Chapter 10: The Lobster Quadrille
Summary:
The Mock-Turtle keeps sobbing and when he stops, he tells Alice about the Lobster- Quadrille dance which ends up with flinging lobsters into the sea. Then, the Mock-Turtle and the Gryphon demonstrate the dance to Alice and when they finish, the Mock-Turtle asks Alice whether she knows the whiting, but she avoids telling him that she once ate whiting. The Gryphon goes on explaining about the whiting and then he asks Alice to tell them about her adventures. Alice comments that her adventures have changed her and starts to tell the adventure from the beginning, but the Mock-Turtle and the Gryphon keep asking her to change the rhyme each time. Alice is fed up with their orders. Alice’s song is awful so they stop her and decide to sing instead. Suddenly, they heard the Queen’s voice announcing the trail, so the Gryphon pulls Alice behind him leaving the Mock-Turtle singing.
Analysis:
This chapter reveals that Alice has grown up and she starts to feel sympathy for others. In addition, now, she realizes what to say to others and what to prevent because it might bother them. That is apparent when the Mock-Turtle asks her whether she knows the whiting or not and she refuses to tell him that people above the ground eat the whiting because at the end the Mock-Turtle and the whiting relate to the same situation and she thinks that if she tells the Mock-Turtle about that, it will be sad and frightened. That violates what happens in chapters 1 and 2 when Alice keeps praising how talented her cat is in hunting besides the White Rabbit and birds. This indicates that Alice is learning lessons from the wonderland.
