O'Neill 1

Logical Nonsense: The Logic within Lewis Carroll's Works and Life

Juliana O'Neill Dr. Kent, Dr. Bart, and Dr. Raney Honors Thesis: HON 401-402 8 April 2011

O'Neill 2 Most readers consider Lewis Carroll's works delightful, entertaining, and hilarious, but few consider them logical. After investigating the life and writings of Carroll, however, logical is the only word to describe his work. Lewis Carroll, a pseudonym for Charles Lutwedge Dodgson, was a mathematician with a very logical mind. By playing with language, Carroll went beyond nonsense writing and created logical nonsense. With this paradoxical genre, he could express his worldview, amuse readers of all ages, and offer them an escape from the chaos of reality. By infusing nonsense with logic in his writings and life, Carroll reveals his positive worldview and his love for the complexities within people and the world. Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwedge Dodgson on January 27, 1832 and was the oldest son of an Anglican clergyman. A very imaginative child, he loved to write plays and draw pictures for his seven sisters and three brothers. After attending a boarding school, he lived and studied at Christ Church, Oxford. Although, he was a very devout Christian and planned to enter the clergy, he received special permission from the Dean of Christ Church to remain at school as a Deacon without taking Holy Orders. He never married and was known as a shy man with a stutter. Although he taught mathematics at school and published a few books about logic and geometry, he was by no means a great mathematician. In his spare time, he was a photographer. He was very fond of children, especially little girls. On July 4, 1862 while rowing to a picnic with three girls (one of them was named Alice), he told a story that would make him famous. He only made one trip abroad, retired early, and died on January 14, 1898 at his sister's house near London (Woolf 2-3). Both Carroll and his work have received extensive analysis from critics since his death. Some of these critics believe Carroll was a twisted man and others see within him an innocent, childlike man. The former opinion is surely the more tempting one, which may explain its

O'Neill 3 popularity among present day scholars: As might be imagined, the Freudians have had a field day analyzing [Carroll's] relationships with small girls...But there is no reason to believe that his conscious affection was ever impure (Kirk 5). Other scholars believe that Carroll had a split personality due to the disparity between Dodgson the mathematician and Carroll the frivolous companion of children. After rejecting these claims, some recent scholars believe that flashy conclusions about Carroll's personal life have gotten into the hands of those unskilled in psychology, with the result that what should be cocktail-party chatter now appears under the guise of scholarship (Kirk ii). Regardless, these opinions and debates have not discouraged the steady appreciation and love of Carrolls work. The Alice books, Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, have delighted and intrigued readers of all ages since the day of their publication. Indeed, the only way to discover the truth about a mysterious man is to study his own words. Carroll's writings reveal his loving nature. The commemorative cards at his funeral reveal a particularly insightful passage from his sermon called An Easter Greeting: I do not believe God means us to divide life into two halves to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out of place to even so much as mention Him on a week-day....And if I have written anything to add to these stores of innocent and healthful amusements that are laid up in books for the children I love so well, it is surely something I may hope to look back upon without much shame and sorrow (as how much of life must then be recalled!) when my turn comes to walk through the valley of shadows. (In Lindseth i) Carroll understood the importance of maintaining a unified life. Even though his interests varied, he centered his life around his faith. He also had an immense love for others, especially children. At his death, his friends focused on these two facts. In one of his letters, Carroll expresses his love for other people: One of the deep secrets of Life [is] that all that is really worth...doing is what we do for others (Dodgson Letters Vol 1 813). His letters also reveal his

O'Neill 4 focus on service: The letters...spell out the way that Dodgson practiced what he preached. Indeed, he spent much of his life in the service of others: writing for their instruction and amusement; paying for their schooling, for their lessons in French, music, and art; getting them jobs; guiding their careers; meeting their dentists' bills; buying them railway tickets; treating them to the theatre; giving them inscribed copies of his books and other presents; taking their photographs; inventing games and puzzles for them; tutoring them in mathematics and logic; giving them religious guidance; feeding and clothing them; and, of course, telling them stories. (Cohen Preface to Letters Vol 1 xv) His writings and the testimonies of his contemporaries create a picture of a loving and innocent man. While Carroll possibly performed all of these kind deeds in order to create a faade to distract the world from his true nature, the amount of references to the goodness of his deeds and heart cast doubt on this theory. Carroll's writings reveal his heart, but they also reveal his whimsical and childlike side. Much of Carroll's nonsense has tempted scholars into over-analyzing both his work and the minute details of his life: For twenty-one years (approximately 1870-1891), he consistently wrote in purple ink; and then suddenly stopped. The significance of this is unclear (Greenacre 168). This eagerness to find deeper meaning in Carroll's everyday actions casts doubt on some of the current popular opinions about this author. For instance, though many scholars believe that Carroll was a pedophile, the accounts of the children he befriended do not support this theory. For example, Isa Bowman one of Carroll's young friends truly adored this man. He saw her perform in a play and became good friends with her until his death. He even dedicated his novel Sylvie and Bruno to her. Her book, Lewis Carroll: As I Knew Him, reveals her strong affection for this loving and caring man. She referred to him as the greatest friend that children ever had (Bowman 132). Besides personal testimonies to Carroll's innocence, the pure nonsensical nature of his work also reveals his childlike and whimsical personality. His poem

