Figurative Language in Through the Looking Glass

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. "This must be the wood," she said thoughtfully to herself, "where things have no names. I wonder what'll become of MY name when I go in? I shouldn't like to lose it at all—because they'd have to give me another, and it would be almost certain to be an ugly one. But then the fun would be trying to find the creature that had got my old name! That's just like the advertisements, you know, when people lose dogs—'ANSWERS TO THE NAME OF "DASH": HAD ON A BRASS COLLAR'—just fancy calling everything you met 'Alice,' till one of them answered! Only they wouldn't answer at all, if they were wise." Which line from the excerpt is an example of a simile?

"That's just like the advertisements, you know, when people lose dogs."

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. "That's right," said the Queen, patting her on the head, which Alice didn't like at all, "though, when you say 'garden,'—I'VE seen gardens, compared with which this would be a wilderness." Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: "—and I thought I'd try and find my way to the top of that hill—" "When you say 'hill,'" the Queen interrupted, "I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley." "No, I shouldn't," said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: "a hill CAN'T be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense—" The Red Queen shook her head, "You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but I'VE heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!" What do the Red Queen's comparisons reveal about her?

She thinks that everything she owns or has experienced is better.

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. "That would never do, I'm sure," said Alice: "the governess would never think of excusing me lessons for that. If she couldn't remember my name, she'd call me 'Miss!' as the servants do." "Well, if she said 'Miss,' and didn't say anything more," the Gnat remarked, "of course you'd miss your lessons. That's a joke. I wish YOU had made it." "Why do you wish I had made it?" Alice asked. "It's a very bad one." But the Gnat only sighed deeply, while two large tears came rolling down its cheeks. "You shouldn't make jokes," Alice said, "if it makes you so unhappy." Then came another of those melancholy little sighs, and this time the poor Gnat really seemed to have sighed itself away, for, when Alice looked up, there was nothing whatever to be seen on the twig, and, as she was getting quite chilly with sitting still so long, she got up and walked on. How does Lewis Carroll's use of opposites appear in this excerpt?

The gnat makes jokes, but they seem to cause him unhappiness rather than joy.

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying "Faster! Faster!" but Alice felt she COULD NOT go faster, though she had not breath left to say so. What question should a reader ask to clarify what is happening in the story?

Where are Alice and the Queen going?

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Alice thought to herself, "Then there's no use in speaking." The voices didn't join in this time, as she hadn't spoken, but to her great surprise, they all THOUGHT in chorus (I hope you understand what THINKING IN CHORUS means—for I must confess that I don't), "Better say nothing at all. Language is worth a thousand pounds a word!" "I shall dream about a thousand pounds tonight, I know I shall!" thought Alice. All this time the Guard was looking at her, first through a telescope, then through a microscope, and then through an opera-glass. At last he said, "You're travelling the wrong way," and shut up the window and went away.

Which line from the excerpt is an example of Lewis Carroll's use of opposites? At last he said, "You're travelling the wrong way," and shut up the window and went away.

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. "You might make a joke on THAT," said the little voice close to her ear: "something about 'you WOULD if you could,' you know." "Don't tease so," said Alice, looking about in vain to see where the voice came from; "if you're so anxious to have a joke made, why don't you make one yourself?" The little voice sighed deeply: it was VERY unhappy, evidently, and Alice would have said something pitying to comfort it, "If it would only sigh like other people!" she thought. But this was such a wonderfully small sigh, that she wouldn't have heard it at all, if it hadn't come QUITE close to her ear. The consequence of this was that it tickled her ear very much, and quite took off her thoughts from the unhappiness of the poor little creature. What question should a reader ask to clarify what is happening in the story?

Who or what is the voice speaking to Alice?

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. She was rambling on in this way when she reached the wood: it looked very cool and shady. "Well, at any rate it's a great comfort," she said as she stepped under the trees, "after being so hot, to get into the—into WHAT?" she went on, rather surprised at not being able to think of the word. "I mean to get under the—under the—under THIS, you know!" putting her hand on the trunk of the tree. "What DOES it call itself, I wonder? I do believe it's got no name—why, to be sure it hasn't!" She stood silent for a minute, thinking: then she suddenly began again. "Then it really HAS happened, after all! And now, who am I? I WILL remember, if I can! I'm determined to do it!" But being determined didn't help much, and all she could say, after a great deal of puzzling, was, "L, I KNOW it begins with L!" Which question might a reader ask to gain a better understanding of this excerpt?

Why does Alice forget the name of the woods and her own name?

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. "I'd rather not try, please!" said Alice. "I'm quite content to stay here—only I AM so hot and thirsty!" "I know what YOU'D like!" the Queen said good-naturedly, taking a little box out of her pocket. "Have a biscuit?" Alice thought it would not be civil to say "No," though it wasn't at all what she wanted. So she took it, and ate it as well as she could: and it was VERY dry; and she thought she had never been so nearly choked in all her life. "While you're refreshing yourself," said the Queen, "I'll just take the measurements." And she took a ribbon out of her pocket, marked in inches, and began measuring the ground, and sticking little pegs in here and there. What question could a reader ask to better understand the use of opposites in this passage?

Why does Alice not want the biscuit?

Read this except from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. However, this was anything but a regular bee: in fact it was an elephant—as Alice soon found out, though the idea quite took her breath away at first. "And what enormous flowers they must be!" was her next idea. "Something like cottages with the roofs taken off, and stalks put to them—and what quantities of honey they must make!" What two things are being compared in the simile in this excerpt?

flowers and cottages

Read this excerpt from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. She was rambling on in this way when she reached the wood: it looked very cool and shady. "Well, at any rate it's a great comfort," she said as she stepped under the trees, "after being so hot, to get into the—into WHAT?" she went on, rather surprised at not being able to think of the word. "I mean to get under the—under the—under THIS, you know!" putting her hand on the trunk of the tree. "What DOES it call itself, I wonder? I do believe it's got no name—why, to be sure it hasn't!" She stood silent for a minute, thinking: then she suddenly began again. "Then it really HAS happened, after all! And now, who am I? I WILL remember, if I can! I'm determined to do it!" But being determined didn't help much, and all she could say, after a great deal of puzzling, was, "L, I KNOW it begins with L!" To gain a better understanding of Alice's current predicament, a reader may need to

reread earlier text.