LIT: Through the Looking Glass

The sun tries to overtake the moon disrupting the natural order of events. The event of the sun shining will not occur until it is its set time to shine. The queen shouted "My finger's bleeding!" and Alice asks if she has pricked her finger. The Queen replies, "I haven't pricked it yet, but I soon shall-oh,oh,oh!".

Lewis Carroll is communicating the message that if we knew what the future held, it would be a source of grievance if it was something undesirable and if it was something desirable, it would prevent us from having hope because we would be certain it would occur. The story of the walrus and the carpenter shows the beauty and anguish of the unexpected. The Walrus and the Carpenter were dismayed because they could not find food. They seemed helpless because they did not believe the sand could be cleared even if "seven maids with seven mops/Swept it for half a year". It was a pleasant unexpected event that they were able to lure oysters and feast on them. Hope exists because of the unexpected. The young oysters expected to have fun with the Walrus and the Carpenter. They did not expect to be eaten especially after the kindness they were shown. For them, the unexpected was a bad outcome but had they known what was to occur they would not have enjoyed their expedition. If they knew what was going to happen and had no ability to change the outcome, the young oysters would have been miserable from the beginning until their demise. At least with a lack of knowledge of the future, they did not grieve. Had the future been consistent with their state of deprivity.

The Walrus and the Carpenter poem is significant to "Through the Looking Glass' as Lewis Carrol mentions it before the conclusion because the ending is unexpected. If the reader knew that it was possible for Alice to be in someone else's dream and that the ending was uncertain, I'm not sure the reader would have been as interested in the story.

The theme of the Walrus and the Carpenter is that events in life are unexpected. Throughout the story, you already know what chess moves are to take place so you know what moves Alice will make considering she is the pawn and know what the other pieces will do considering it was already mentioned prior to the story beginning.