| Frequently
Asked Questions FAQ
Question: Was
there a "Real Alice" for whom and about whom the story was
written?
Yes, Alice
Pleasance Liddell was the "real Alice". She was the
second daughter of Henry and Lorina Liddell.
Mr. Liddell was the Dean of Christ Church at Oxford University,
and since Charles Dodgson taught there, the "Real Alice"
was also "The Kid of the Boss".
Question: What
are some of the dated or archaic terms that help understanding
of the story?
Glossary
of Terms in "Alice"
Dinah
was the name of a real cat owned by the Liddell children (Alice
Liddell,....)
A fender
was a low metal frame or screen in front of an open fireplace
which kept sparks from burning the rug.
Bathing
machines were like small dressing rooms on wheels which
were drawn into the sea by horses. The bather would
exit through a door facing the sea into water of enough
depth to cover the bather and allow "modesty".
Caucus
was (and is) a term for a political meeting of leaders to
decide important issues such as who to nominate or select
for office. The popular impression was less dignified.
A caucus symbolized running around, accomplishing little and
everybody getting some kind of reward or prize for having
been a part. In Alice's case, everyone got a prize after
the caucus race ( one of her candies ) and she was lucky enough
to be awarded her own thimble.
Comfits
are English candies made of dried fruits and sugars.
Going messages
is the same as "running errands" in the USA
Cucumber frame
is a small glass "greenhouse" heated by the sun and used to
grow plants such as cucumbers or other vegetables or flowers
in British gardens.
Mad as a Hatter
was a term used because of a sickness caused by chemicals
used in making fur hats at the time. Mercury was the
poison chemical and it could cause insanity in the people
who used it in making hats - the Hatters - as they were called
would go mad.
Mad as a
March Hare was a common saying describing the strange
nervous behavior of hares in the mating season, typically
happening during March in England.
Riddles like
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" were very popular
in Carroll's time in England. There never was an answer
to this riddle, it was simply nonsense made up for the Alice
story.
Murdering
the time is playing or singing terribly without rhythm.
Treacle
is molasses. Some older medicines were also called
treacle.
The Spades
are the gardeners - how clever that garden digging is done
by spades. The soldiers are Clubs who are supposed
to club or beat the enemy. Diamonds are the rich
people who support and admire the royal family who are Hearts.
Camomile
was a bitter medicine.
Barley sugar
is a candy made from sugar cane and barley.
Mock Turtle
Soup is an imitation of the real turtle soup made from
green sea turtles. The mock soup is actually made with
calf veal. In the story, the mock turtle has the body
of a turtle but has the head, hoofs and tail of a calf.
Gryphon
or Griffin is a common ancient symbol of a half eagle and
half lion. The Gryphon was also the emblem of Oxford's
Trinity College and was shown on the gates to the entrance. It
was part of Alice's life.
Whiting
is a member of the Cod family of fishes. At the fish
store they were often sold with their tails stuffed into
their mouths. A common way of serving them was breaded
with crumbs.
Shingle
is a beach covered with rounded stones and pebbles, not
sand.
Question: Alice
had sisters who played a role in the story?
Yes, she had
four sisters and two of them played roles in the story, besides
Alice. The two sisters in the book are the oldest, Lorina,
(Alice herself as the next oldest), and Edith. (Alice's
mother was also named Lorina).
One of
the places they appear is in the Mad Tea-party dialog where
the Dormouse told of three little sisters with names Elsie,
Lacie and Tillie who lived at the bottom of a well.
Elsie is L. C. (Lorina Charlotte Liddell), Tillie refers to
the family nickname of Matilda used for Edith and Lacie is
an anagram of Alice.
They also appear
in nickname forms in the "Caucus Race" episode. Alice talked
with a Lory (Lorina) and there was an outspoken Eaglet (nickname
for Edith).
Question: What
kind of people are we talking about here... Alice, the Liddells
and Charles Dodgson?
They were quite
educated and pretty well off for the times. The typical
working Englishmen of the time might earn 40 Pounds per
year. These families earned many hundreds or even
a few thousand pounds per year, could afford servants, owned
property and were pretty well off financially. The Liddells
were quite socially conscious and even entertained the idea
of marrying Alice off to Prince Leopold, royal English blood.
It is said that the Queen quashed the romance. There was
a sense of being in an elite upper class for all concerned.
Question: Charles
Dodgson never married. Was there something that forbade
him from marrying?
Dodgson had a
Studentship (like a faculty fellowship) at Christ Church Oxford.
This gave him rooms to live in for the rest of his life.
But this Studentship was a part of a path of religious orders,
becoming first a Deacon and then eventually a Priest.
If the Deacon or Priest were to marry, the Studentship would
discontinue. But College would assign the Priest to
a parish where he would still have a home and now also an
income.