O'Neill 5 The Walrus and the Carpenter from Through the Looking-Glass, for instance, does not contain hidden meaning beyond its nonsensical value. Sense did not always have the strongest influence over his word choice: When Carroll gave the manuscript of his poem to [the illustrator], he offered the artist a choice of drawing a carpenter, a butterfly, or a baronet. [The illustrator] chose the carpenter. Any of the words would have suited the meter and rhyme scheme, and Carroll apparently had no strong preference as far as the nonsense was concerned. Since Carroll acknowledged that some words in this piece are interchangeable, one would be well advised not to press such a poem too hard for a meaning. (Kelly 60) Carroll himself admitted that some of his work was merely nonsense. After the publication of his nonsense poem, The Hunting of the Snark, people begged Carroll to tell them whether the poem was an allegory, political satire, or full of some hidden moral. The author only had one response: I don't know! (Kelly 64). Some parts of Carroll's life and works are not worth overanalyzing merely for the simple reason that they do not contain any hidden, deeper meaning. The key to discovering the truth behind Lewis Carroll and his works is to focus on the important parts of his life and his works as a whole. The first step to understanding Carroll is to integrate his seemingly disparate personalities. Could the whimsical man responsible for the popular Alice books also be the same person as the reserved, stammering deacon and mathematician? Some scholars used this disconnect between Carroll's two sides as proof for the scandalous theories about him: Dodgson considered himself a happy man, but there is a gentle undertow of sadness that runs beneath much of his nonsense: the loneliness of a shy, inhibited bachelor who lay awake at night battling what he called 'unholy thoughts by inventing complicated 'pillow problems' and solving them in his head (Gardner Sphere Packing 43). Carroll may have found release from his impure thoughts through the logical and dry nature of mathematics. Gardner's analysis of Carroll's

O'Neill 6 nonsense, however, seems to gloss over much of the joy within his life. Indeed, his works probably would have never achieved their past and current popularity nor would they have delighted countless readers if they had contained an undertow of sadness. Finding a way to understand these two sides, however, is essential since the unity between them reveals insight into Carroll's work. The problem with Carroll's two personalities begins immediately with his two names: It is always a problem to know how to refer to Carroll. Should he be 'C. L. Dodgson,' as his friends and family knew him, or 'Lewis Carroll', the famous author? I have for no particular reason, chosen the later (Woolf 9). There is no meaningful reason to choose one name over the other since both names refer to the same man. It is convenient, however, to refer to this man as Carroll since his literary works are more popular and well known than his mathematical works published under the name Dodgson. The separation of these names is sometimes used in arguments proposing that Carroll had a split personality. Before understanding Carroll, the reader must integrate these two sides. A recent scholar has found such a way and coined the term semeiotician to describe Carroll: I have chosen 'semeiotician,' derived from 'semeiotic,' a modern name for the study of 'any system of signs which can be used in some communicative function.' Only such a broad, exotic, and yet precise name properly describes Dodgson, whose uncommon mind went out to language in almost all of its facets (Kirk 1-2). Under this analysis, there cannot be two separate men. When looking at language from a mathematical prospective, it is possible to see the connections among Carroll's writing. He approached literature both with a logical, mathematical mind and with the heart of a child. Carroll's writing is more than just nonsensical; it is logical nonsense. His nonsense is not merely the denial of sense, a random reversal of ordinary experience and an escape from the limitations of everyday life into a haphazard infinity, but is on the contrary a carefully limited

