Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1865

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary: “The Lobster Quadrille”

Chapter 10 is a continuation of Chapter 9, as the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon tell Alice about the dance they used to perform. They dance in a circle and sing a mournful tune. The chapter features more puns and nonsense recitations, but it does not add to the plot or introduce new themes or characters. The chapter ends when someone yells “The trial is starting!” (145). The Gryphon takes Alice back to the Queen’s garden to see the trial while the Mock Turtle continues singing his sad song.

Chapter 11 Summary: “Who Stole the Tarts”

The King of Hearts presides over a trial in which the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The tarts are laid out on a long table in front of the Knave. The jury is composed of birds and animals, and they are writing nonsense on their slates, which are intended for notetaking.

The court calls the Hatter as a witness, but his evidence is a jumble of confused statements about having his tea. Meanwhile, Alice has started growing again, angering the Dormouse who is sitting next to her.

The Hatter scurries away, and the Duchess’s cook is called as the next witness. The cook refuses to give any testimony, only stating that tarts are made mostly of pepper. The King dismisses her and asks the White Rabbit to call the next witness, which turns out to be Alice.

Chapter 12 Summary: “Alice’s Evidence”

When the White Rabbit calls out Alice’s name, she stands and because of her size, she upsets the jury box. All the animal-jurors fall out, and she tries to replace them. Bill the Lizard is upside down, and she rights him so that the trial can proceed.

She states that she knows nothing about the tarts. The King tries to order her out of the courtroom, but Alice refuses to leave.

Just then, the White Rabbit picks up a paper on which are written some verses. The King believes that this piece of evidence proves the Knave’s guilt, but the Knave claims he did not write the letter. The Rabbit reads the verses, which are vague and open to practically any interpretation. Alice observes that one of the lines reads “they are all returned” and reasons that the line is referring to the tarts (167). The King agrees and is relieved to have solved the case.

The Queen insists that the Knave be sentenced before the jury reaches their verdict. Alice objects, and the Queen orders her beheading. At this point, Alice has regained her full size, and she dismisses the Queen and her court, saying they are “nothing but a pack of cards” (168). The cards fly into the air to attack her, and she tries to wave them away.

At that moment, Alice wakes up with her head in her sister’s lap, while her sister brushes away some dead leaves that have fallen onto her face. Alice’s sister tells her that she has been asleep. Alice recounts all her adventures, and her sister agrees that it was a wonderful dream. Alice then runs into the house for tea, and her sister remains on the riverbank, thinking about Alice’s adventures.

The sister understands that each of the sounds and characters of Wonderland had a corollary in the real world: “[T]he rattling teacups would change into tinkling sheep-bells, and the Queen’s shrill cries to the voice of the shepherd boy […]” (171-72). The sister thinks about Alice as a grown woman who might one day tell fanciful stories to children and how that will bring back Alice’s fond memories of her own childhood.

Chapters 10-12 Analysis

The final three chapters bring the action in Wonderland to a close and return Alice to her everyday world. The novel’s climax is the moment that Alice stands up to the Queen and the court, saying that they are just a pack of cards. This moment is significant because during Alice’s time in Wonderland, everyone orders her around. Alice has been at the Wonderland creatures’ mercy because she does not know the world’s rules, and she knows she will be in danger if she does not have someone to guide her. Here, at last, she recognizes that people play with cards, not cards with people, and she asserts mastery.

Although Alice learned to control her height in the novel’s middle chapters, as the trial goes on, she loses that control. Her growth during the trial is symbolic of her outgrowing Wonderland. She has faced its challenges and won, the final challenge being the Queen’s sending her soldiers to attack her. Alice realizing that she, not the creatures, is in control means that they no longer pose any threat to her.

The ending, in which Alice’s sister responds warmly to Alice’s story and ponders Alice’s future, does more than conclude the story. It offers a perspective on Alice and her adventure, even an interpretation, that the reader is invited to share. The sister’s own “dream” or wish is that Alice will be able to preserve her childhood’s purity of heart even when she becomes an adult. The sister, whether she is a stand-in for Carroll or for the reader, shows the loving response of an adult (or a near-adult) musing about the innocent wonder of childhood. The sister also imagines that the grown-up Alice will recount her story to children. From a biographical perspective, Carroll may be musing via the sister on how he came to invent the story of Alice, that perhaps it contains elements of his own childhood wonder and childhood dreams.