Don’t be particular.

Guinea Pig: Here, Bill! Catch hold of this rope.

Pat: Will the roof bear?

White Rabbit: Mind that loose slate.

Guinea Pig: Oh, it’s coming down! Heads below!

Pat: Now, who did that?

Guinea Pig: It was Bill, I fancy.

Pat: Who’s to go down the chimney?

Guinea Pig: Nay, I sha’n’t! You do it!

Pat: That I wo’n’t, then!

White Rabbit: Bill’s got to go down.

Guinea Pig: Here, Bill! The master says you’re to go down the chimney!

White Rabbit’s Darker Side: When Mr. Rabbit is thwarted on his own territory, he becomes quite imperious indeed. The White Rabbit has many servants, including Bill, Pat, Mary Ann, the guinea pigs and many birds as well. He feels no guilt in ordering his servants about, to clean the dread imposter (Alice) out of his home as quickly as possible. He even threatens to burn the house down with Alice still inside it!

The Subtlety of Pebble Cakes: There is no particular reason why pebbles would turn into “Eat Me” cakes, of course. But Alice had a prior experience with cakes shrinking her, and here she might be subliminally giving the cakes properties they normally would not have. Alice has considerable control over her environment (since it is her dream, after all), but does not yet realize that she has mastery over the situation. When she does finally realize this, it will be at the trial, and her insistence on control of the situation will lead to her waking up and leaving Wonderland. (In other words, when she realizes she is dreaming, the dream will then end.)

The Enormous Puppy: This creature is quite out of place in Wonderland, as it is one of the few animals unable to speak. It is only enormous, of course, because Alice herself has become quite small again. The puppy might, in fact, be a child of Fury who tormented the Mouse.

Chapter V

The Nature of the Caterpillar: The Caterpillar is a cranky, terse and self-obsessed philosopher. He shows an Oriental influence with his hookah and flowing sleeves. (The sleeves that are part of his body, in fact, hint that he might be a silkworm as opposed to a common English caterpillar!)  It is quite possible that he is smoking opium, which was an omnipresent drug of choice in Carroll’s time. Opium visions are akin to hallucinatory dreams, and Carroll was probably familiar with Thomas de Quincey’s 1821 autobiographical account, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.

Father William: Carroll’s parody here takes aim at a popular moralizing poem. Alice’s oration, however, gives us further insight into her own secret nature. Her Father William poem is centered on role reversal. Father William’s young son is responsible and overly serious, while the old man is playful, childlike and rebellious.

“Allow Me to Sell You a Couple”: This is a joke referring to the swarms of Victorian charlatans who would sell “cures” for any ailment. The implication, of course, is that Father William is spry and active not because of his quack medicine, but because of his attitude. He is young at heart. His offer to sell a “cure” to his overly-serious son is just another point of fatherly mischief.

The Pushy Pigeon: The poor, beleaguered Pigeon may be a caricature of people who believe in justified prejudice. She equates Alice with a serpent, simply because she has a long neck and eats eggs. Of course, considering the situation, her outrage is entirely understandable.

Chapter VI

Two Footmen of Wonderland: The Fish-Footman and the Frog-Footman are classic Carrollian figures. Their goggling eyes and aquatic natures make them “fish out of water,” out of their element and quite at odds with the current fashion and culture of Wonderland. By the 19th century, footmen were somewhat outmoded and were easy targets for jokes. Their formal livery, powdered wigs, stockings and stilted manners were relics of an older age.

The Fish-Footman: This character is probably the result of one of Alice’s “almost-adventures” in real life. When she was young, she wanted to see an advertised fair attraction featuring a “talking fish.”  She would probably have been quite disappointed to learn that the fish didn’t actually talk. They do, however, in Wonderland!

The Dumpy and Frumpy Duchess: Carroll’s depiction of the Duchess is probably not based on an historical character. Tenniel’s illustrations, however, are quite ingeniously different from Carroll’s original conception. (There is a reference to the Duchess’s pointed chin in the text, although the illustration shows nothing of the sort.)  Tenniel’s Duchess was inspired by a caricature of an old woman drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. This amusing portrait was later developed into a painting by Quentin Matsys, “The Ugly Duchess.”  The Duchess’s ridiculously sumptuous headdress and her wrinkled features are taken directly from those sources.

The Pig-Baby: It is interesting that the Duchess has a baby, since this implies that there is a Duke, and that he has only recently departed.