O'Neill 7 world, controlled and directed by reason, a construction subject to its own laws (Sewell 5). Carroll's nonsense reveals his love for language. The subject of Carroll's work seems outlandish and absurd, but it is governed by the rules of nonsense. In this sense, there is a logic to his nonsense. The goal of this nonsense is to create a universe which will be logical and orderly, with separate units held together by a strict economy of relations, not subject to dream and disorder with its multiplication of relationships and associations (Sewell 113). Carroll's mathematical mind never leaves him, even in the midst of his literary writing: His serious poetry is largely derivative, romantic, sentimental, lyrical, and moral. His nonsense poetry, on the other hand, is highly original, cerebral, amoral and sometimes sadistic...Underlying and unifying both modes of poetic expression is Carroll's profound and obsessive concern with order and meaning in a world that constantly threatened him with anarchy and absurdity (Kelly 30). His nonsense seems to be a way for Carroll to deal with the chaos of the world; he escapes to a world that is both ridiculous and organized. His writings appeal to children due to its whimsical nature, but also to adults by releasing them from the world and returning to a childlike wonder and imagination. This creation of logical nonsense sets Carroll apart from all other nonsense writers and explains his lasting success: When he 'relaxes' into his nonsense mode he implicitly acknowledges the terrifying absurdity and chaos of reality and proceeds to deal with it as if it were capable of control. Tweedledee and Tweedledum fighting over a rattle, the Snark hunters, the Walrus and the Carpenter all go about their business with a cool, logical, and careful determination. Their actions, however, ultimately make no sense because they are all emblems of the unknowable void that underlies Carroll's nonsense. They are comic characters because they act as if they are operating in a comprehensible, ordered world. Thus the importance of puzzles, numbers, formulae, rules, and regulations in his comic poetry and nonsense. (Kelly 37) Carroll's nonsense completely changes the rules of language. While his works do not strike people as beautiful or full of life meaning, their logical nature eventually becomes quite evident:

O'Neill 8 Nonsense is by nature logical and anti-poetic, an attempt to render language as a closed and consistent system on its own. It reorganizes language, not according to the rules of prose or poetry, but according to those of play; and the objects of that play are words. Since what is highly variable cannot be played with, ambiguity must be stripped as far as possible from the language. Nonsense works with discrete units or words, and organizes them within a strict self-referential framework....Nonsense disorders references that words have to the familiar sequence of events in everyday life (Kelly 38). Nonsense should be organized; it is the ordered response to the chaotic world. It also should be enjoyable. Carroll's whimsical and logical nature allows him to reach the full potential of nonsense; his nonsense becomes logical nonsense. The nonsense, in itself, does not mean anything, but Carroll uses nonsense as a medium for expressing his worldview. The specific details of the nonsense, such as whether the Walrus goes for a walk with a Carpenter, butterfly, or baronet, do not mean anything to Carroll: The natural tendency of a reader is to ask, What does this line mean? The answer, in nonsense, is that it means what it says and nothing more (Kelly 38). In fact, understanding the plot or the definitions of the words is not even necessary to enjoy Carroll's nonsense: The central interest in 'Jabberwoky', [a famous poem from Through the Looking-Glass,] is not in its story line but in its language. Our unfamiliarity with 'slithy toves,' 'borogoves,' and 'Bandersnatch' makes the poem mysteriously fun. The words conjure up associations in our minds that provide a 'feeling' for their meanings (Kelly 58). In his works, Carroll perfectly combines his intellect and playfulness. He makes structures so complex and entire that, for whatever reason[,] we come to them and...we [are] held within them simply by the pleasure of watching Dodgson playing, this time, with the stuff of his very life, and at the very top of his game (Gray x-xi). Taking Carroll's works as a whole reveals his outlook on the world. Within these works, Carroll reveals the inestimable value of play. [It is] an activity that releases man from mechanical routine and enhances his human spirit....Games, like laughter, remind us of our humanity in so far as they

