Alice in Wonderland: The Sense Behind the Nonsense
“Alice said nothing: She had never been so much contradicted in all her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper” (59). Alice is frustrated during the conversation with the Caterpillar. His statements lead nowhere and she does not know what to say anymore. He is just one of the various creatures Alice encounters during her journey through Wonderland and just like the others, he is not able to help her figure out this strange world.
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” (Wittgenstein, TLP Preface).
The quote from 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein helps us to understand the reason behind her challenge. Alice, who is not familiar with the terms and rules by which the linguistic system in Wonderland operates, finds herself in an inferior position as a result of this ignorance. As she faces different situations, it becomes obvious that there is a strong link between gaining and losing power. The creatures in Wonderland are always ready to play on language and confuse her with their puns. When questioned by Alice, they become annoyed and rebuke her for talking nonsense. Because acts of authority are mostly committed through language in book, wordplays serve to intimidate Alice. The creatures aim criticism at Alice for her inability to understand their statements and to explain her own ideas in a way that appears logic to them. By trying to master their language, Alice finds ways to gain respect and challenge the inhabitants in their confident natures. I aim to examine how language is used by the characters to put themselves in a position of superiority how the mastery of the language is connected to the power structure of Wonderland. By analysing several linguistic ambiguities during encounters, I want to show how Alice transforms her insecurity, incertitude and her feeling of inferiority into assiduity, poise and lastly, rebellion.
Upon meeting anyone in Wonderland, it is essential to notice the clues to what knowledge means to Alice and how it affects her status among others. The word knowledge varies in its perception in Wonderland and in the world that Alice grows up. According to Foucault, “power and knowledge are not seen as independent entities but are inextricably related- knowledge is always an exercise of power and power always a function of knowledge (White). There are several hints that confirm that Alice agrees to a relation between the two. She likes to show off her knowledge in front of an audience (cf. 71), but a lack of listeners means she cannot enjoy the competitive part of it. (cf. 13) She links ignorance to inferiority, when she does not know the name of her current location. (cf. 14) She is aware of the fact that she receives an excellent education and expects her interlocutors to treat her with respect and astonishment because of it (cf. 114). Therefore in the following, the term knowledge is applied in regards to the definition of Michel Foucault. The term sense is used as an expression for rational, explainable utterances which are followed by logic. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OED) defines this term as “a normal state of mind; the ability to think clearly” (366). On the other hand, the frequently used term nonsense refers to “silly or unacceptable behaviour” and includes “spoken and written words that have no meaning” (256). Furthermore, nonsense “reduces the value of something by a lot” (256). In the context of language, the word system is used to indicate a consistent application of vocabulary, sentence structure and a respective convention of usage. According to the OED, it describes an “organized set of ideas or a particular way of doing something” (401), in this case a specific way of communication. The differences in the said systems of Wonderland’s language and the language of Alice causes the protagonist great distress. The discrepancy unveils as soon as she meets creatures that may apply the same vocabulary, but play with words to ridicule equal exchange.
Inferiority through curiosity
Among other creatures, Alice meets the Lory at the beginning of her journey through Wonderland after getting out of a pool, caused by her own tears. Immediately, the theme of power gets introduced when the Lory confronts her with the fact that he who is older, must know best. She does not deny this principle and therefore accepts him as an authoritarian figure based on his age. Alice was most likely taught that adults are authorities that establish the rules and children obey to them. She places herself in an inferior position by applying this concept from her own world to Wonderland. The mouse commands everyone to listen to him, who “seemed to be a person of authority” to Alice.
His announcement “I’ll soon make you dry enough” is interpreted by the creatures according to its literal import, meaning he will dry them by telling the “driest thing [he] knows”.
He equates this literal import to dryness caused through boredom (Conroy). Alice remains patient and does not dismiss this nonsense caused by literalism. Therefore, she continues to accept her inferiority and does not try to escape it. It isn’t until the Mouse approaches Alice to see if she is warming up that she admits “it doesn’t seem to dry [her]” (31). However, she does not cast doubt on his attempt nor condemns the situation as questionable.
