47 pages • 1 hour read
Lewis CarrollThrough The Looking Glass
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1871A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Lewis Carroll and His Muse Alice
Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a mathematician and writer known for his whimsical stories, intricate wordplay, and innovative use of logic and language. Dodgson was born on January 27, 1832, in Cheshire, England. Carroll had a “lifelong love of writing and mathematics” (4), and he would also become a notable photographer. In 1855, he started teaching mathematics at Oxford’s Christ Church College. The same year, Henry Liddell became the dean of the school, moving there with his wife and three daughters, including Alice Liddell. Carroll soon befriended the Liddell family and started taking their pictures with the newly invented camera. The photographs of the Liddell girls would be the start of a long friendship. On July 4, 1862, Carroll took the Liddell girls, Alice, Lorna, and Edith, out on a boat on the Thames, and the children asked him for a story full of “nonsense.” He began a “tale about a girl named Alice who follows a waistcoat-wearing white rabbit down a wondrous rabbit hole” (4). Carroll would eventually refine the story, first titling it Alice’s Adventures Underground before publishing it as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. He gifted Alice the first published copy of the manuscript as a thank-you for being his muse.
After he had a falling out with Alice’s mother, Carroll and Alice did not see each other as often, but they would continue their friendship. He sent Alice memorabilia from all his publications over the years, attesting to his “continued affection for his young muse even as she became an adult and lost some of that magical spark” (4). Despite their age difference, the two remained connected. In fact, after marrying businessman Reginald Hargreaves, Alice named their third son Caryl as an ode to Lewis Carroll. Alice asked Carroll to be Caryl’s godfather, but he declined, perhaps due to his age. Though his child acquaintances would concern many, “based on his diary and the fact that all of his child acquaintances had nothing but good things to say about Charles when they grew into adulthood, the vast majority of scholars accept his love for children was innocent, and a natural fit for his imaginative and whimsical sense of oral and written storytelling” (5). On January 14, 1898, Carroll died of pneumonia. His works live on, including his most acclaimed masterpieces Alice in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass, which were made into both animated and live-action films years later.
Cultural and Historical Context: The Victorian Era
Carroll wrote during the Victorian Era, the period from approximately 1820 to 1914 named after Victoria, the queen that ruled the British Empire for most of that time. This era was marked by strict social norms, industrial growth, and colonial expansion, all of which Carroll comments on subtly in the background of his fantastical narratives. Under Queen Victoria, England prospered: “It had a stable government, a growing state, and an expanding franchise. It also controlled a large empire, and it was wealthy, in part because of its degree of industrialization and its imperial holdings” (Steinbach, Susie. “Victorian Era.” Britannica, 13 Oct. 2023). Victorians lived by strict standards for genders and classes. Their country was “organized hierarchically,” which likely influenced Carroll’s choice of chess as a metaphor for the power structures underlying Victorian society (“Victorian Era”). While race, religion, region, and occupation mattered, they did not compare to the importance of gender and class. Men could participate in politics and work outside the home, but women were meant to “run households and raise families” (“Victorian Era”). Perhaps because of this influence, we never see Alice or female characters engaging in rough, manual work or physically fighting with others. Only male characters, such as Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Unicorn, Lion, and the knights fight physically. The queens and other female characters never do.
During this time, about “70 to 80 percent of the population” was working class, meaning that they earned their income through manual labor, often in the factories that proliferated in England as the Industrial Revolution progressed. Working-class women often did work outside the home in factories or as servants (“Victorian Era”). Classes were strictly divided, with the wealthiest percentage having advantages others did not, such as attending certain artistic events, meetings, or making wealthy marriage arrangements. The queen and the monarchy were the undisputed leaders. These ideals are reflected in Lewis Carroll’s story. The queens are the most powerful and revered characters in the looking-glass world, and Alice wants to reach the level of power they have so she can exert some control over the nonsensical world.
Besides gender and classism, Victorian society was deeply religious. Most British people followed the Christian faith and considered other religions blasphemous. In addition to being the head of state, the Queen of England was also the head of the Church of England. Some scientific advancements, such as the theory of evolution, emerged during this time, sparking intense religious debate. British people also became quite interested in the new fields of psychology and the “physics of energy” (“Victorian Era”). Carroll was perhaps inspired by the focus on psychology for his dreamlike world, which focuses on blurring reality and fantasy and delves deeply into the psychology of Alice’s consciousness.
Lastly, Victorian England had a thriving performance and literary culture, which featured a “blend of melodrama, spectacle, and morality” (“Victorian Era”). In the theater, melodrama was the most popular, centering on “evil villains, virtuous heroines, and intricate plots” (“Victorian Era”). Later, sensational dramas and music halls with singing, dancing, and skits became very popular. Carroll’s novels include plenty of poetry and skit-like scenes of intriguing characters, much like a music hall’s performances. Because Britain had a relatively high literacy rate, people also read often; they could choose from numerous novels, magazines, newspapers, and poetry. Poetry was one of the most popular genres of the period. Romantic poets like William Wordsworth were “revered and widely quoted” (“The Victorian Period.” Eastern Connecticut State University). Light verse, a subgenre of playful poetry often featuring wordplay and play with sound, was one of the most popular genres. Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwocky” from Through the Looking-Glass is one of the most famous examples of Victorian light verse (“The Victorian Period”). Carroll’s use of multiple poems in his novels was an intentional choice not only to play with language lyrically but to appeal to his audience with a popular genre.
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