O'Neill 9 free us of mechanical routine. Logic, to Carroll, is essentially a game (Kelly 166). If games, and therefore logic, rescue man from the drudgery of life and release his true humanity, Carroll's work does have meaning. Carroll's view of life as a game is essentially a comic (not frivolous) one, and such a view, with its focus upon objectivity and upon spontaneity within rigidly defined limits, arouses and engages our human instincts (Kelly 166). In a letter to his brother Skeffinton in 1893, Carroll reveals how this worldview has affected all parts of his life: I always feel that a sermon is worth the preaching, if it has given some help to even one soul in the puzzle of Life (Cohen Letters vol 2 946). In the same way, a bit of nonsense is useful if it has helped at least one person in the puzzle of Life. Carroll has two thoughts regarding the world; it is an enigma and the people within it need help. His response is to create logical nonsense and, for the most part, he succeeds in lifting his readers from the world by delighting them with his nonsense: Carroll's unique vision of the world has now been assumed into our own dream life, our imaginations, and our popular culture....[an] absurd world made comfortable by the grace of wit and laughter (Kelly 167). The details of Carroll's nonsense meant nothing, but its overall message meant everything. Carroll's mathematical background allowed him to create logical nonsense. For him, language was merely an extension of mathematics and it fascinated him how its words can be manipulated like mathematical symbols to make sense or nonsense; how it can entertain or bore; how when mishandled it can lead the mind down devious paths; how it can be used for puns, riddles, and fantastic tricks (Kirk 1). Indeed, Carroll could see the mathematics contained within language. While many scholars note that Carroll was a mathematician, few explore this part of his life and how it relates to his writings (Kirk 2). Some readers even consider his logic books a waste of time (Kirk 23). His mathematical life did not really have an effect on the

O'Neill 10 world: Never was he to appear as a startling and original scholar, never was he to contribute important ideas to the growing field of theoretical mathematics, either as a teacher or writer (Kirk 8). His works, however, reveal Carroll's firm sense of order and logic: Thoroughness, conscientiousness, and conservatism these qualities remained characteristic of all the serious mathematical work Dodgson did (Kirk 8). All of Carroll's works, however, contain the same lightheartedness and frivolity that is typical of his other works. One of his more well-known mathematical pieces, Euclid and His Modern Rival, truly reveals Carroll's wit and love for mathematics. This work was relevant in Carroll's time because of the current debate over Euclid's geometry in the mathematical world: In the late 1860s there was widespread concern that Euclid's geometry, as taught in English secondary schools, was archaic when compared with the more flexible approach to geometry taught in Continental schools. The French had abandoned Euclid in the Napoleonic era...In England, teachers were obliged to follow geometrical propositions in Euclid's order without deviation, often leading to the parroting of Euclid without any conception of what it meant to think geometrically. (Crilly 309) This disagreement over methods of teaching geometry lasted for over thirty years (Crilly 310). Carroll was one of the few supporters of Euclid's geometry; his book, Euclid, is a defense of Euclid written in dialogue form and divided into four acts. The book begins with a geometry professor Minos, named after the judge of the dead in Hades, correcting student papers. He and a colleague, Rhadamanthus, begin complaining about how the new geometry textbooks have caused the students to turn in papers filled with circular, illogical, and confusing proofs. Minos dreams later that he meets the ghost of Euclid, who defends his works against modern rivals. Carroll's book continues with various defenses for Euclid (Carroll Euclid, Kirk 12-13). This work is truly unlike any other mathematical piece of the time. Carroll often adds humor to the book, but it never detracts from his argument and points (Kirk 13-14). Although Carroll signed

O'Neill 11 all of his mathematical work as Charles Lutwedge Dodgson, he clearly integrated the two sides of his life in every activity; he brought mathematical thinking to literature and literary ingenuity to mathematics. This blend of mathematics and literature set Carroll and his work apart from contemporaries and possibly explains his success throughout various time periods. Carroll certainly puzzled many people with his two different interests: How could a professional mathematician, thinking customarily along strict, straight disciplined lines...create...worlds...where nonsense rules? (Cohen Interviews xxii). His mathematics and creative interests could not remain separate. Indeed, one would need to have a firm grasp of logic in order to create such nonsensical worlds found in the Alice books. This skill of integrating the ideas of mathematics with literature impressed his readers. In his academic pamphlets, he inserts numerous puns and variations of wordplay, but more fascinating is [his] humorous introduction of mathematical and logical terminology into contexts where they normally would never appear (Kirk 31). This unusual but pleasing practice made all of Carroll's activities amusing: Still, even in mathematics his whimsical fancy was sometimes suffered to peep out, and little girls who learnt the rudiments of calculation at his knee found the path they had imagined so thorny set about with roses by reason of the delightful fun with which he would turn a task into joy (Bowman 5). This blend of mathematics and literature also made Carroll's opinions very unique. For instance, he being a very precise and logical man hated exaggerations. Bowman remembered that Carroll particularly disliked the phrase, I nearly died of laughing (Bowman 24). Considering the wordplay in the Alice books, this hatred for hyperbole does not seem too far-fetched. Much of his books revolve around characters attempting to interpret the world by understanding everything by its literal meaning. Carroll was

