By Alyssa Velazquez
Elm Staff Writer
There once was a cat and little girl. One was found. The other lost. As the little girl searched for a way out, the cat would appear from mere atmosphere pointing her one way; and in the model of a feline Socrates, leading her to another.
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat. “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Alice and the Cheshire cat, two of the infamous characters in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland: Adventures through the Looking Glass.” With a deck of cards, painted roses, and the ranting of a terribly high-strung white fluffy rabbit, Lewis Carroll created a child’s bedtime story stuffed with lexicon puzzles and unreadable characters.
As an adult, I’ve always wondered, in terms of the relationships within Wonderland, what affect they have on the various characters. What affect do relationships have on us? And maybe it’s not always the other person, the second party–the Cheshire cat amongst us–to blame, but ourselves. Though we don’t want to admit it, we live in the illusion that it’s the person next to us who is the cause of a failed relationship or is the reason why we’re still single, when it could be right in front of us, and it only takes the right looking glass to see it.
Last weekend I decided to take a two-day vacation to D.C to visit the home I had rented for my summer internship and the roommate that had been left behind. She had already leased the room out to a new tenant, as all landlords in D.C. are prone to do, and they had decided to throw a party: a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
Guests could come in costume, although it was not mandatory, and the menu for the night consisted of cookies, tea sandwiches, candy, cupcakes, chocolate, and to make up for the fact that most of the appetizers being served were pure sugar: a hummus and vegetable tray. Alice in Wonderland was on a loop on the television screen and children’s storybooks on the adventures of Alice were strategically placed throughout the two main rooms.
The only thing we forgot to put up was a sign reading, “Those not willing to experience a night of pure adulthood abandonment, please turn around, ” however in the end, we figured that was self-explanatory.
The party was a great success; not only was there plenty of food for goody bags, there was great company, and even better conversation. I sat on the sofa in the main living room completely content in my confectionary coma. My seat also allotted me a direct view of the television screen, and next to me was my very good friend: Elmira, who had recently moved from Kirgizstan with her husband to an apartment in D.C.
The movie was muted for party purposes and as we stared at the screen, for Elmira’s benefit having never seen the Disney film till now, I began to narrate the movie. It had been a while since I had watched Alice’s adventures down the rabbit hole all the way through, so as I muddled through meanings, drugs, the importance of eating and drinking within the film, hyperboles, metaphors, and history I heard Elmira state, “ so…they are trying to perceive her in their world.”
After that, nothing I seemed to say could quite live up to that statement. They are trying to perceive her in their world. Why else would they think she’s a misfit, or a flower. Why else would she think the Hatter is mad, if back at home she wasn’t celebrating Very Merry Un-Birthdays.
The same can be said of relationships and the opposite sex. I’ve heard so many bizarre stories of first dates, pet peeves, and strange fetishes that have girls condemning the opposite sex to be un-dateable, for the simple fact that there are no “normal” guys out there. That all the single ones are the leftovers for a reason, but what does that say about all the females that are single. Are we the leftovers to? Or are we just so focused on finding someone to fit into our lives that we have forgotten to see them for who they really are. Have we become governed by relationship-centric views?
The party that night lasted until 1:30 a.m. The next morning, my roommate, her new roommate, and I started to deconstruct all the decorations. As we worked in content silence with the sound of coffee brewing in the kitchen, I couldn’t help but think of all the activities that I do on a day to day basis that could be considered bizarre, and the individuals who had decided to paint their faces or don a pair of white gloves on a Saturday night to come to a Mad Hatter Tea Party in the northwest section of D.C. If an Alice in Wonderland-themed party is planned in D.C., and the aforementioned party is attended by Peace Corps volunteers, neuroscientists, graduate students, Teachers of America, and lawyers, perhaps we’re all a little mad.
I’m going to sit with that statement “they’re all trying to perceive her in their world” for a while…definitely some deep repercussions to that idea.
Alice in Wonderland is so rich. So many layers of meaning, so many enigmas worth puzzling over.
Thanks for connecting Alice to the process of attracting a member of the opposite sex. Perhaps we’re all a little mad, indeed.