"A Strange Duo"
I read Tom Thumb and then went directly into Snow White. Within the first few pages, we can already see a theme growing. Both start with a parent or parents who are despondent over never having children, and so they each vocalize a wish: "Oh that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the embroidery frame!" says the mother of Snow White, which is not dissimilar from the first thing that drops from Tom Thumb's mother: "--if we could only have one, and the one ever so little, no bigger than my thumb, how happy I should be!" Under these circumstances, both our protagonists are born and both exhibit a unique characteristic: Tom is remarkably small, and Snow White is unearthly beautiful. Not long into our stories, our hero and heroine's peculiarities draw the unwanted attention of an outside figure and are swept up into an adventure. The moral of Tom Thumb is refreshingly simple: "Cleverness and sharp wits can and will overcome physical prowess." This is evidenced by the many times Tom is caught in a sticky situation but then is able to talk his way right out of it. And of course the moral in Snow White is: "Goodness and purity will triumph over evil and adversity." Snow White isn't nearly as quick on her feet as Tom but it's her character, not her looks which endear her to the dwarves. Reading these two fables reminded me that in earnest, fairy tales aren't really about the story, or the characters, but what overall is to be learned from them. Otherwise it's nothing more then meaningless syntax.
"Intrigued"
"Alice in Wonderland" and its sister novel, "Through the Looking Glass," contain within their pages a series of strange vignettes with little or no connectivity. Despite their lack of a cohesive narrative, the books are surprisingly absorbing, if only to see what sort of claptrap Alice will stumble into. Stumble is the right word, because Alice has no particular motive or purpose for being anywhere or doing anything--all her actions are at the whim of Wonderland's eccentric denizens. An anti-fairy tale, it lacks a villain, a story, or any sort of moral. Or does it?
Elite readers may try to dismiss the above paragraph by explaining that Alice is actually a deconstruction of childhood innocence, or give some other seemingly complex interpretation. In their defense, "Wonderland" and "Looking Glass" certainly show glimpses of brilliance--like this scene in the first book where Alice is gabbing with the Duchess:
"...I can't tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember in a bit."
"Perhaps it hasn't one," Alice ventured to remark.
"Tut, tut, child!" said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral if only you can find it."
While this isn't evidence that there are messages behind Carroll's gobbledygook, it does shows that he's aware of the questions forming in the reader's mind. Lewis certainly shows a command of the English language that few authors possess, with words flowing seamlessly together to create something unique and pleasing, if a bit vexing. Perhaps Carroll wanted his readers to mull over his work, pondering whether it's a masterpiece or merely pulp fantasy. He definitely deserves recognition for accomplishing that goal, even if the end result is a mass of confusion.
'You may call it "nonsense" if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!' -The Red Queen
Well there you have it, my attempts at being analytical, I'd post the remarks but...well what can I say other than I'm far too vain.
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