Reality and Dreams

Where it surfaces

• Epigraph

  The fairy-tale is presented as a magical escape from the harsh outer world, blurring the line between waking life and dream.

• Through the Looking-Glass

  Alice's passage through the looking-glass blurs the boundary between waking life and dream, as she enters a world that mirrors and distorts her own.

• Looking-Glass House

  Alice passes through the looking-glass into a fantastical world where chess pieces are alive, blurring the line between reality and dream.

• II: The Garden of Live Flowers

  The surreal garden, talking flowers, and the impossible run without moving blur the line between reality and dream.

• Tweedledum and Tweedledee

  The twins argue that Alice is merely a figment of the Red King's dream, questioning the nature of reality and existence.

• VIII: “It’s My Own Invention”

  Alice questions whether she is dreaming the Red King's dream, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.

• Queen Alice

  The surreal dinner party, with objects coming to life and the Queens shrinking, blurs the boundary between dream and reality.

• Shaking

  The Red Queen's transformation into a kitten blurs the boundary between Alice's dream and waking reality.

• XI: Waking

  Alice questions whether her adventure was real or a dream, blurring the line between the two.

• Which Dreamed It?

  The chapter centers on the ambiguity between dream and reality, as Alice questions whether she dreamed the Looking-Glass world or was part of the Red King's dream.

• A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky

  The entire poem questions the boundary between life and dream, ending with the rhetorical question 'Life, what is it but a dream?'

• List of Illustrations

  The illustrations blur the line between Alice's waking world and the fantastical dreamscape of the Looking-Glass, culminating in her waking to find it was all a dream.