Themes & patterns

Alice constantly questions her own reality and identity, as when Tweedledee and Tweedledum suggest she is merely a figment of the Red King's dream, and Humpty Dumpty mocks her name as 'stupid' and meaningless.

The book explores the arbitrary nature of language through Humpty Dumpty's assertion that words mean whatever he chooses them to mean, and through nonsense poems like 'Jabberwocky' that challenge conventional logic.

Alice's journey from a pawn to a queen mirrors the process of growing up, with Humpty Dumpty telling her she should have 'left off at seven' and the Queens subjecting her to absurd examinations.

The boundary between waking and dreaming is blurred throughout, as Alice wonders if she is part of the Red King's dream, and the epigraph frames the entire story as a dreamlike fairy tale.

The chess game structure and the arbitrary commands of the Red Queen and White Queen highlight the capricious nature of authority, with rules like 'jam tomorrow and jam yesterday—but never jam today'.

The book constantly subverts logical expectations, such as the Red Queen's claim that one can remember things 'the week after next' and the White Knight's absurd inventions that defy practicality.

Living backwards, as the White Queen describes, and the looking-glass world's inversion of normal rules emphasize the theme of time flowing in reverse and the relativity of experience.

Alice navigates a world of rigid social expectations, from the Red Queen's demand for curtseys and proper speech to the absurd formalities of the dinner party where she becomes Queen.