Through the Looking Glass Summary

Introduction

In 1871, the follow-up to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was issued through The Looking Glass. Alice Liddell, the little girl that Lewis Carroll used as the basis for the Alice stories, stated that the idea for the book originated from the tales about chess that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (AKA Carroll) would tell her and her sisters when they were getting educated in the game.

Characters List

• Alice

Alice is the story's young protagonist, seven and a half years old. Her dream prompts Alice's travels in the Looking-Glass World. Alice is irritated when Looking-Glass World contradicts her preconceived notions about the world. Although Alice has noble intentions, she finds it difficult to get along with any animals living in the Looking-Glass World.

• The Red Queen

Alice is introduced to the chess game by a bossy, pretentious woman.

• The White Queen

A messy, disorganized mess of a lady. The White Queen describes the characteristics of the Looking-Glass World, such as the ability to reverse time and the requirement to believe in the impossibility.

• The Red King

The Sleeping King. Tweedledum and Tweedledee inform Alice that she is merely a part of the Red King's fantasy and is not real.

• The White King

After Humpty Dumpty falls, the White King sends his warriors and horses to pursue him. Words mean nothing to the White King. The lion and the Unicorn are terrifying to him, and he feels helpless.

• White Knight

A kind and upright friend who saves Alice from the Red Knight and guides her to the decisive square

• Humpty Dumpty

Based on the figure from the children's song, this man appears like an egg. Alice is subjected to insults by Humpty Dumpty as he rests on a wall.

• The Tweedledum and Tweedledee

An identical pair of little, obese men who were dressed like schoolchildren. Despite their good relationships and tendency to complete each other's sentences, Tweedledum and Tweedledee eventually quarrel over a broken rattle.

• The Unicorn

A fabled animal with great horns that resembles a horse. The lion and Unicorn square off. The Unicorn declares that he will believe in Alice if she pledges to trust him, even if he thinks she is a monster.

• Hatta and Haigha

The messengers of the White King. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Haigha is the March Hare, and Hatta is the Mad Hatter. In this narrative, their madness is under control.

• The Sheep

An old store owner. The Sheep treat Alice rudely and grumpily. As the sheep change, the White Queen changes.

• The Gnat

Who accompanied Alice on the train and in the forest. He makes puns and other wordplay suggestions to Alice and consistently exudes melancholy.

• The Fawn

The company of Alice during her wanderings through the woods, when she loses track of the names of things. The Fawn is lovely, but it flees when it discovers that Alice is a person and may be a threat.

• The Red Knight

A knight who tries to seize Alice. The white knight subdues the red knight.

• Lily

A descendant of the White Queen. Alice replaces Lily as the white pawn in the chess game.

About the Author

Lewis Carroll, a renowned writer from the Victorian era, published Through the Looking Glass in 1869, a follow up to his children's work of fiction Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland made its debut four years earlier, and received mixed reviews. The fantasy realm depicted in Through the Looking Glass has captivated people for generations.

Summary

Chapter 1: Looking-Glass House

Alice is chatting with her black kitty, Kitty, and herself while at home. She attempts to have the cat sit like the Red Queen in a chess game on the table, but the kitten resists, and she cannot get it to do so. When she thinks the kitten has to be disciplined, she puts it up to the looking glass and threatens to send it into the Looking-glass House if it isn't instantly good.

Alice begins describing the other side of the looking-glass to the cat, where everything is the same as in the drawing room but backward. She imagines that the glass is so soft that she can pass through as she muses over what it will be like to live there. The glass then changes into a silvery mist, and Alice climbs through it.

The items she could see from the drawing room are the same in the room with the looking-glass, but the other things are noticeably different. The chess pieces are moving around the playing area because they are alive.

Alice tries to console Lily (one of the white pawns) as she begins to cry. The White Queen is taken up and placed next to Lily by the woman. Alice is astonished since the chessmen cannot see or hear her. Alice also frightens the White King by raising the White King, dusting him, and using his pen to write for him.

Chapter 2: The Garden of Living Flowers

When Alice tries to climb a hill to have a better view of the garden, she finds that there are no paths that seem to get there, and she constantly returns to where she started. She eventually discovers a flower bed. There is someone else in the garden, according to the flowers, who can communicate.

