Lewis Carroll not only wrote some of the most famous and influential short stories and novels of all time, he also was a brilliant mathematician. Even in his early childhood, he had a mind for math, but it was a different kind of math. Remember in geometry class there was "proofs", "if-then" statements and a whole bunch of logic? That's what excited Carroll the most. He took the riddles of math, combined it with a story, and birthed Alice in Wonderland.
Carroll used the idea of riddles and "if-then" logical statements to create Alice's adventure in Wonderland, or Underland as is in the 2010 movie version. One famous riddle is quoted by the Mad Hatter: “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” (Goodreads). The average Joe would have to read that quote over and over to be able to understand it. On the contrary, riddles and rhymes like such came second nature to Carroll.
The use of the game chess comes into play at the end of the story on the Frabjous Day. The Queen of Hearts’ army of cards, knights, rooks, bishops and the King represent Carroll’s interpretation of the combination of mathematical logic, a game of chess and action. When Alice is battling the Jabberwocky, she moves around the “battlefield” like a chess piece. She jumps from one space to the next like a pawn would in chess.
Carroll’s logic is thrown out the window when he presents the poem “Jabberwock” in Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. The poem tells of a youngster who’s destiny is to slay the malevolence Jabberwock. Carroll used made up words to describe the scene and the Jabberwock. Often he combined words to create the nonsense words. For example, “Frabjous day” would be a combination of “fabulous” and “joyous” to describe the day on which the youngster slays the Jabberwock.
Lewis Carroll’s genius mind full of logic, literature and creativity becomes apparent in Alice in Wonderland, and even more so in Through the Looking Glass.
Works Cited
Quotes tagged as 'Mad Hatter'. Goodreads, Inc., 2011. Web. Mar 21 2011. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show_tag?name=mad-hatter
I think she tried to make her own world. I mean, no one can reinvent English (Caroll would've if she could've) but making random statements her works stand out, which was a good idea.
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