O'Neill 12 likely to rebuke any use of exaggeration in his younger friends, but also jokingly ridicule them (Bowman 24). One time Bowman and her sisters ended a letter to Carroll saying that they sent him millions of kisses. In Carroll's response, he calculated exactly how long it would take for Bowman and her sisters to distribute these millions of kisses about twenty-three weeks and then told them that he just could not spare that kind of time (Bowman 24-25). This kind of logical playfulness allowed Carroll to create logical nonsense and delight countless readers. Carroll's works are full of games, riddles, and logic problems that he created based on his love for logic and other mathematical concepts. These puzzles will be enjoyed by children of ages five to ninety-five, and also by some adults (Wakeling Preface Rediscovered Puzzles xiii). Many of the games in the Alice books are syntax games: Dreaming of apples on a wall And dreaming often, dear, I dreamed that, if I counted all, How many would appear? (Carroll in Kirk 35) Here, Carroll is merely playing with ordinary language on the level of syntax, drained of all semantic meaning (Kirk 35). The answer to the riddle is ten; the often in the second line also stands for of ten, thus giving the answer. He is also credited with writing a square poem, which can be read across and down: I often wondered Often feared where Wondered where she'd When I yield, I would her Cursed be love! (Gardner The Universe 20). when I yield so will She I would her will be pitied cursed, be love she. pitied! me.

This poem must have taken time and patience, which Carroll needed to have as a mathematician. Also, the symmetry of the poem is quite pleasing from a mathematical perspective. Some of Carroll's jokes are based on more basic mathematical concepts. His characters

O'Neill 13 argue by using algebraic ideas: Carroll's great nonsense ballad, The Hunting of the Snark, bristles with word play, logic paradoxes, and mathematical nonsense. When the Butcher...tries to convince the Beaver that 2 plus 1 is 3, he adopts a procedure that starts with 3 and ends with 3. It is not apparent, unless you write an algebraic expression for the operations, that the process must end with the same number you start with. The algebraic expression is: [(x+7+10)(1000-8)/992]-17. (Gardner The Universe 10) This algebraic expression simplifies to x. A stanza from one of Carroll's poem from his book, Rhyme? And Reason?, also reveals an example of an interesting mathematical equation: Yet what are all such gaieties to me Whose thoughts are full of indices and surds? x2+7x+53 = 11/3 (Carroll in Gardner The Universe 15) Some scholars have speculated that this stanza may be a whimsical self-portrayal of Carroll. There is no value for x in the final equation. If the 53 had instead have been -53, then the problem would have two irrational solutions. Carroll, the logical and organized mathematician, would have surely caught such an error. Perhaps he meant the equations to be nonsense (Gardner The Universe 15-18). These two examples of mathematical equations in his literary works reveal Carroll's mathematical mind. Most readers would probably pass over these algebraic details and miss this interesting puzzle. Some of Carroll's puzzles and games had more useful values. For example, he devised a system for figuring out the day of every date. It involved adding four different values computed from the century, year, month, and day in modulo seven 1, with the solution giving the day that corresponded with the proper number (Gardner The Universe 25). Carrolls writings also contain mathematical ideas that do not involve any algebra.
1

Modular arithmetic, sometimes called clock arithmetic, is a form of addition where the numbers return to zero after reaching a factor of the selected number. In modulo seven, 7=n. e.g. In modulo seven, 6 would remain 6, 8 would become 1, 19 would become 5, and 49 would become 0.

O'Neill 14 Carroll also has two riddles without answers. The first is the Hatter's question, Why is a Raven like a writing desk? (Carroll Wonderland in Completed Works 68) and the other is the last comic poem in the Looking-Glass: 'First, the fish must be caught.' That is easy: a baby, I think, could have caught it. 'Next, the fish must be bought.' That is easy: a penny, I think, would have bought it. 'Now cook me the fish!' That is easy, and will not take more than a minute. 'Let it lie in a dish!' That is easy, because it already is in it. 'Bring it here! Let me sup!' It is easy to set such a dish on the table. 'Take the dish-cover up!' Ah, THAT is so hard that I fear I'm unable! For it holds like glueHolds the lid to the dish, while it lies in the middle: Which is easiest to do, Un-dish-cover the fish, or dishcover the riddle? (Carroll Looking-Glass in Completed Works 242) Some readers believe that answer to the latter riddle is an oyster. Carroll offers answers for neither of these riddles: [A]n unanswered riddle exemplifies Carroll's idea of language games (Kelly 63). All of the puzzles within his works reveal Carroll's delight in combining literature and mathematics. He brings his logical and mathematical mind into all of his activities and it can be credited with some of Carroll's success. Much of the puzzles and jokes in the Alice books reveal Carroll's love for logic. For Carroll, logic was relevant in mathematics and in language. He was mostly interested in syntax, which is concerned with the relationship between linguistic symbols....A good deal of logic and mathematics falls into the category of syntax (Kirk 34). In his poem, Jabberwocky, Carroll continues to play with the logic within language: [T]he same mind that was attracted to the

