banquet, the Queen demonstrates the strict morals of Victorian society. For example, the Queen noticed Alice was being shut and thought she would like to be introduced to the leg of mutton (221). Initially, the leg bowed to Alice but Alice thought she was to eat the mutton. The Queen told Alice it is not etiquette to cut someone you just met, then removed the mutton. Carroll persuades the readers to believe the Victorian social conventions are prim and stiff. After Alice meets all the food, the Red Queen and the food rudely criticize Alice because they think she is ignorant. For instance, when Alice tries to cut the pudding for a second time, the pudding says, “What impertinence! I wonder how you'd like it, if I were to cut a slice out of you, you creature” (222)! Here, Alice is treated as if she meant to be rude, which she did not. The Queen even criticizes Alice, even though she herself is a wild animal, so to speak. Carroll concludes that the Red Queen has a “license” to criticize. In the end, Alice is fed up of the chaos and rudeness. Alice eventually goes up against the Red Queen. Alice shakes her so much that Alice wakes herself up and realizes she is holding her kitten. Once Alice confronts the Red Queen, only then can she be freed from the chaotic principles of wonderland. Carroll’s opinion of Victorian society is shown at Alice's banquet by the food and