Rory Gilmore Book Challenge - “Alice in Wonderland”

Alice in Wonderland 

By Lewis Carroll (PSEUD) aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

Season 1, Episode 14, “That Damn Donna Reed”

Emily: We only go to Europe in the fall.

Lorelai: You know, Mom, I heard a rumor Europe’s still there in the spring.

Rory: I heard that too.

Emily: We know that it’s there in the spring, but we never go in the spring because we always go in the fall.

Lorelai: It’s getting a little too Lewis Carroll for me.

Season 1, Episode 19, “Emily in Wonderland”

Emily is, metaphorically transported through the looking glass, sees Lorelai’s and Rory’s first home and experiences Stars Hollow’s quaintness and idiosyncrasies, which are a kind of wonderland to her.

Season 2, Episode 4, “The Road Trip to Harvard”

Lorelai and Rory head out on their road trip and stop at a B&B that Lorelai said she vaguely knew the owner of. However, the B&B has changed a lot since Lorelai’s last visit and the new owner named it the Cheshire Cat.

LaDonn: Okay, room number 3 is all yours. Welcome to the Cheshire Cat.

Lorelai: Nice name. I’m gonna consult with my daughter for just one second. (walks away from the desk) We must leave this place immediately.

Rory: And sleep where?

Lorelai: Uh, a hollow tree, a riverbank, I don’t care.

Rory: Mom, I’m tired and I’m starving.

Lorelai: Okay, she’s named the place after an Alice in Wonderland character. This is my worst nightmare. 

Rory: And dying of exposure in a Jeep in mine.

Season 4, Episode 1, “Ballroom and Biscotti”

(Richard opens the gift, a pipe)

Richard: Look at that. That’s beautiful.

Rory: We found this amazing pipe store in Copenhagen and the man there can carve anything you want. His family’s been doing it for over a hundred and fifty years. And they had a whole set of Alice in Wonderland pipes that Mom wanted to get, but they were way too expensive, so we just got the Queen of Hearts.

Richard: Well, I love it.

Season 4, Episode 16, “The Reigning Lorelai”

Lorelai: Ohh. I — how is Dad?

Emily: He’s completely fallen apart. From the moment he heard the news, he’s been almost incoherent.

Lorelai: Oh, no.

Emily: He’s in his office now with the Scotch, and he wants turtleneck soup — asks for it over and over.

Lorelai: What’s turtleneck soup?

Emily: Apparently something his mother used to have made for him when he was a little boy, and now he wants some, and I can’t seem to find anybody who has any idea what it is.

Lorelai: Okay, never mind. Sookie, do you have any idea what turtleneck soup could be?

Sookie: You mean mock turtle soup?

Lorelai: Mom, do you think he means “mock turtle soup?”

Emily: Maybe that’s what he said. Is there such a thing?

Lorelai: Hey, dad.

Richard: Lorelai?

Lorelai: Yeah, uh… I have something for you. Mock turtle soup.

Richard: Mock turtle soup?

Lorelai: Yeah. Sookie made it.

Richard: Mock turtle soup. (Chuckling) Mock turtle soup. (Voice breaking) Mock turtle soup. (Crying) Mock turtle soup.

Lorelai: Oh, hey, soup’s gone. No soup here. Who mentioned soup? This is definitely a no-soup zone. Uh, the music’s nice.

Lorelai: Hi, Jason

Jason: Hey, I didn’t know you were gonna be here.

Lorelai: Oh, yeah, well, the white rabbit ran by. I chased him, fell down a hole, and here I am.

Season 4, Episode 17, “Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin’ the Twist”

Paris: Maybe he’s going to dump me.

Louise: Mmm — does he still buy you jewelry?

Paris: He’s never bought me jewelry.

Madeline: He hasn’t? How much money does he have?

Paris: Asher isn’t rich.

Madeline: Not rich?

Louise: Oh, curiouser and curiouser.

