Through the Looking-Glass

     “Through the Looking-Glass” is the sequel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” written by Lewis Carroll.  Alice has another fantastical dreamlike adventure.  As Alice is lounging about her living room, she wonders what it would be like to live inside of a mirror, where everything would be the reverse of life on the outside.  As the title says, she quite literally, and rather quickly, travels through a mirror (or looking-glass) into another dimension.

     She leaves the looking-glass house and finds herself in a beautiful garden.  No matter which path she takes to get away, she ends up straight back at the house.  Along the way she meets the Red Queen (not to be confused with the Red Queen from her previous adventure down the rabbit hole).  Not far from where they are standing is a grand game of chess, which Alice proclaims she would like to join.  The Queen instructs Alice on how she can become a queen at the end of the game, and will start off as a pawn.

     Throughout Alice’s course to the finish of the game, she inexplicably finds herself in situations that would be considered absurd and impossible if she were back in the real world, but since she is through the looking-glass, it is just accepted. 

     People disappear or transform before her eyes, and everyone is keen on reciting poetry no matter how much Alice objects.  She encounters two twins, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and Humpty Dumpty before she makes it to the end of the game, where a crown materializes on the top of her head.

     The Red and White Queen scrutinize Queen Alice, and soon fall asleep and disappear without an explanation.  Alice then awakes back in her world, wondering if she was in her own dream or someone else’s.

     This story is every bit as confusing as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”  You have to have the mind set to suspend your disbelief and take everything as it comes.  If you over analyze or question everything, this may be very difficult to get through, although it was aimed for children.  Both stories are definitely beneficial to read in order to understand and appreciate all of the cinematic adaptations.

     The book reads like a dream, and leads one to wonder whether Alice has an incredible imagination, or if she should seek psychiatric assistance.