Summary:

Alice is quietly reading over her sister’s shoulder when she sees a White Rabbit dash across the
lawn and disappear into its hole. She jumps up to rush after him and finds herself falling down
the rabbit hole. At the bottom, she sees the White Rabbit hurrying along a corridor ahead of her
and murmuring that he will be late. He disappears around a corner, leaving Alice standing in
front of several locked doors.

On a glass table, she finds a tiny golden key that unlocks a little door hidden behind a curtain.
The door opens upon a lovely miniature garden, but Alice cannot get through the doorway
because it is too small. She sadly replaces the key on the table. A little bottle mysteriously
appears. Alice drinks the contents and immediately begins to grow smaller, so much so that she
can no longer reach the key on the table. Next, she eats a piece of cake she finds nearby, and
soon she begins to grow to such an enormous size that she can only squint through the door. In
despair, she begins to weep tears as big as raindrops. As she sits crying, the White Rabbit
appears, moaning that the Duchess will be angry if he keeps her waiting. He drops his fan and
gloves, and when Alice picks them up, she begins to grow smaller. Again she rushes to the
garden door, but she finds it shut and the golden key once more on the table out of reach.

Then she falls into a pool of her own tears. Splashing along, she encounters a mouse who
stumbled into the pool. Alice tactlessly begins a conversation about her cat Dinah, and the mouse
becomes speechless with terror. Soon the pool of tears is filled with living creatures—birds and
animals of all kinds. An old Dodo suggests that they run a Caucus Race to get dry. Asking what
a Caucus Race is, Alice is told that the best way to explain it is to do it, whereupon the animals
run themselves quite breathless and finally become dry. Afterward, the mouse tells a “Tail” to
match its own appendage. Alice is asked to tell something, but the only thing she can think of is
her cat Dinah. Frightened, the other creatures go away, and Alice is left alone.

The White Rabbit appears once more, this time hunting for his gloves and fan. Catching sight of
Alice, he sends her to his home to get him a fresh pair of gloves and another fan. In the Rabbit’s
house, she finds the fan and gloves and also takes a drink from a bottle. Instantly, she grows to
be a giant size and is forced to put her leg up the chimney and her elbow out the window to keep
from being squeezed to death.

She manages to eat a little cake and shrink herself again. As soon as she is small enough to get
through the door, she runs into a nearby wood where she finds a caterpillar sitting on a
mushroom. The caterpillar is very rude to Alice, and he scornfully asks her to prove her worth by
reciting “You Are Old, Father William.” Alice does so, but the words sound very strange.
Disgusted, he leaves her, after giving her some valuable information about increasing or
decreasing her size. She breaks off pieces of the mushroom and finds to her delight that she can
become taller by eating from the piece in her left hand
Synopsis

The White Rabbit

Chapter One – Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice, a girl of seven years, is feeling bored and drowsy
while sitting on the riverbank with her elder sister. She then notices a talking, clothed White
Rabbit with a pocket watch run past. She follows it down a rabbit hole when suddenly she falls a
long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door
too small for her to fit through, but through it she sees an attractive garden. She then discovers a
bottle on a table labelled "DRINK ME," the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to
reach the key which she has left on the table. She eats a cake with "EAT ME" written on it in
currants as the chapter closes.
Chapter Two – The Pool of Tears: Chapter Two opens with Alice growing to such a
tremendous size her head hits the ceiling. Alice is unhappy and, as she cries, her tears flood the
hallway. After shrinking down again due to a fan she had picked up, Alice swims through her
own tears and meets a Mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in
elementary French (thinking he may be a French mouse) but her opening gambit "Où est ma
chatte?" ("Where is my cat?") offends the mouse and he tries to escape her.
Chapter Three – The Caucus Race and a Long Tale: The sea of tears becomes crowded with
other animals and birds that have been swept away by the rising waters. Alice and the other
animals convene on the bank and the question among them is how to get dry again. The Mouse
gives them a very dry lecture on William the Conqueror. A Dodo decides that the best thing to
dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no
clear winner. Alice eventually frightens all the animals away, unwittingly, by talking about her
(moderately ferocious) cat.
Chapter Four – The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill: The White Rabbit appears again in search of
the Duchess's gloves and fan. Mistaking her for his maidservant, Mary Ann, he orders Alice to
go into the house and retrieve them. Inside the house she finds another little bottle and drinks
from it; immediately she starts growing again. The horrified Rabbit orders his gardener, Bill the
Lizard, to climb on the roof and go down the chimney. Outside, Alice hears the voices of animals
that have gathered to gawk at her giant arm. The crowd hurls pebbles at her, which turn into little
cakes. Alice eats them, and they reduce her again in size.
Chapter Five – Advice from a Caterpillar: Alice comes upon a mushroom and sitting on it is a
blue Caterpillar smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar questions Alice and she admits to her current
identity crisis, compounded by her inability to remember a poem. Before crawling away, the
caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will
make her shorter. She breaks off two pieces from the mushroom. One side makes her shrink
smaller than ever, while another causes her neck to grow high into the trees, where a pigeon
mistakes her for a serpent. With some effort, Alice brings herself back to her normal height. She
stumbles upon a small estate and uses the mushroom to reach a more appropriate height.

