Sexy Alice? It's National Mad Hatter Day

Johnny Depp; NationalDayCalendar.com, Oct. 6, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Lewis Carroll still influences many scientists

NATIONAL MAD HATTER DAY falls on October 6th, a day set aside each year to bring out our silly side while celebrating.

The fictional character known as The Hatter (aka The Mad Hatter) from Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland typically acts silly.

That is how the creators of this day decided on their theme of silliness for National Mad Hatter Day.

Sir John Tenniel illustrated The Mad Hatter and all of Lewis Carroll's colorful characters beginning in 1864. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865.

"Jabberwocky"

What perverse demon was this?

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

The phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries when haberdasheries used mercury nitrate. Exposure to this heavy metal over time caused the tradesmen to develop symptoms, making people believe they were mad/insane.

Taking our inspiration from The Mad Hatter (or any of Carroll's wonderful characters), we may pursue laughable, absurd, or even confusing adventures on National Mad Hatter Day.

Break from the usual routine. Ask ridiculous riddles much like The Hatter's own, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Write a nonsense poem. Play croquet with plastic pink flamingos, or wear a funny hat around.

Celebrate the day with silliness. Our sanity depends on it. More

• #MadHatterDay

COMMENTARY

I'm little Alice, innocent child

(WQ) Hey, did Oxford Math Professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pseudonym Lewis Carroll) molest little Alice Liddell? It's clearly something that has been on the mind of many readers for a century or more. It's verboten to suggest as we nudge and wink. Who would be surprised? We can only say that at that time in savage English, particularly give the author's social class and standing, marriage between a man of his age and a child of her age was common, legal, and possibly financially advantageous for her family. The writing of these beloved stories and books may well have been the product of courtship, legitimate, legal, and well understood courtship of the day, no matter how much it scandalizes England or the U.S. today.

Photography's a new art form. Let's see what I can
get away with by having all the sisters pose for me

Was Carroll trying to make young Alice look "sexy"?

We judge it by our standards and mores, but it may be important to understand it in context. Here we have a man into photography who is clearly in some kind of love/lust with a marriageable female, if only a parent approve, and then there's the matter of the missing pages of his diary. That suggests someone in the family knew for sure what Carroll felt and intended for Alice. The fact that those pages are missing so we can all sleep in ignorance of the hard truths of brutal English life.

We are the descendants of that culture, the colonial inheritors of it. And the fact that our older white males routinely raped Black male and female slaves when that was legal. oh we don't dare think about it much less mention it in polite company. A play examining this subject came to South Pasadena a few years back, and it's a surprise it did not go national with its provocative examination of what a man might feel. Oh, it's unthinkable. Art must hide it that we may, like Anais Nin, speak what is not easy for others to say.

"Jab her, Cocky"

Wisdom Quarterly poet-in-residence parody of "Jabberwocky"

Touch Mr. Humpy, Alice. - Yes, Sir.

'Twas brilliant, and the slimy toad

Did gyrate nimble in the wave

All flimsy were the droopy drawers

And the moan-rat escaped.

"Beware the Jab of my walk', Alice!

The li'l jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the glug-glug whir, and lattice

Of the fuming banned-'er-snatch!"

He took his warted sword in hand:

Long time the moan some slow he sought --

So rested he by the tum bum cheek,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in often-thought he stood,

The Jab of his walk' with eye aflame,

Came whistling through, that ugly wood,

And gurgled as it came!

Into! Into! And through and through

The warted blade went slick then slack!

He left it dead, and with his head

He fell not-humping back.

"And hast thou lain and Jabbed with walk'?

Come to my arms, my peevish toy!

O fabulous lay! Yoohoo! Hooray!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brilliant, and the slimy toad

Did gyrate nimble in the wave;

All flimsy were the droopy drawers,

And the moan-rat escaped.

The tittle-tattle around the diary

Party ideas: My weird uncle can play the pervert hatter, and I can play Amber "Pooper" Heard.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party review – hip-hop spin on Lewis Carroll | Dance | The Guardian

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Portrait of naked girl by Lewis Carroll

The relationship between the Liddells and Dodgson suffered a sudden break in June 1863. There was no record of why the rift occurred, since the Liddells never openly spoke of it, and the single page in Dodgson's diary recording June 27–29, 1863 (which seems to cover the period in which it began) was missing [18].

I like little girls. It's very British

It has been speculated by biographers such as Morton N. Cohen that Dodgson may have wanted to marry the 11-year-old Alice Liddell, and that this was the cause of the unexplained break with the family in June 1863 [19].

Alice Liddell's biographer, Anne Clark, writes that Alice's descendants were under the impression that Dodgson wanted to marry her, but that "Alice's parents expected a much better match for her."

I didn't get my marriage wish, alas.

Clark argues that in Victorian England such arrangements were not as improbable as they might seem; John Ruskin, for example, fell in love with a 12-year-old girl while Dodgson's younger brother sought to marry a 14-year-old, but postponed the wedding for six years [20].

In 1996, Karoline Leach found what became known as the "Cut pages in diary" document [21] — a note allegedly written by Charles Dodgson's niece, Violet Dodgson, summarizing the missing page from 27–29 June 1863, apparently written before she (or her sister Menella) removed the page... More

• Lewis Carroll sexuality, mysteries, controversies