The Red Queen, who now resembles Alice in size, looks to be it. In the course of their chat, Alice notes that the country is shaped like a massive checkerboard, with brooks and hedges separating the landscape into squares. The Red Queen responds to her request to enter the game by telling her that she can start on the second square and replace Lily with a White Pawn.

Alice must hold a book up to the looking-glass while trying to read it. Jabberwocky is the poem's name, and it has a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary that she needs to learn. She finds herself flying downstairs and wants to check out the garden.

They start to flee immediately, but no matter how fast Alice runs, they remain in the same spot. The Queen adds that moving from one place to another in this nation requires running at least twice as quickly. She explains how to play the game to Alice and informs her that she will become a Queen when she reaches the eighth square. Then she departs.

Chapter 3: Insects Looking Through Glass

Alice realizes that what she had believed were bees are actually elephants. She dashes off the hill and across the first creek to reach the next square.

Unexpectedly, she finds herself in a train car with a guard who requests her tickets and a variety of other critters. The other passengers appear to be speaking and thinking in unison as Alice tries to explain that she doesn't have a ticket. When the train suddenly has to jump over a creek, and the carriage lifts straight into the air, she is conversing with a little bug that makes a very miserable sound.

She loses sight of her surroundings and discovers herself conversing with the Gnat she spoke to when seated beneath a tree. She learns about insects via the Looking-Glass, such as the Bread-and-Butterfly and the Rocking-Horse Fly. He sighs away because he is so miserable.

As soon as Alice walks into the woods, where nothing has a name, she forgets who she is. She comes upon a deer, and the two of them continue walking. But when they come to a clearing, the Fawn dashes off into the woods after remembering that Alice is a human and that it is a deer.

Following the trail, Alice eventually finds the Tweedledum and Tweedledee's home.

Chapter 4: Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Alice fails to realize that they are still alive because of how motionless they are, and they correct her for not having the proper protocol for a visit. They all begin dancing after exchanging hands. They keep telling Alice, "The Walrus and the Carpenter," when she asks which way to escape the jungle.

They then take her to the Red King, who is asleep, and inform her that she only exists in his dreams. Alice will vanish when he awakes. Alice finds it upsetting even if she doesn't think it's true.

Like the poem, Tweedledee wants to quarrel with Tweedledum when he discovers his rattle lying shattered on the ground. They ask Alice to outfit them with a variety of materials that they employ as armor. It becomes really dark, and there is a strong wind as the enormous crow soars overhead before they can engage in combat. While Alice hides in the woods, Tweedledum and Tweedledee flee. As a shawl is being blown away, she discovers it.

Chapter 5: Wool and Water

After grabbing the shawl, Alice notices the White Queen darting across the forest. Alice helps her re-don her scarf and combs her hair because she is rather messy. She is not interested in working as the Queen's lady's maid.

Living backward, or remembering events before they occur, is a strategy that the White Queen claims has advantages. She uses a tale about a courier for the King who is imprisoned for a crime that he has yet to commit to emphasize her point.

The Queen makes remarks about Alice's age and her tendency to believe impossibilities in an effort to stop her from sobbing as Alice begins to feel quite lonely. After that, they cross a creek to retrieve the shawl, as it is being blown away once more.

The Queen transforms into a knitted sheep and sits behind the counter where they are present at the shop. Alice responds that she wants to browse around before making a purchase when the Sheep asks what she wants to buy. She tries to look at anything, but it always shifts, and the shelves she scans always seem to be empty.

When Alice asks if she can row, the Sheep offers her some knitting needles. As a result, Alice and the Sheep end up aboard a boat. The needles change into oars. When Alice attempts to gather some fragrant rushes, they start to wither as soon as she does.

Suddenly, they are back in the store, and the Sheep asks once more what she wants to get. Alice decides to purchase an egg. The Sheep lays the egg on a shelf and instructs her that she must obtain it alone. It appears to be farther away as Alice approaches it. Trees are sprouting within the store, and she even needs to cross a little creek.

Chapter 6: Humpty Dumpty

As Alice moves closer, the egg gradually gains human-like features before transforming into the character Humpty Dumpty. He is perched atop a dangerously thin wall, and Alice accidentally offends him by calling him an egg. Humpty then responds, pointing out that her physical shape does not match her name.

Alice expresses her worry that he will fall from the wall, and Humpty reveals that the King has promised to send numerous horses and men to his rescue in a similar fashion to that described in the nursery rhyme. He then inquires about her age and mentions that the White King and Queen gifted him his cravat as an un-birthday present.