Even after playing a race without any given rules and a clear winner, she remains quiet and patient. Her adaptive behaviour derives from her feeling of curiosity and the hope of finding some sort of sense in the confusing ways they order each other about. As a consequence of her inconspicuousness, she obeys when the creatures assume authority over her by demanding prizes. “In despair” (34), she subdues them by providing candies she has in her pocket. The creatures treat her as one of them, exploit her integration and ultimately cause her to accept a subordinate role to them. “Alice thought the whole thing to be very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh” (35). This quote confirms that Alice does not dare to question their system as illogical due to the seriousness, but it also highlights the discrepancy in discourse. Despite employing the same vocabulary and grammar, the appropriate convention of using it is not the same, which she seems to be aware of.
The following conversation with the mouse generates miscommunication through homophones. Alice shows manners by being responsive and offering help to unravel the knot in his tail. The mouse, who talks about his tale and applies the word not instead, is not aware that the misconception. The mouse loses patience and ultimately “gets up and walks away”. The language discrepancy frustrates both parties, however Alice handles the situation by apologizing and giving in. “You insult me by talking such nonsense” is the mouse’s last statement. Alice “pleads [she] didn’t mean it”, even though she does not know what nonsense it was that she talked. Some adverbs used to describe the reaction of the mouse are “severely”, “sharply”, and “impatiently” whereas Alice acts “humbly” and “anxiously” (38). Apologizing and forgoing a confrontation causes the mouse to feel superior.
Provocation through courage
Alice seemed to have learned from that situation as she meets the Caterpillar in Chapter V. The conversation leads nowhere and after Alice asks him who he is, he counters by asking her the same. This puzzling question makes her lose patience and her first reaction is to turn away (55). With her reaction, she proves that she is aware of his nonsense and decides to not tolerate the language he uses to confuse her. She has the courage to express her feeling towards his behaviour and does not hesitate to show that his way of communication is inacceptable. The following encounter with the Footman outside the house highlights the previously discussed increase in annoyance towards the language of the creatures. After asking a simple question, the Footman shuts her up with a counter question which is impossible to answer. “It’s really dreadful the way all these creatures argue” (69). Alice decides that he is not worth talking to. She distinguishes the creatures and considers her conversations more carefully. This empowers her to take action and seek for clues that help her figure out the system instead of wasting time with someone who is not willing to help her. Her interest in her interlocutors depends on how serious she is able to take their words. This is a way of demonstrating pride and keeping distance.
Alice meets the Duchess in a kitchen. According to the hierarchical structure of Wonderland, the Duchess is a person of authority regardless of the language she applies. Yet, she illustrates how power is exercised by every creature through wordplay. Alice shows off her knowledge about how long the earth takes to turn around its own axis, but the Duchess interrupts her. “Talking about axes . . . chop off her head” (71). The only way the Duchess manages to feel superior to Alice and to demonstrate her power is through wordplay. The homophones axis and axes enable her to turn the conversation around and make her behaviour appear seamlessly argumentative.
One could say that the inhabitants use language as a weapon, they create logic through illogic use of words.
In comparison to her timid behaviour Chapter VII, Alice brings up courage in the following encounter with the March Hare at a dinner table. The March Hare admits that there is no wine on the table after he offered it to her. Unlike her reaction to the mouse walking out of a conversation earlier on, Alice notices that the creatures are lacking of good manners and makes them aware of it. She speaks up and shuts them in a snappy way the same way they do and no longer remains silent about her thoughts. The discussion about manners between Alice and the March Hare goes on until he remarks out of context “Your hair wants cutting”. Alice does not hesitate to tell him that his comment is “very rude (81)”. Again, the difference in reaction compared to the encounter with the mouse becomes prominent. Her courage grows the more she becomes aware of how they use their language as a weapon. Nevertheless, the March Hare knows how to keep a superior position. He abruptly changes the subject by asking Alice a riddle. He is indignant about the fact that she accepts this challenge and about her thinking that she can answer it. This proves that riddles do not exist in Wonderland the same way they do in the world of Alice. Alice gives in, finds out that there is no answer and talks about the riddle being a waste of time. The March Hare cannot accept that she questions him. He personifies time (84) and uses this stylistic device as a tool to make Alice feel inexperienced and dumb because unlike him, she has never met this person called time. He does not let her knowledge defeat him in a conversation and competes against it with nonsense.
