THROUGHOUT THE LOOKING GLASS I CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY I SEM 4 I DSC 5 I popular literature

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, both written by Lewis Carroll (real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Like its predecessor, Through the Looking-Glass is a children’s fantasy novel full of wordplay, logic puzzles, and surreal adventures. Below is a summary, followed by themes, important characters, and key symbols.

🌟 Summary (Detailed)
The story begins with Alice, a young girl, sitting at home when she climbs through a mirror (the "looking-glass") into a reversed world where everything is the opposite of real life. In this world, chess pieces are alive, time works differently, and logic is often turned on its head.

Alice finds herself in a giant chessboard landscape and is told she can become a queen if she crosses all eight squares. Each square brings a different adventure:

She meets characters like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who recite the famous poem The Walrus and the Carpenter.

She talks to Talking Flowers, who treat her according to their own floral rules of class and beauty.

She rides in a train with strange passengers, including a goat and a beetle.

She meets Humpty Dumpty, who discusses language and insists that words mean whatever he chooses them to mean.

She battles The Red Queen and The White Queen, who challenge her logic and patience.

After becoming a queen, Alice attends a chaotic royal banquet, where everything falls into confusion.

Eventually, Alice wakes up and realizes that the whole journey may have been a dream—or perhaps someone else (maybe the Red King) was dreaming her.

🧠 Major Themes
Reversal and Reflection: The world beyond the mirror is a mirror-image of reality. Words, logic, and behavior are inverted.

Identity and Growing Up: Alice constantly questions who she is. The chessboard symbolizes stages of life and growth.

Language and Logic: Lewis Carroll plays with nonsense, puns, and logic. The book challenges how meaning is constructed.

Time and Reality: Time is unstable. Characters dream of others, suggesting that reality might itself be a dream.

🧩 Important Characters
Character Description
Alice The curious and intelligent young girl who travels through the looking-glass.
Red Queen Strict, logical, and commanding; a symbol of rules and order.
White Queen Kind but confused; often speaks in riddles and contradicts herself.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee Twin brothers who recite poems and argue meaninglessly.
Humpty Dumpty A pompous egg who lectures Alice on the flexibility of language.
The White Knight A clumsy but kind knight who helps Alice on her journey.
The Red King Sleeping during most of the story; it is hinted that he may be dreaming Alice.

🪞 Symbols
Looking-glass (mirror): A symbol of reversed reality, inner reflection, and distorted perception.

Chessboard: Represents structure, progress, and stages of life.

Dreaming: Suggests philosophical ideas about reality and consciousness. Calcutta university sem-4