Dodgson stopped
his religious development at the Deacon stage, but retained
his Studentship. He retained living quarters at Christ Church
till his death in 1898. A few years after Dogson accepted
his Studentship, the practice was discontinued. Dodgson
was one of the last, but not the last.
Question: What
about the cat? Was Dinah real too?
Dinah was real,
one of two tabby cats in the Liddell household. Another
cat was named Villikins. He was unfortunate because Vilikins
accidentally ate poison and died. This may be reflected
in Alice's talk about eating poison in the first chapter.
Dinah and her
two kittens Kitty and Snowdrop appear in the first chapter
of "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There"
Question:
Was Charles Dodgson a great mathematician?
Generally it
is considered he was not great. At that time, there
were virtually no great mathematicians in England.
Question:
Was Dodgson / Lewis Carrol a photographer?
Yes, he took
up the art of photography in the 1850's when it was truly
demanding. You had to make your own photographic plates
by coating the glass with collidon and the sensitive emulsion
and then take the photograph while the emulsion was still
wet ( wet plate photography ). If you were outdoors,
you had to carry the chemicals and a mixing/developing dark
tent along with you. Each exposure would take about
one minute or so.
Carroll excelled
at child photography. He's said to be one of the finest
child photographers of the 1800's. He had the technical skill,
the fastidiousness and a way of dealing with children to command
their participation in very long and boring sittings for portraits
and pictures with the primitive early equipment.
Question:
Are the Sir John Tenniel original woodcuts depicting
the "Real Alice"?
NO. Alice
Liddell had dark hair cut short with straight bangs across
her forehead. Instead of this Alice, Carroll sent to Tenniel
photographs of Mary Hilton Badcock who was another of Carroll's
child-friends. Carroll suggested that Tenniel use these photographs
as the basis for the illustrations, but Tenniel evidently
used his own independent imagination.
Question:
"Do You Play Croquet?" , or did the Liddell children
do so?
YES, in fact,
one of Dodgson's early University duties was as a sub-librarian.
He used a small room overlooking the garden of the deanery.
Down there they would often be seen playing croquet.
It is easy to imagine him wanting to find the door leading
to the garden and the precious key that would open it for
the flowers and gaiety of the affair.
Question:
What is the symbolism of the rabbit ducking into a hole
in the ground?
Probably none.
Carroll had told personal stories to the Liddell children
numerous times. On the famous July 4, 1862 rowing expedition,
he was searching around for some new way to start the story
machine going. This time, Carroll began by sending his heroine
straight down a rabbit hole "without the least idea of what
was to happen afterwards."
Dodgson, as usual,
rowed bow facing the children in the stern. Reverend Duckworth
rowed stroke, so he was between Dodgson and the Liddells.
Duckworth remembers the story being spoken over his sholder.
This time, there was something very different. It was now
so composed and so polished that Duckworth turned around to
ask "Dodgson, in this an extempore romance of yours?" "Yes"
said Dodgson. "I'm inventing as we go."
Question:
Where did those wonderful poems ever come from?
Most of the
poetry in the "Alice's Adventures" and "Looking Glass" are
parodies of popular songs or poems that were well known
at the time. The originals, with few exceptions, have been
forgotten. The titles are kept alive by the fact that
Carroll chose to poke fun at them.
Reading the
originals along with the parodies helps to bring the humor
to a new life. For example, the start of the poem ""Against
Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts transforms from:
"How doth the
little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey
all the day
From every opening flower."
To:
"How doth the
little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the
waters of the Nile
On every golden scale."
Question:
Did Charles Dodgson have a speech defect?
Yes, he was
a stammerer. His stammer could be very severe.
He felt that the stammer was so severe that he couldn't
properly fulfill the duties of a Parish Priest, and is said
to have stopped his formal religious development at the
Deaconship.
Many of the other
Dodgson children also suffered from the stammer.
Dodgson attempted
to overcome the stammer by reading Shakespear aloud daily.
He also took what therapy there was at the time. But
the stammer never was overcome.
The one thing
that did overcome the stammer was being with children. For
whatever reason, when he was occupied with his "child-friends",
such as Alice and the other Liddell children, the stammer
was better controlled, or no longer so important.
He would stammer
when pronouncing his own name... "Do-Do-Dodgson" and it
is interesting to observe that he enters the Alice book
as the Do-Do ( along with the Duck, or Reverend Duckworth,
Lory or Lorina, Eaglet or Edith) in the last part
of the "Pool of Tears" chapter. Oh, the Lory is an Australian
parrot. These constitute all of the participants of
the first time of the telling of the tale on July 4, 1862
on the now famous rowboat trip.
When the facsimile
edition of the handwritten original "Alice's Adventures
Underground" was published in 1886, Reverend Duckworth received
a copy from Dodgson inscribed "The Duck from the Do-Do".
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