O'Neill 15 peculiar symbols of logic and mathematics, and that sought in the technical works to investigate the ambiguities and tangles of linguistic confusion, expressed itself indirectly in some of the finest passages of Alice (Kirk 57-59). For example, during the mad tea party with the Mad Hatter in Wonderland, the Hatter attempts to teach Alice the importance of converses (Carroll in Collected Works 69). Despite his confusing nonsense, he explains that I mean what I say and I say what I mean are not the same. They are actually converses and the party continues with a variety of examples of converses. Alice does not understand the difference between most of the statements. This intrusion of logic reveals that the Mad Tea-Party is not quite so mad after all (Kirk 63). The characters in Carroll's works are subject to his logical mind, despite their surrounding nonsensical environments: Sometimes the folk of Wonderland make sense, sometimes not. When they speak nonsense, a reader is instantly aware that sometime has gone wrong, but often the exact nature of their error is not so easily grasped (Kirk 63). This vague confusion follows the reader throughout Wonderland; instead of frustrating the readers, however, it amuses and fascinates them. Carroll's logical nonsense not only delights and intrigues readers, but it also reveals some philosophical issues from his time; this comparison reveals Carrolls positive worldview. One scholar even made the bold claim that Carroll influenced modern British philosophy more than any other English writer (Rosenbaum 13). In particular, Carroll's Alice books contain some of the philosophical ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian philosopher. Much of Carroll's nonsense has its source in certain fundamental confusions and errors...[T]he very same confusions with which Wittgenstein charges philosophers were deliberately employed by Carroll for comic effect (Pitcher 231). Although their approach and reaction to nonsense differed, both of these men considered nonsense a world governed by logic. For the philosopher, logical

O'Neill 16 nonsense was more dangerous than regular nonsense since it has the semblance of sense (Pitcher 230). Though Carroll enjoyed discovering logical nonsense, Wittgenstein warned against this sort of nonsense. Much of Wittgenstein's instances of logical nonsense deals with the details of language which absolutely delighted Carroll, like syntax problems and confusing the meaning of words. For instance, Wettgenstein makes the point that one must not be seduced into thinking that one understands a certain sentence simply because it is grammatically well-formed and consists entirely of familiar words: The sentence may, in fact make no sense whatever (Pitcher 232). This example of nonsense happens countless times in the Alice books: Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to her to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. I don't quite understand you, she said, as politely as she could. (Carroll Wonderland in Collected Works 70) Wittgenstein also comments on the meaning of words. He attacks the idea that what a person means when he says anything is essentially the result of his performance of a mental act of intending (or meaning) his words to mean just that (Pitcher 242). Carroll's works are full of instances of characters meaning one thing and saying another. Some of these characters admit that they are choosing a meaning of the words that disagrees with the conventional meaning: I don't know what you mean by glory, Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. Of course you don't till I tell you. I meant there's a nice knock-down argument for you! But glory doesn't mean a nice knock-down argument, Alice objected. When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less. The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so many different things. The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be master that's all. Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. They've a temper, some of them particularly verbs: they're the proudest adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!

O'Neill 17 Would you tell me please, said Alice, what that means? Now you talk like a reasonable child, said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. (Carroll Looking-Glass 196) While amusing in Carroll's works and a typical occurrence in everyday life, this belief that the meaning of words can change to fit a situation causes problems when attempting to communicate an idea. As a mathematician, Carroll understood this need for a common language; although, he would frequently use different symbols and terminology in his mathematical proofs (Rice and Torrence 94). This deviation from the common and well-known symbols the practice of being master over the definition of ones words guarantees a breakdown in communication. Wittgenstein also identifies some nonsense that relates to mathematical proofs, which were a significant part of Carroll's life as a mathematician. One such mathematical idea is the Law of the Excluded Middle, which states that for every proposition, either the proposition is true or its negation is true, but never both or neither. Wittgenstein argued that in philosophy, the Law of the Excluded Middle...say[s] nothing (Pitcher 234). Carroll addresses this idea in Alices conversation with the Knight: It's long, said the Knight, but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it either it brings tears into their eyes or else Or else what? said Alice, for the Knight made a sudden pause. Or else it doesn't, you know. (Carroll Looking Glass in Collected Works 224) In a sense, the Law of the Excluded Middle is not actually helpful in a real world setting. It is essential in mathematical proofs since nothing can be assumed without being proven. In the world, knowing that either of two options is true does not necessarily add to one's knowledge and understanding. Wittgenstein also argues that one cannot always with sense make the easy transition from some to all (Pitcher 237). He provides the example: [A]lthough it certainly makes sense to say that people sometimes make false moves in some games, it does not make sense to suggest that everyone might make nothing but false moves in every game (Pitcher

