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Alice
One of the queens in Looking-glass World. Alice finds her extremely perplexing and not particularly queen-like. She spends the entire novel in a state of disarray, as she cannot keep track of her shawl and lost her hairbrush in the mess of her hair. Alice kindly tries to put the queen right, but though the queen appreciates Alice's help it seems to not make much of a difference. The White Queen introduces Alice to the idea that a person can remember in both directions—that is, remember the future and the past. As an example, she says that a man is currently being punished for a crime he hasn't committed yet, but when Alice asks what will happen if the man doesn't commit the crime, the White Queen offers a disturbing answer: that punishments are unequivocally good, whether someone committed a crime to deserve them or not. The White Queen can move very quickly around the chessboard and Alice sees her running hard at one point. She appears with Alice and the Red Queen once Alice reaches the Eighth Square to give Alice another lesson in logic, riddles, and how to carry herself as a queen. According to the Red Queen, the White Queen came from humble beginnings and so sometimes says silly things. Upon waking, Alice believes that her cat, Snowdrop, appeared as the White Queen in her dream, and that the White Queen was so disheveled throughout the dream because Snowdrop was in the middle of a bath.
The White Queen Quotes in Through the Looking-Glass
The Through the Looking-Glass quotes below are all either spoken by The White Queen or refer to The White Queen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Wool and Water
Quotes
"Well, I don't want any to-day, at any rate."
"You couldn't have it if you did want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day."
"It must come sometimes to 'jam to-day,'" Alice objected.
"No, it ca'n't," said the Queen. It's jam every other day: to-day isn't any other day, you know."
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Chapters 9-10: Queen Alice; Shaking
Quotes
Everything was happening so oddly that she didn't feel a bit surprised at finding the Red Queen and the White Queen sitting close to her, one on each side: she would have liked very much to ask them how they came there, but she feared it would not be quite civil.
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"What impertinence!" said the Pudding. "I wonder how you'd like it, if I were to cut a slice out of you, you creature!"
It spoke in a thick, suety sort of voice, and Alice hadn't a word to say in reply: she could only sit and look at it and gasp.
"Make a remark," said the Red Queen: "it's ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!"
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The White Queen Quotes in Through the Looking-Glass
The Through the Looking-Glass quotes below are all either spoken by The White Queen or refer to The White Queen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Wool and Water
Quotes
"Well, I don't want any to-day, at any rate."
"You couldn't have it if you did want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day."
"It must come sometimes to 'jam to-day,'" Alice objected.
"No, it ca'n't," said the Queen. It's jam every other day: to-day isn't any other day, you know."
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Chapters 9-10: Queen Alice; Shaking
Quotes
Everything was happening so oddly that she didn't feel a bit surprised at finding the Red Queen and the White Queen sitting close to her, one on each side: she would have liked very much to ask them how they came there, but she feared it would not be quite civil.
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"What impertinence!" said the Pudding. "I wonder how you'd like it, if I were to cut a slice out of you, you creature!"
It spoke in a thick, suety sort of voice, and Alice hadn't a word to say in reply: she could only sit and look at it and gasp.
"Make a remark," said the Red Queen: "it's ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!"
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