MEET BAKHTIN!
Alice Through The Looking Glass
by Lewis Carroll; special edition illustrations by Helen Oxenbury
Illustration copyright by Helen Oxenbury and Candelwick Press, published by Candelwick Press in Alice Through the Looking Glass.
"She looked at the Queen, who seemed to have suddenly wrapped herself up in wool. Alice rubbed her eyes, and looked again. She couldn't make out what had happened at all. Was she in a shop? And was that really - was it really a sheep that was sitting on the other side of the counter? Rub as she would, she could make nothing more of it: she was in a little dark shop, leaning with her elbows on the counter, and opposite to her was an old Sheep, sitting in an arm-chair, knitting, and every now and then leaving off to look at her through a great pair of spectacles.
'What is it you want to buy?' the Sheep said at last, looking up for a moment from her knitting.
'I don't quite know yet,' Alice said very gently. 'I should like to look all round me first, if I might.'
'You may look in front of you, and on both sides, if you like,' said the Sheep; 'but you can't look all round you - unless you've got eyes at the back of your head.'"
-Alice Through the Looking Glass, page 106
Why do you think this excerpt is carnivalesque?
Some ideas to consider:
1. What is Alice feeling at this moment? How do you feel reading this excerpt?
2. "You may look in front of you, and on both sides, if you like,' said the Sheep; 'but you can't look all round you - unless you've got eyes at the back of your head."
-Why do you think Bakhtin would have found this quote from the sheep carnivalesque?
3. "Magical realism" means a category of books which combines reality with elements of fantasy/magic
-The Queen turning into a Sheep shows that this text has magical realism qualities. Why do you think Bakhtin would have liked magical realism?
4. Can you see any other examples of magical realism in the quote above? What about in other books you have read?