O'Neill 18 237). Carroll playfully brings up this issue when the Caterpillar scolds Alice for incorrectly reciting the words of a poem. That is not said right, said the Caterpillar. Not quite right, I'm afraid, said Alice timidly: Some of the words have got altered. It is wrong from the beginning to end, said the Caterpillar; and there was silence for some minutes. (Carroll Wonderland in Collected Works 52) Carroll reveals his mathematical precision in this passage. If one part of a poem or mathematical proof is incorrect, it ruins the entire piece. In the world, however, a small amount of inaccuracy is usually not enough to ruin the whole composition. Carroll brings his mathematical mind to his writing to create pleasing, logical nonsense and to cause his reader to think about some of the illogical practices in the world. Wittgenstein also focuses on instances where the relationship between ideas fails. He makes the point that there are acts which make little or no sense because nothing of the right sort follows from them; they do not have the consequences or connections that are needed to make them into the kind of acts they purport to be (Pitcher 233). Alice discovers this fact when she attempts to measure her height by placing her hand on the top of her head. This action is a very typical childlike response, but because it does not provide any information regarding height, it is nonsensical: Alice ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself 'Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing; and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size (Carroll Wonderland in Collected Works 22). Wittgenstein also studies relationships between...what a thing (quality, process, etc.) is and what it is called (Pitcher 238). Carroll plays with this idea when the Cheshire Cat describes himself as mad because he does not fit the description of a cat: Well, then, the Cat went on, you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm

O'Neill 19 angry. Therefore I'm mad. I call it purring, not growling, said Alice. Call it what you like, said the Cat. (Carroll Wonderland in Collected Works 66) The Cat's response is quite interesting. The reader is unsure whether Carroll agrees with Alice or with the Cat. Renaming concepts in order to fit an idea can lead to an illogical system, but the Cat's initial comparison to a dog did not really have a basis. This passage merely provides an example of Carroll playing with logic and leaving the reader without any concrete answers. Another famous passage dealing with relationships occurs when the Knight attempts to tell Alice the name of his song: The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes.' Oh, that's the name of the song, is it? Alice said, trying to feel interested. No, you don't understand, the Knight said, looking a little vexed. That's what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged Aged Man.' Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called'? Alice corrected herself. No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called 'Ways and Means': but that's only what it's called, you know! Well, what is the song, then? Said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered. I was coming to that, the Knight said. The song really is 'A-Sitting On A Gate': and the tune's my own invention. (Carroll Looking-Glass in Collected Works 224) The Knight and Alice clearly have different ideas about the relationship between an item and its name. This passage exemplifies Carroll's logical nonsense. The Knight clearly has a strong grasp of language and of the importance of precise language, yet the reader feels Alice's exasperation. The Alice books truly reveal Carroll's delight for language. While Wittgenstein and Carroll both identify sources of nonsense, Carroll uses nonsense whereas Wittgenstein attempts to destroy it. The nature of nonsense can be frustrating. Even Alice struggles to understand the nonsense surrounding her: Alice's 'ear' for nonsense is infallible; but she is never able to locate the source of the trouble (Pitcher 238). Carroll's