He additionally reveals to Alice that he has the power to change the meaning of words. He explains Jabberwocky for Alice when she begs him to. He then reads her a poem again before it abruptly ends. When he bids her farewell, he snarkily adds that he wouldn't recognize her if they ran into each other again. As Alice leaves, the woodland is shaken by a loud crash.

Chapter 7: The Lion and the Unicorn

A large number of soldiers and horses emerge from the woods. They kept bumping into each other and falling over each other. The White King and his notebook are there as Alice arrives in an open area. He tells her that all his men and horses were dispatched except for the two messengers and soldiers needed for the game.

One of the messengers, Haigha, informs the group that the Lion and the Unicorn are once more engaged in a battle for the throne. The second messenger, Hatta, recently released from jail, is waiting in the town where they operate.

The Lion and the Unicorn come and sit with them during a pause in the battle. The Unicorn admits that he felt Alice was a fantastic creature, and they both decide to have faith in one another. Bread and plum cake are distributed before the Lion and Unicorn are kicked out of town in line with an old song. Alice crosses a different creek while covering her ears to shield them from the loud noise.

Chapter 8: "It's my own Invention"

When the noise had died down, a Red Knight on horseback came into sight. He shouted, "Check!" and grabbed Alice before toppling off his own mount. Then the White Knight appeared to be Alice's rescuer, only to fall off his horse. During their struggle, both knights were continuously falling off their horses.

Ultimately, the White Knight was victorious and declared that he had been sent to accompany Alice safely to the eighth square. He then presented her with some of his own inventions. Despite the numerous times he fell off his horse, the White Knight reassured her that he had plenty of practice. He continues to talk about his innovations while singing her a song about an old guy. After that, he rides off, and Alice walks inside square eight. Suddenly, she discovers that she is wearing a golden crown.

Chapter 9: Queen Alice

Alice realizes that she is now a queen. She is invited to her dinner party by the White and Red Queens, who then begin grilling her with absurd questions and giving her etiquette lessons.

In Alice's lap, the Queens nod off as they get weary. They vanish instantly, and Alice finds herself in front of a doorway with the name "Queen Alice" written on it. She asks a Frog where she may locate a servant to unlock the door for her, but he refuses to assist her. She hears a choir singing as the door swings wide. She chooses to enter herself after learning that they have welcomed her.

She enters a corridor with a big table, and the singing stops. Animals, birds, and flowers appear to be her visitors. She sats down next to the White and Red Queens, who were at the head of the table. The mutton leg is introduced to her, and bows for her as they inform her that she missed the soup. They say she can no longer consume it because she was exposed to it. The plum pudding is also introduced to her, and Alice eats a piece of it despite his objections.

After reading a poem to Alice, the White Queen predicts an impending event. The bottles suddenly transform into a type of bird and take flight as the candles start to increase. The White Queen is seated in her position as she vanishes into the soup, and The Leg of Mutton takes her place.

In response to everyone's idiotic behavior, Alice leaps to her feet and grabs the tablecloth. The Red Queen has shrunk and is now racing around on the table; she observes as everything collapses to the ground. As she is being caught, she threatens to turn the girl into a kitty.

Chapter 10-12: Shaking, Waking, Which Dreamed it

Alice shakes the Queen, causing her to get tinier and chubbier with magnified green eyes. It is, in fact, Kitty! Alice explains that she was with her throughout the dream and debates cats' general proclivity for purring and how it can be difficult to decipher such a sound.

Alice grabs the Red Queen off the table and attempts to coerce Kitty into confessing her true identity, but Kitty refuses to look at the game token. She thinks the White Queen must have been so unkempt in her dream for this reason as she turns to gaze at Snowdrop, who still receives her cleaning from Dinah. Dinah must have been Humpty Dumpty, in her opinion.

Finally, Alice starts to wonder if anybody else has been dreaming. She suspects that she may have been the one having the dream. She believed she had been a part of the Red King's dream. Thus, he may have also been the culprit. After asking the audience who they believe has been dreaming the entire time, the narrator ends the story with a poem on summertime dreams and Wonderland.

Conclusion

Although everything in Alice Through the Looking Glass seemed to be impossible, it all turned out to make sense in the end. Always have faith in the impossibility.