Pawns and Queens: The Chess Structure in Carroll's " Through the Looking Glass" Devangana Rathore College

INTRODUCTION

“Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through The Looking Glass” continue to be some of the
most engaging novels for children and adults alike. Filled with multiple meanings, layers of
understanding, and contexts that were not child-like, the Alice books have a plethora of
engagement to give to those who care to read between the lines. Alice through the looking
glass is structured around Alice’s journey through the mirror over her fireplace, and into the
looking glass world. In the looking glass world, however, two motifs function parallelly. One
of the mirror and the other of the chess game. The novel is structured around an unorthodox
chess problem created by the writer, Lewis Carroll.
There is a diagrammatical representation of the chess game, in which Carrol clearly states
that Alice wins in eleven moves. Her first move is meeting is the Red Queen in the garden of
live flowers. Her second and third move is through the railway, after which she meets the
White King. Her fifth move is the shop, followed by the river and meeting Humpty Dumpty.
Her eighth move is when she finally manages to cross the board and is crowned Queen, just
like the red and the white queen, which makes her ninth and tenth move. Her final move is
when she...