The Cheshire Cat

Chapter Six – Pig and Pepper: A Fish-Footman has an invitation for the Duchess of the house,
which he delivers to a Frog-Footman. Alice observes this transaction and, after a perplexing
conversation with the frog, lets herself into the house. The Duchess's Cook is throwing dishes
and making a soup that has too much pepper, which causes Alice, the Duchess, and her baby (but
not the cook or grinning Cheshire Cat) to sneeze violently. Alice is given the baby by the
Duchess and to her surprise, the baby turns into a pig. The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree,
directing her to the March Hare's house. He disappears but his grin remains behind to float on its
own in the air prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a
grin without a cat.
Chapter Seven – A Mad Tea-Party: Alice becomes a guest at a "mad" tea party along with
the March Hare, the Hatter, and a very tired Dormouse who falls asleep frequently, only to be
violently awakened moments later by the March Hare and the Hatter. The characters give Alice
many riddles and stories, including the famous 'Why is a raven like a writing desk?'. The Hatter
reveals that they have tea all day because Time has punished him by eternally standing still at
6 pm (tea time). Alice becomes insulted and tired of being bombarded with riddles and she
leaves claiming that it was the stupidest tea party that she had ever been to.
Alice trying to play croquet with a Flamingo.
Chapter Eight – The Queen's Croquet Ground: Alice leaves the tea party and enters the
garden where she comes upon three living playing cards painting the white roses on a rose tree
red because The Queen of Hearts hates white roses. A procession of more cards, kings and
queens and even the White Rabbit enters the garden. Alice then meets the King and Queen. The
Queen, a figure difficult to please, introduces her signature phrase "Off with his head!" which
she utters at the slightest dissatisfaction with a subject. Alice is invited (or some might say
ordered) to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects but the game
quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls and
Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts then orders the Cat to be
beheaded, only to have her executioner complain that this is impossible since the head is all that
can be seen of him. Because the cat belongs to the Duchess, the Queen is prompted to release the
Duchess from prison to resolve the matter.
Chapter Nine – The Mock Turtle's Story: The Duchess is brought to the croquet ground at
Alice's request. She ruminates on finding morals in everything around her. The Queen of Hearts
dismisses her on the threat of execution and she introduces Alice to the Gryphon, who takes her
to the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle is very sad, even though he has no sorrow. He tries to tell
his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school, which the Gryphon interrupts so they
can play a game.
Chapter Ten – Lobster Quadrille: The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance to the Lobster
Quadrille, while Alice recites (rather incorrectly) "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster". The Mock
Turtle sings them "Beautiful Soup" during which the Gryphon drags Alice away for an
impending trial.
Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?: Alice attends a trial whereby the Knave of Hearts is
accused of stealing the Queen's tarts. The jury is composed of various animals, including Bill the
Lizard, the White Rabbit is the court's trumpeter, and the judge is the King of Hearts. During the
proceedings, Alice finds that she is steadily growing larger. The dormouse scolds Alice and tells
her she has no right to grow at such a rapid pace and take up all the air. Alice scoffs and calls the
dormouse's accusation ridiculous because everyone grows and she cannot help it. Meanwhile,
witnesses at the trial include the Hatter, who displeases and frustrates the King through his
indirect answers to the questioning, and the Duchess's cook.
Chapter Twelve – Alice's Evidence: Alice is then called up as a witness. She accidentally
knocks over the jury box with the animals inside them and the King orders the animals be placed
back into their seats before the trial continues. The King and Queen order Alice to be gone,
citing Rule 42 ("All persons more than a mile high to leave the court"), but Alice disputes their
judgement and refuses to leave. She argues with the King and Queen of Hearts over the
ridiculous proceedings, eventually refusing to hold her tongue, only to say, "It's not that I was the
one who stole the tarts in the first place", in the process. Finally, the Queen confirms that Alice
was the culprit responsible of stealing the tarts after all (which automatically pardons the Knave
of Hearts of his charges), and shouts, "Off with her head!", but Alice is unafraid, calling them
just a pack of cards; although Alice holds her own for a time, the card guards soon gang up and
start to swarm all over her. Alice's sister wakes her up from a dream, brushing what turns out to
be some leaves and not a shower of playing cards from Alice's face. Alice leaves her sister on the
bank to imagine all the curious happenings for herself.

