Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [104]
Chapter VI
Humpty Dumpty: Much like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty is a nursery rhyme figure who Alice is quite familiar with. Humpty, however, has much more in common with the Caterpillar of Wonderland. Both are earlier phases of a creature’s metamorphosis: The Caterpillar will become a Butterfly, and the Egg will become a Rooster. Both are intellectual mentors, with the Caterpillar being a dreamy philosopher and Humpty Dumpty being a stern logician and semanticist. Humpty, however, is caught in a strange kind of time distortion, perhaps because he serves the White Queen. He does not know that his pride and audacity will cause him to fall off the wall, but in Alice’s world, this has already occurred and had a famous rhyme composed about it. (We can only speculate whether Carroll was parodying certain Oxford dons he and Alice both knew, or simply making fun of himself.)
“What Does It Mean?”: Although Alice does not know this and cannot answer, Humpty would probably be quite interested to learn that the name “Alice” comes from the Old German “Adelaide,” meaning “of the noble kind.”
“You Might Have Left Off at Seven”: Alice, thankfully, is quite oblivious to Humpty Dumpty’s morbid fascination. Basically, Mr. Dumpty is saying that Alice might not have been able to manage committing suicide at the tender age of seven, but “with proper assistance” (from a murderer), she would have had absolutely no problem ending her own little “growing older” situation!
“That Seems to Be Done Right”: Like all the best egg-headed professors, Humpty Dumpty is a master in his specialty of language, but anything outside of that—such as mathematics—is far too much of a chore for him to bother with understanding.
A Rather Sudden Ending: Once Humpty Dumpty observes that his uniquely-crafted poem is not having the desired effect on Alice, Mr. Dumpty is quite done with her, say thank you.
Chapter VII
All the King’s Men: Here, we learn that the White King has control of considerable forces beyond those few champions who are vying for victory in the chess match. They are shown in the tradition of medieval English soldiers, and include (from the illustration) knights, arquebusiers (gunmen) and pikemen.
Nobody on the Road: This crafty joke is very old, dating all the way back to Homer’s Odyssey, wherein Odysseus deceived the Cyclops Polyphemus by given his name (which he knew would be shouted later) as “No-Man.”
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes: Carroll here is poking fun at the stilted figures prevalent in artwork from Anglo-Saxon times, featuring crude caricatures with splayed limbs that are posed at awkward angles.
Haigha and Hatta: These are Anglo-Saxon names. Haigha is pronounced as “hare,” and is the March Hare. Hatta, of course, is the Hatter. Both are exiles from Wonderland, fleeing the wrath of the Queen of Hearts which they experienced some six months prior. We can only assume that the poor Dormouse was either left behind, or is safely asleep somewhere!
“I Love My Love With an H”: Alice is playing an old parlor game, in which participants challenge one another to see how long they can carry on a viable monologue of words beginning with a single letter.
The Lion and the Unicorn: This nursery rhyme dates back several centuries, and tells the tale of two troubled kingdoms battling against one another. The Lion is the heraldic beast on the coat of arms of England, while the Unicorn is the symbol of Scotland. The Lion and the Unicorn both serve the