Blooms Literary Themes - THE HEROS ... - ymerleksi - home

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 19her ability to distinguish between mustard and a bird, somethingthat is beyond the Duchess’s power). The Duchess’s own precept is“Be what you would seem to be,” but she, like other Wonderlandcharacters, has a fatal penchant for confusion, with the result of totalincoherence: “‘Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than whatit might appear to others that what you were or might have been wasnot otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to themto be otherwise’” (W, pp. 121–122).Terms and rules must remain constant if one is to know whatuniverse one is dealing with. The croquet game does not meet thiscriterion. Two of the basic requirements for play as formulated ingame theory are lacking: (1) Alice is not cognizant of all the termsand rules, and (2) therefore she cannot play rationally (maximizeutility or undertake to play a winning strategy). “Alice soon came tothe conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed” (W, p. 112).And though it is impossible to play correctly, the penalty is great for afalse move, as the whole spirit of this game is one of capital risk. Aliceis getting uneasy. Though she had previously displayed some bravadoin saying “Nonsense” to the Queen and recalling that she needn’tfear mere cards, she is being ordered about more than ever in her lifebefore, and she fears a dispute with the Queen, for then, “‘What wouldbecome of me?’” (W, pp. 125, 112).Wonderland is a competitive, have and have-not world, as in theDuchess’s moral: “The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.”What makes the world go round?—minding one’s own business,which, as far as the Duchess is concerned, amounts to the same thingas love (W, pp. 122, 120–121). For her, love means self-love.Because she is dealing with such a world, Alice feels it politic toflatter the Queen; what she says has a certain sinister accuracy, namely,the Queen is so likely to win, it’s hardly worth finishing the game (W,p. 114). The Queen may not be able to win at croquet, strictly speaking,through lack of opponents to finish up (unless perhaps they may beconsidered to forfeit upon disappearing from the game). But she maybe playing at something simpler: another version of Fury and theMouse. (Carroll describes the Red Queen of Looking-Glass in “‘Alice’on the Stage” as “a sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion—ablind and aimless Fury,” and the Queen of Hearts is not far different.)It is no wonder that Alice chooses to escape this game. The threat of