Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass Alice Quotes

Alice

Quote 43

So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality – the grass would be only rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds – the rattling teacups would change to tinkling sheep-bells, and the Queen's shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd-boy – and the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and all the other queer noises, would change (she knew) to the confused clamour of the busy farm-yard – while the lowing of the cattle in the distance would take the place of the Mock Turtle's heavy sobs. (Wonderland 12.63)

Alice's sister is able to hold the real world and the fantasy world together in her mind. She also notices the correspondences that inspired her sister's adventure, and as she listens to the different sounds around her, she's able to extrapolate from them and develop Wonderland for herself. But, perhaps because she's older, she can't actually believe in this fantasy land.

Alice > The Cheshire Cat

Quote 44

"Now, if only you'll attend, Kitty, and not talk so much, I'll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there's the room you can see through the glass – that's just the same as our drawing-room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair – all but the bit just being the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! I want so much to know whether they've a fire in the winter: you never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too – but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire. Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way: I know that, because I've held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room." (Looking-Glass 1.11)

Looking-Glass World is the opposite of Alice's England, but it's also more than that. Some things in it are simply backwards – the words going the other way in the book, for example. But everything that's not directly reflected in the mirror might be different. Alice can't depend on things being the exact opposite in all cases.

Alice

Quote 45

Then she began looking about, and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quite common and uninteresting, but that all the rest was as different as possible. For instance, the pictures on the wall next the fire seemed to be all alive, and the very clock on the chimney-piece (you know you can only see the back of it in the Looking-glass) had got the face of a little old man, and grinned at her. (Looking-Glass 1.14)

When Alice passes through the Looking-Glass, she immediately discovers that this world is more than just the opposite of England. In fact, the things that were out of sight in the mirror are even stranger than backwards versions of the things that she knows.