Alice demonstrates her growing impatience and anger by the way she ends the conversation with the Hatter. She denies a question, beginning her sentence with “I don’t think . . .”, but the Hatter understands her negation in a literal way, meaning Alice speaks without thinking about what she wants to say. This remark can be regarded as a pun, since the creatures are the ones to speak without thinking about the substance of their utterances. He immediately interrupts her to tell her that in this case, she should not talk in the first place. Following this remark, Alice gets up in “great disgust” and leaves the place. “ . . . the others took the least notice of her going . . . ” (90) again assumes that the creatures are not familiar with common manners. To walk out of a conversation seems perfectly normal to them and unlike Alice’ expectation, they do not call after her. Although she had the courage to question their ways of communicating with her and did not hesitate to show her emotions, the March Hare and the Hatter remained unimpressed and did not leave a single remark from Alice uncommented. The debate proofs that Alice’ frustration builds up and she no longer keeps her thoughts to herself, but she remains unsuccessful in convincing the creatures of their nonsense.
Superiority through rebellion
In the following chapter, she continues to show her frustration and speaks her mind. She meets the Queen in the garden who is confused about the three gardeners laying around the rose tree. She asks Alice, who replies with “How should I know? It’s no business of mine” (94). The Queen is obviously not used to not receive a serious answer to her questions. She reacts by demands her execution, but Alice interrupts her “loudly and decidedly” to let her know that this does not make sense as a consequence of her remark. “ . . . and the Queen was silent” (95). Through her confrontation of the creatures with this statement, she manages to shut them for a second. The King breaks the silence to tell the Queen that she should take her age into consideration. Children typically have restricted trains of thought and often do not know what they talk about.
Infantilizing Alice in order to explain themselves why Alice questions their actions is the only way they are able to preserve their power.
They cannot allow her to threaten their superior position which they almost lost due to her snappy comment that left them speechless. Alice succeeded for a short time when she spoke her mind and was unapologetic about it, even after hearing the dreadful order from the Queen. The encounter is evidence for the fact that she does not take her serious as the matriarch of Wonderland and discards their hierarchy. Her growing courage is also displayed in a following conflict between the Queen and the gardeners (97). After the Queen dictates the soldiers to cut off their heads, Alice hides them in a flower pot to save their lives. As a result of not finding sense in their words, Alice grows more and more courageous and rebellious.
During the croquet game, the Cheshire cat appears out of nowhere in the sky to talk to Alice about her feelings towards the Queen. The King took notice of the cat and after it refused to kiss the King’s hand, he tells the Queen to demand an execution (101). But the only visible physique of the cat is its head, which leads to a vivid discussion among the executer, the King and the Queen. The executer reasons that he is incapable of cutting off the head since there is no physical body. The King argues that “anything that has a head could be beheaded”. The Queen stipulates that something needs to happen soon, otherwise everyone who is involved in the game will be executed. It is important to notice that the arguments are listed as an anaphor, each one beginning with “The argument of . . . ”. The utterances of the characters decrease in logic, however the order of the characters’ utterances are listed with an increasing possession of power concerning the outcome of the discussion. This could be regarded as an essential hint respecting the link between nonsense and authority in Wonderland. The more an utterance lacks of sense, the more likely it is taken into account. This explains why Alice has been unable to gain respect from the creatures thus far when applying her knowledge in situations. The system seems to be inverted to the system which Alice is used to. Since the first statement is the most reasonable one from her point of view, it gives the impression of Alice agreeing with the executer without a doubt. However Alice is aware of the hierarchy and that arguing consequentially will resume in further discussion that leads to impulsive conduct of the Queen. Therefore, she embarks on her request in order to save everyone else by taking immediate action. Since the cat takes time to fade completely, she tries to gain time. She suggests that the Duchess, who is not close by, needs to be informed and should be the one to decide (104).
