22 pages • 44 minutes read
Lewis CarrollThe Walrus and the Carpenter
Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1871A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll published Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There in December 1871. This was the sequel to his novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was published in 1865 and was immediately successful. In this second novel, Alice again enters a fantasy world, which she accesses this time by climbing into a mirror. She finds that in the looking-glass world, just as in a mirror, everything is reverse (even logic is backward). Through the Looking-Glass reprises the same nonsense style of literature that Carroll explored in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Several of Carroll’s most famous poems come from Through the Looking-Glass, including “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” The latter poem is recited within the novel by the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, characters Carroll borrowed from a popular nursery rhyme. The poem, in which a group of oysters are manipulated and betrayed by the Walrus and the Carpenter, reflects the broader themes and motifs featured throughout the novel, such as the reversal of the natural order and the dangers of blindly following those in authority. The poem displays Carroll’s penchant for using language for amusement as well as social commentary. The whimsical rhymes and wordplay of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” belie the darker themes beneath the surface. This mirrors the way nonsense and meaning are balanced throughout the novel as Alice navigates the fantasy world of the looking-glass.
Literary Context: Victorian Children’s Literature
Lewis Carroll was writing during the Victorian Era (1837-1901), a period characterized by significant social, cultural, political, and technological changes that shaped the landscape of Britain and had a large impact on global history more broadly. Children’s literature during this era often emphasized didacticism, striving to impart important lessons, especially moral lessons, to young readers. While earlier didactic children’s literature in Europe tended to fixate on religious lessons, the Victorian Era became more interested in secular lessons that resonated with the middle class, such as hard work and honesty. In this, Victorian children’s literature was guided by ideas that had originated in the previous century during the Enlightenment.
In particular, the publication of Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1762 changed how children were viewed in Europe, gradually replacing the doctrine of original sin with the view that children are innocent until corrupted by the experiences of adulthood. Following the publication of Emile, children’s literature and education became more oriented toward teaching children proper moral behavior to guide them in adulthood, aiming to present these lessons in a manner that was playful and engaging.
“The Walrus and the Carpenter,” read in this context, can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unquestioningly following authority figures. The oysters’ willingness to follow the duplicitous Walrus and Carpenter has a childlike quality and reflects the vulnerability of children who unquestioningly obey adults. Yet there is also something subversive about Carroll’s didacticism in “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” On one level, Carroll’s brand of nonsense literature defies meaning and interpretation, thus rejecting the straightforward didactic approach adopted by much of the children’s literature of the era. On a deeper level, though, the duplicity of the Walrus and the Carpenter goes against more conventional Victorian lessons on the importance of obedience and proper behavior by encouraging readers to question the motives of those in power.
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By Lewis Carroll