Alice in Wonderland is timeless. 

I’ve read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland many times throughout my life. Each time I come away with a new perspective on the character and her surroundings. I think what makes Alice in Wonderland so timeless is that the reader can learn something new about themselves each time they read it — no matter what time period they happen to be reading it in. It’s had such an enormous impact on individuals and on our culture as a whole. I have read stories about people diagnosing themselves with certain mental illnesses after having read the book; artists have written songs and books about Alice (many about drugs); restaurants, bakeries, and hotels have themed their establishments after Wonderland; folks throw Wonderlandthemed parties and decorate their houses with Wonderland themed décor; people name their pets after the characters; phrases from the book have entered our vernacular like, “down the rabbit hole”; there is even a disease called Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AiWS) that affects people’s perception. Very few books throughout history have made such an enormous impact on our culture. 

Reading the book this time around I was fixated by Alice and how she relates to the world around her. On the outside, she is, by all intents and purposes, a perfect little Victorian young lady. That is, when looked at next to Wonderland’s standards, she is. She’s polite, well groomed, well bred, she doesn’t wish to offend anyone, and she takes care to observe the proper social graces with whomever she meets in Wonderland. In the real world, however, she’s a bit of a loser. She’s a complete outcast. Because she’s too curious, too inquisitive, and too full of wonder. 

I want to focus in for a moment on the word “wonder.” Merriam-Webster defines wonder as — 1) a cause of astonishment or admiration. 2) the quality of exciting, amazed admiration 3) rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience 4) a feeling of doubt or uncertainty. As a verb, it means to be in a state of wonder, to feel surprise, or to feel curiosity or doubt wondering about the future. As an adjective, it means exciting amazement or admiration and effective or efficient far beyond anything previously known or anticipated. 

To me, this describes Alice in a nutshell. Alice is, above all things, full of curiosity and wonder. She wants to know the why behind everything. And once she understands the whyof something, she wants to know the why behind that. I believe this proves to be her biggest challenge in life. 

Wonderland itself is nonsensical. Alice keeps trying to understand Wonderland and its inhabitants but, much like a fever-dream, there’s nothing to understand. It’s nonsense. And as a result, she seems to keep drawing the conclusion that she’s the problem. She must be doing something incorrectly because everyone around her seems to be on the same nonsense page. She then goes mad inside her own head trying to figure out what’s wrong with her. 

Meanwhile, back in the real world, she tries desperately to fit in with society but everyone around her can tell she’s a little off. Again, she’s too inquisitive, to curious, too… full of wonder. And she wonders why she can’t just “fit in”. But she also doesn’t really want to fit in. She likes the nonsense that goes on inside her head. That is, until she’s the victim of it.

Another very interesting thing I thought about this time around is how each of the Wonderland characters could be attributed to a different mental illness or disorder. The White Rabbit represents general anxiety disorder, the Cheshire Cat represents schizophrenia, the Queen of Hearts represents narcissism and psychopathic tendencies, the Caterpillar represents addiction, the Mad Hatter represents obsessive-compulsive disorder, and little Alice herself represents hallucinations and… Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Yet, as far as we know, aside from severe migraines, Lewis Carroll was never actually diagnosed with any mental illnesses and never abused drugs. One must wonder where he came up with such a vivid, fever-dream-like world that we’ve all been so enamored with through the ages.

I feel bad for Alice. I see her as the protagonist and everyone around her as the antagonists. They are — individually — cruel, indifferent, silly, mad, hypocritical, genial, and narcissistic. Compare that to Alice who is courageous, kind, courteous, dignified, and has a personal sense of justice. She just wants to do “what’s right” but she wars with herself over exactly what that is. She is in no way perfect, but she is a victim of, not only the world in which she lives, but the world in which she has created to escape the world in which she lives. The poor girl is lost. Both physically and mentally.

I rate this book 6 cups of Luke’s coffee! 

 ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️