In comparison to her frustration during the conversation with the Footman earlier, Alice masters the situation by avoiding debates that have not led her anywhere during past encounters. Instead, she holds her tongue and follows clues that she previously observed concerning their train of thoughts. She interacts with the creatures according to these thoughts instead of desperately forcing her own perception of reason upon them. This behaviour can be regarded as Alice taking control over the creatures by operating according to their system, yet her learning progress only puts her in a psychological advantage that allows her to control the situations. She remains unable to gain authority with her knowledge and her understanding of sense.
A conversation with the Duchess follows the discussion. An obvious shift in the mood of the Duchess can be observed compared to her temper in Chapter VI. While the Duchess did not mind to introduce herself earlier on, spoke in a sharply tone and treated her child in an abusive way (71–74), she is now happy to see Alice again and even expresses her joy through physical contact by “[tucking] her arm affectionately into Alice’s (105)”. The Duchess is eager to find a moral in every subject they come across during their conversation. This leaves the impression that the Duchess behaves in a different way at home than she does in public sphere. Alice does not only notice the difference in the behaviour of the Duchess, but also a change in her opinion concerning what keeps the world going. Her first moral “Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love, that makes the world go round (107)” resembles to a statement in their previous encounter in the kitchen. “If everybody minded their own business, the world would go round a deal faster than it does” (71). The Duchess claimed that if everybody in this world only cared for themselves, everybody is cared for. But in order to feel comfortable and loved, humans need social interactions. Alice reminds the Duchess of her contrasting opinion. She therefore observed that there does not seem to be a fundamental conviction represented by the royalty of Wonderland concerning values, love and compassion. Instead, their attitudes and moods change arbitrarily and can hardly be controlled. As a further evidence for this arbitrariness, the Duchess degraded Alice by claiming that she doesn’t know much as a fact in the kitchen (71).
Now, the Duchess seems “ready to agree to everything that Alice said”. The Duchess continues to tell morals such as “Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves (107)”. This moral is a variation of the moral “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves” (Martin). It can be regarded as evidence for the fact that Alice and the creatures operate different systems concerning the language. Alice, who tries to solve the puzzle, is unsuccessful in convincing everyone about her idea of sense because her sounds, as in her convention for using the same vocabulary instead of the actual vocabulary application, are not compatible with theirs. A linguistic system is made of consistency. This consistency finds proof in another moral of the Duchess. It emerges from playing with the word “mine” (108), which is a homonym. It means both the personal pronoun as well as the noun on the other side. It illustrates the consistency in speech of the creatures, but in comparison to the conflict with the Mouse, it does not lead to miscommunication but lets the conversation carry on seamlessly instead. The conversation is more in chime, which can derive from the difference in temper. Throughout her journey, Alice is preoccupied with finding rules in Wonderland that help her understand cause and effect. The Duchess on the other hand is preoccupied with finding morals in everything. Nevertheless, Alice does not recognize this parallelism. This confirms that she has not reached level of confidence yet to see the power that she has over Wonderland.
Her eagerness to figure out the rules and solve the puzzle becomes clear in the following conversation with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon. The Mock Turtle announces to tell his biography, but what follows is a period of silence that builds up anticipation, unclear if he will ever begin (112). This leads Alice to slowly losing her patience. Yet, she is holding on to the thought that something will happen soon. He finally starts by telling that he used to call his teacher, who was a turtle, Tortoise. Alice, who notices the discrepancy and does not see a logic reason behind it, interrupts to ask. The Mock Turtle replies that his name was “Tortoise” because “he taught us” (112–113), revealing again the consistency in wordplays. His explanation is followed by several sharply-worded remarks to point out her stupidity for asking (113–115). Her eagerness to learn is not appreciated and Alice feels “ready to sink into the earth” (114).
