Although some writers have shown incredible skill in working with words, and others have created magnificently spectacular fantasies, few can compare with Lewis Carroll in his series of books about a little girl, Alice. In the first of these books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll not only creates the fantasy, but also shows his expertise in playing with the English language. This is seen best in several logic problems, including one brought about by changing word order, and a few heartbreaking puns! When studied, they show that Lewis Carroll deserves every bit of his worldwide acclaim as a master of speech play

Logic

Carroll's Alice is famous for its logic twisters. The first of these comes while Alice is changing height and is beginning to lose her identity.

"Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, 'Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!" And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.
(p. 37)

Alice goes on to test herself for traits of other girls she knows to see if she is actually one of them. This passage directly hits the reader's thinking, for one's identity is something always certain, and to confuse it is very disturbing, even when only reading about such an occurrance. The play comes when Alice, having gone through the size changes, realizes, "I'm different." Carroll here switches the object of "different" from size to identity.

The next logic problem is not as disturbing, of stimulating, as the first, although the following passage from Alice's conversation with the Cheshire Cat is one of the most popular exchanges in Carroll's Alice.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where--" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"--so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "If you only walk long enough."
(p. 88)

The third logic play comes at the mad tea party.

"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles--I believe I can guess that," she added aloud.

"Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the March Hare.

"Exactly so," said Alice.

"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.

"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know."

"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

"You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"
(p. 95)

This is actually in two parts. The first is the March Hare's correction, where Carroll points out an example of the occasional difference between speech and meaning, inherent in the English language. In this case "believe," which belongs more with ideas and philosophies, is replaced by "think," which is associated with more down to earth things. "Guess" is also changed to "find out," which is more accurate considering that one must follow a pattern to answer a riddle. Finally, the March Hare insures complete accuracy by pointing out that it is the answer that is being changed.

In the second part of the passage, Carroll has the Mad Hatter and the March Hare show Alice that switching word order changes the meaning of a sentence.

In playing with logic, Carroll stimulates the reader's thinking, thus making reading more enjoyable. However, logic play is not the only tool used.

Puns

Anyone who has read Alice has certainly groaned at the puns throughout the book! Such plays as the mouse's tail have achieved fame of their own. One such play comes at the tea party.

Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."

"If you knew Time as well as I do," said the Hatter, "you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him."

"I don't know what you mean," said Alice.

"Of course you don't!" the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. "I dare say you never even spoke to Time!"

"Perhaps not," Alice cautiously replied; "but I know I have to beat time when I learn music."

"Ah! That accounts for it," said the Hatter. "He won't stand beating."
(pp. 98-99)

Here Carroll first personifies time, using a capital letter, which becomes even more mind-juggling when Alice accepts this without question. The reader is left alone in disbelieving the existence of Time. Then Carroll adds the pun, sending the reader "reeling and writhing."

The second pun:

"I couldn't afford to learn it," said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. "I only took the regular course."

"What was that?" enquired Alice.

"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied; "and then the different branches of Arithmetic--Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision."

"And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.

"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next, and so on."

"What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.

"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day."
(pp. 129-130)

Seldom are so many puns seen together, yet in the next chapter:

"Do you know why it's called a whiting?"

"I never thought about it," said Alice. "Why?"

"It does the boots and shoes," the Gryphon replied very solemnly.

"And what are they made of?" Alice asked in a tone of great curiosity.

"Soles and eels, of course," the Gryphon replied, rather impatiently: "any shrimp could have told you that."

"If I'd been the whiting," said Alice, whose thoughts were still running on the song, "I'd have said to the porpoise, 'Keep back, please! We don't want you with us!'"

"They were obliged to have him with them," the Mock Turtle said. "No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise."

"Wouldn't it, really?" said Alice, in a tone of great surprise.

"Of course not," said the Mock Turtle. "Why, if a fish came to me, and told me he was going on a journey, I should say 'With what porpoise?'"
(pp. 136-137)

When writing on Lewis Carroll, a section on puns could continue for pages. To be sure, he was an expert.

Meanings

Although puns and logic twists are in abundance, Carroll also plays with language in other ways. Once he points out a fascinating difference between indended and literal meaning, during the tea party.

"But why did they live at the bottom of a well?"

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."

"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."
(p. 101)

Once again, Carroll stimulates the reader by popping in the unexpected. Because the intended meaning is so natural, the switch becomes even worse.

Finally, Carroll throws in a clever exchange, which probably could be used by any of us any number of times to a great many people.

"Really, now you ask me," said Alice, very much confused, "I don't think--"

"Then you shouldn't talk," said the Hatter.
(p. 103)

Throughout Alice's Adventures in Wonderland speech play is rampant. We can see that having command of language is fundamental for writing excellence. The use of logic twists, puns, literal meanings and other forms of play shows that Lewis Carroll is among the best writers of all time. Few if any have combined colorful fantasy with literary genius.