Alice Finds a Way

In this episode, contributing editor Slainte na Zdorovya considers the tale of Alice meeting Tweedledee and Tweedledum in the Dark Woods.  This tale is from the second Alice book, "Through the Looking Glass".  Slainte's aim in this essay is to spread the word to Earthlings that they can liberate themselves from a lot of unnecessary worry by learning to recognize the insignificant, and to ignore it.  Remember that Tweedledee and Tweedledum are motivated by a desire for Alice to remain in the Woods, and the last thing they plan to do is to help her leave.

If you are an Alice, still taking the Woods stuff seriously, this message is for you!

Transcript

Alice Finds a Way

 Good day to you, and welcome to Fascinating!  I am your host Rik, from Planet Vulcan.  My ongoing mission on Planet Earth:  to plant seeds of a way of thinking, a way that is based on an understanding of evolutionary processes, with the ultimate aim of helping to sustain and increase the momentum of Earth’s long arc towards prosperous and happy societies, founded on ideals of liberty and justice.

 Contributing editor Slainte na Zdorovya has another message for Earthlings who are making themselves unnecessarily crazy.  The phenomenon she wishes to discuss reminds her of a story from a famous British author which she believes is an apt metaphor for something that has long been a problem for Earthlings.

 Slainte writes:

 In Lewis Carrroll’s delightful 19th century children’s book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, published in 1865 when Alice Liddell was 13, and “Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice Found There”, published when Alice was 19, one of Alice’s encounters is with the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum, in the Dark Woods.

 Alice Liddell was the real-life inspiration for the fictional Alice.  She was the daughter of the Dean of Christchurch, Oxford, where Carroll (the nom de plume of Harold Dodgson) lectured in mathematics for much of his adult life.  Dodgson became a friend of the family and a companion to Alice and her sisters.  The books grew out of stories that he invented to amuse them.

 The fictional Alice, who in the second book has been trying to find her way through and then out of the Dark Woods, so as to continue her journey, meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum and asks them for help getting out of the Dark Woods.

 The twins respond without answering her question.  They first quote the delightful poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, about how these two tricked a group of naïve young oysters into leaving their bed, and eventually ate them.

 The poem illustrates, for the real Alice, different character types, because the hypocritical Walrus sheds tears of sorrow and regret, all the while continuing to eat the oysters, and the Carpenter shows no remorse at all, and just goes at it.

 And every time thereafter, her question about how to get out of the Woods is met with a nonsense answer, and at one point the twins just look at each other and smile.  

 They try to get her to doubt her own reality, telling her that she only exists in the Red King’s dream.

 They distract her by staging an elaborate battle over something meaningless, which they never actually get around to fighting.  Tweedledee accuses Tweedledum of breaking his new rattle, and they square off.

 It’s evident that the last thing they want is for Alice to actually find her way out of the Dark Woods, which if she and everyone else did, would mean an end to their game. 

 The story of the Alice in the Dark Woods is most often interpreted as a metaphor for the partisan politics, and wars that were merely ceremonies of the horsemen, of that era; and for partisan politics and warfare in general, where the twins pretend to compete over trivial matters, but are actually in cahoots in the larger scheme of things, with a common interest in keeping the game going.

 Alice eventually walked away from the Dark Woods, without having received any help from the twins.  The twins had run off after having been frightened by a Great Crow flying overhead, so Alice just moved along and continued her adventures on the mirror image chessboard behind the looking glass, ultimately achieving the rank of queen.

 Lewis Carroll borrowed the theme of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Great Crow, which harks back to a children’s nursery rhyme of a still earlier era.

 Just then flew by a monstrous crow,

As big as a tar-barrel;

Which frightened both the heroes so,

They quite forgot their quarrel.

 The Great Crow functions as a deus ex machina plot device to keep the story moving, but it can also be interpreted symbolically, as an event which is actually serious, in contrast to the mock battle between the twins.

 It’s as if an asteroid were to strike the Earth while the cast of the trashy reality show, Real Politicians of Washington DC (thank you, Tim Urban), are participating in their perennial drama about shutting down the government over budget-busting.

 So please, fellow Earthlings.  Harken to this message and stop paying attention to Tweedledee and Tweedledum.  Don’t wait for an asteroid to hit.

 You will feel liberated.

 Thanks to Slainte for this essay.

 We wish Earthlings luck on escaping your own Dark Woods.

 You might also ask yourselves if there are any analogs of the Great Crow in your time.

 I invite you to have a listen to the next Fascinating! podcast and a look at the next video on our YouTube channel.  You can find access to all podcasts and videos on our web page, fascinatingpodcast.com.

 Please recommend Fascinating! to your friends if you find the lessons from nature in these essays personally valuable.

Theme music:  Helium, with thanks to TrackTribe.

 Live long and prosper.

 Practice the art of winning without defeating anyone.

 Savor your experiences.

 Treasure your memories.

 Anticipate a happy and rewarding future.

 And respect nature’s wisdom.