The creatures presume that her understanding operates according to their linguistic system. They expect her to be able to follow their thoughts, meaning the ability to detect a homophone such as “Tortoise” and “taught us” and being able to relate them to one another without restricting herself to one meaning of the same phonetic form. Her lack of sensitivity concerning their language is regarded as a weakness and used to put her in an inferior position. Alice tries to turn the situation around by impressing them with her own intellectual upbringing. She fails to do so as the creatures notice a lack of certain subjects that they regard as crucial. “Reeling”, “Writhing”, “Ambition”, “Distraction”, “Uglification” and “Derision” are sound similarities to some of the subjects Alice is familiar with: Reading, Writing, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. Alice continues to ask questions, but the more she tries to find sense in their educational system, the more the two creatures put her down. “Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions . . . ” (115).
This state of mind is a first indication for Alice relinquishing the hope to solve the puzzle that is Wonderland.
Communication seems to be the wrong way to figure out their system. The more sense she tries to add to the information she receives, the more respect she loses from them.
A ray of hope appears when she learns that the school lessons in Wonderland “lessen” day by day, starting with ten hours on the first. Alice quickly learns that “the eleventh day, must have been a holiday”. Instead of praising her cleverness, the Mock Turtle replies with “of course”. In this way, he ensures to remind Alice that she is no smarter than him and that he takes this kind of knowledge for granted. However, Alice tries to close this circle and asks about the twelfth day but she is left without an answer and a change in subject (116). It shows that she failed again by forcing sense upon their system.
In the final two chapters, Alice hopes to find logic in the trial. This hope is diminished as soon as she learns that the jurors write down their own names on papers before the trial begins in fear of forgetting them.
Alice has no fear to let them know how stupid they are for doing so (129). Her sudden increase in size a few moments later supports her courage to speak her mind about her impression of Wonderland. The more she becomes aware of that there is no logic to be found, the more authoritarian she becomes. When the Dormouse, a person of authority thus far, points out to her that she does not have a right to grow in this specific place, she counters with “Don’t talk nonsense, you know you’re growing too.”(132). She does not want to inflame a discussion, but instead highlights every statement and action that lacks logic from her point of view. The King adverts to rule number 42 which asks “All persons more than a mile high to leave the court” (140). Alice disobeys and clarifies that she is not a mile high and that the rule did not exist until now, it was invented by the King in this moment. He insists that it is the “oldest rule in the book”, but Alice shuts his claims by arguing that in this case, it cannot be rule number 42. “The King turned pale” expresses the fear he feels, confirming that Alice is right with her accusation (141). Towards the end of the trial, Alice rebels against the royal couple’s decision to have a sentence first and a verdict afterwards, contradicting the procedure that Alice regards as logical. Alice angrily shouts, condemns the situation as nonsense and loses her temper when asked to be silent (145). She refuses to seek logic in their actions and insists that there is no sense to be found in Wonderland.
To conclude…
A quote by Donald Kirk says: “Not being able to tell things apart contributes to Wonderland’s nonsense, for whatever sense is, being able to tell one thing from the other helps to make it” (qtd. in Blake, 76). Alice does not “make it”. She is not able to master the language of Wonderland, instead of figuring out their linguistic system, she realizes that it does not allow her to be her usual, competitive self. A requirement to gain power in Wonderland is to let go of sense and communicate on a level that she is not willing to bend down to. Instead, she accepts the discrepancy. Her loss of temper towards the end of her journey is sign of relief. She expresses her final feelings and opinions, but this time without the intention to educate the creatures.
Her surrender concerning the search for sense implies fatigue, ready to leave Wonderland with the assurance of re-obtaining superiority by the realization of being equipped with a common sense.
List of works cited
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Hornby, Albert Sydney, et al. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Martin, Gary. “‘Take Care of the Pennies and the Pounds Will Take Care of Themselves’ — the Meaning and Origin of This Phrase.” Phrasefinder, www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/take-care-of-the-pence-and-the-pounds-will-take-care-of-themselves.html.
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Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP), 1922, C. K. Ogden (trans.), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Originally published as “Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung”, in Annalen der Naturphilosophische, XIV (3/4), 1921.
