Summary
Alice comes across a Caterpillar that is resting on top
of a giant mushroom and smoking a hookah pipe. The two stare at
each other in silence for a while before the Caterpillar asks Alice,
“Who are you?” Alice has trouble explaining who she is to the antagonistic and
contemptuous Caterpillar. Dejected, she turns to leave, but the Caterpillar
calls her back to recite a poem. The Caterpillar duly notes that
she recites the poem incorrectly and goes on to ask what size she
would like to be. Alice states that being three inches tall is a wretched
height, which insults the three-inch-tall Caterpillar. The Caterpillar
crawls away in a huff, but not before telling Alice that eating
one side of the mushroom will make her grow larger and eating the
other side will make her grow smaller.
Alice tastes the right-hand portion of the mushroom and
shrinks. She next tries part of the left-hand portion of the mushroom,
and her neck grows so long that her head is above the treetops.
Realizing she cannot get the other part of mushroom to her mouth,
she attempts to reorient herself when a Pigeon attacks her. The
Pigeon has mistaken Alice for a serpent who wants to eat its eggs.
Alice assures the Pigeon that she is not a serpent, and the Pigeon
skulks back to its nest, leaving Alice to nibble at the two pieces
of the mushroom until she returns to her original height. Back at
her proper size, Alice wanders around the forest looking for the
garden when she encounters a four-foot-tall house. She decides to
visit the house and eats the portion of the mushroom to reduce her
size to nine inches tall.
Analysis
When the Caterpillar asks Alice “Who are you,” she finds
that she doesn’t know who she is anymore. The Caterpillar aggravates Alice’s
uncertainty about her constantly changing size. The Caterpillar
also may represent the threat of sexuality, as suggested by its phallic
shape. Alice recognizes this threat when she calls attention to the
Caterpillar’s impending bodily transformation, since caterpillars
reach sexual maturity in butterfly form. Though she seeks guidance
and compassion from the Caterpillar, she finds only further self doubt
under its brusque scrutiny. Regardless, she defers to the Caterpillar’s
authority, just as she did with the White Rabbit in the previous
chapter. Alice’s confusion peaks when the Caterpillar seems to be
able to read her thoughts, answering her unspoken question “just as
if she had asked it aloud.” Her identity is so confused now that her
thoughts no longer seem to be her own.
Alice has trouble reciting the poem “Father William” and
finds that her inability to remember things she knows well shows
the effects of Wonderland on her brain. Though the Caterpillar is
a denizen of Wonderland, he has some familiarity with the poem that Alice
recites, and he demonstrates his knowledge by pointing out that
she has it “wrong from beginning to end.” The poem “Father William”
(also known as “The Old Man’s Comforts”), by Robert Southey, is
a didactic poem about the importance of living in moderation, and
many Victorian children were required to memorize it. The Caterpillar
proposes that Alice recite the poem to gauge how much she has changed.
Alice’s mutilation of the poem occurs as a result of Wonderland’s
effect on her brain. The Caterpillar’s contemptuous authoritarian
presence compounds her flustered state.
The Pigeon accuses Alice of being a serpent, which causes
her to doubt not only who she is but also what she is. Estranged
from her old self, Alice has trouble defending herself to the Pigeon.
The Pigeon reasons that since Alice exhibits key traits of a serpent,
having a long neck and eating eggs, she must in fact be a serpent.
Alice becomes trapped in this logic so that she becomes identified
by a single action and feature. The Pigeon threatens Alice’s already
shaken assumption of a stable identity.