Character List

Alice - The seven-year-old protagonist of the story. Alice believes that the world is orderly and

stable, and she has an insatiable curiosity about her surroundings. Wonderland challenges and

frustrates her perceptions of the world.

The White Rabbit - The frantic, harried Wonderland creature that originally leads Alice to

Wonderland. The White Rabbit is figure of some importance, but he is manic, timid, and

occasionally aggressive.

The Queen Of Hearts - The ruler of Wonderland. The Queen is severe and domineering,

continually screaming for her subjects to be beheaded.

The King Of Hearts - The coruler of Wonderland. The King is ineffectual and generally

unlikeable, but lacks the Queen’s ruthlessness and undoes her orders of execution.

The Cheshire Cat - A perpetually grinning cat who appears and disappears at will. The Cheshire

Cat displays a detached, clearheaded logic and explains Wonderland’s madness to Alice.
The Duchess - The Queen’s uncommonly ugly cousin. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice at

first, but later treats her so affectionately that her advances feel threatening.

The Caterpillar - A Wonderland creature. The Caterpillar sits on a mushroom, smokes a

hookah, and treats Alice with contempt. He directs Alice to the magic mushroom that allows her

to shrink and grow.

The Mad Hatter - A small, impolite hatter who lives in perpetual tea-time. The Mad Hatter

enjoys frustrating Alice.

The March Hare - The Mad Hatter’s tea-time companion. The March Hare takes great pleasure

in frustrating Alice.

The Dormouse - The Mad Hatter and March Hare’s companion. The Dormouse sits at the tea

table and drifts in and out of sleep.

The Gryphon - A servant to the Queen who befriends Alice. The Gryphon escorts Alice to see

the Mock Turtle.

The Mock Turtle - A turtle with the head of a calf. The Mock Turtle is friendly to Alice but is

exceedingly sentimental and self-absorbed.

Alice’s Sister - The only character whom Alice interacts with outside of Wonderland. Alice’s

sister daydreams about Alice’s adventures as the story closes.

The Knave Of Hearts - An attendant to the King and Queen. The Knave has been accused of

stealing the Queen’s tarts.

The Mouse - The first Wonderland creature that Alice encounters. The Mouse is initially

frightened of Alice and her talk about her pet cat, and eventually tells the story of Fury and the

Mouse that foreshadows the Knave of Heart’s trial.

The Dodo - A Wonderland creature. The Dodo tends to use big words, and others accuse him of

not knowing their meanings. He proposes that the animals participate in a Caucus race.

The Duck, The Lory, And The Eaglet - Wonderland creatures who participate in the Caucus

race.

The Cook - The Duchess’s cook, who causes everyone to sneeze with the amount of pepper she

uses in her cooking. The Cook is ill-tempered, throwing objects at the Duchess and refusing to

give evidence at the trial.

The Pigeon - A Wonderland creature who believes Alice is a serpent. The pigeon is sulky and

angry and thinks Alice is after her eggs.

Two, Five, And Seven - The playing-card gardeners. Two, Five, and Seven are fearful and

fumbling, especially in the presence of the Queen.

Bill - A lizard who first appears as a servant of the White Rabbit and later as a juror at the trial.

Bill is stupid and ineffectual.

The Frog-Footman - The Duchess’s footman. The Frog-footman is stupid and accustomed to

the fact that nothing makes sense in Wonderland.