O'Neill 20 logical nonsense is very childlike, which is why it appeals both to children and to the child in every adult: It is the kind of nonsense that results from the very natural confusions and errors that children might fall into, if only they were not so sensible. It is nonsense, in any case, that can delight and fascinate children (Pitcher 249). Wittgenstein is unable to see this childlike innocence in nonsense and this point more than any other divides him from Carrolls worldview: [Nonsense] tortured Wittgenstein and delighted Carroll. Carroll turned his back on reality and led us happily into his (wonderful) world of myth and fantasy. Wittgenstein, being a philosopher, exerted all his efforts to drag us back to reality from the (horrible) world of myth and fantasy (Pitcher 250). Indeed, this delight in logical nonsense and childlike joy are the reasons for Carroll's lasting success. Carroll reveals his love for mathematics, logic, and people throughout his works and this interdisciplinary nature of his writings is responsible for their success. The Alice books changed children's literature into a less serious and a more entertaining genre. Besides the Bible and William Shakespeare, Carroll is one of the most quoted authors (Cohen Interviews xvi). The Alice books have certainly received all sorts of praise: Alice in Wonderland is worth the attention of all literate people..[I]t is funny, sophisticated, entertaining, beautiful, thought provoking, instructive, and universal in its significance in short, a masterpiece of the first rank! (Kirk ii). There are two reasons for Carroll's immense success: he loved mathematics and he loved making people happy. Carroll and his readers experience the most joy from his writing when he uses mathematical concepts: Carroll the mathematician and logician, then, is inseparable from Carroll the nonsense writer: the principles of order, logic, and gamesmanship hold the same for both. Nearly all of Carroll's jokes are jokes either in pure or applied logic (Kelly 157). Carroll's works also reveal his love for people, especially children. Isa Bowman

O'Neill 21 recalled that when Carroll became famous, he dreaded the attention. She did believe, however, that he was proud of his work and its positive effect in the world: I believe it was a far greater pleasure for him to know that he had pleased some child with Alice or The Hunting of the Snark, than it was to be hailed by the press and public as the first living writer for children (Bowman 117). With his logical nonsense, Carroll was able to connect with his audience and bring joy to readers of all ages. With his passion for logic, Lewis Carroll created logical nonsense and used it to express both his positive worldview and his love for people. Carroll could see the mathematics within language and the beauty within all mathematics. This kind of interdisciplinary thinking allowed him to create a new genre and infuse it with meaning beyond the typical frivolousness of children's literature or nonsense works. Examining his overall work, the reader can see Carrolls delight in the world and the people within it.

O'Neill 22 Works Cited Bowman, Isa. Lewis Carroll: As I Knew Him. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1972. Carroll, Lewis. The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll. New York: Barnes and Nobles Books, 1987. ---. Euclid and His Modern Rivals. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973. ---. The Letters of Lewis Carroll. Morton N. Cohen, ed. Vol 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. ---. The Letters of Lewis Carroll. Morton N. Cohen, ed. Vol 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. ---. Rediscovered Lewis Carroll Puzzles. Edward Wakeling, ed. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1995. Cohen, Morton N. Lewis Carroll: Interviews and Recollections. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. Crilly, Tony. Arthur Cayley: Mathematician Laureate of the Victorian Age. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Gardner, Martin. Sphere Packing, Lewis Carroll, and Reversi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. ---. The Universe in a Handkerchief: Lewis Carroll's Mathematical Recreations, Games, Puzzles, and Word Plays. New York: Copernicus, 1996. Gray, Donald J., ed. Alice in Wonderland. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1971. Greenacre, Phyllis. Swift and Carroll: A Psychoanalytic Study of Two Lives. New York: International Universities Press, 1955. Kelly, Richard. Lewis Carroll. Twayne Publishers: Boston, 1990.

O'Neill 23 Kirk, Daniel F. Charles Dodgson: Semeiotician. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1962. Lindseth, Jon A., ed. Yours Very Sincerely C. L. Dodgson (Alias Lewis Carroll). New York: The Grolier Club, 1998. Pitcher, George. Wittgenstein, Nonsense, and Lewis Carroll in English Literature and British Philosophy. Ed. S. P. Rosenbaum. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971. Rice, Adrian and Eve Torrence. Shutting Up Like A Telescope: Lewis Carrolls Curious Condensation Method for Evaluating Determinants. College Mathematics Journal 38. 2007. 85-95. Rosenbaum, S. P., ed. English Literature and British Philosophy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971. Sewell, Elizabeth. The Field of Nonsense. London: Chatto and Windus, 1952. Woolf, Jenny. The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created Alice in Wonderland. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2010.

O'Neill 24 Works Consulted Blake, Kathleen. Play, Games, and Sport: The Literary Works of Lewis Carroll. Ithaca: Cornell University, 1974. Bloom, Harold, ed. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Chelsea House, 2006. Bloom, Harold, ed. Lewis Carroll. New York: Chelsea House, 2006. Carroll, Lewis. The Diaries of Lewis Carroll. Roger Lancelyn Green, ed. Vol. 1. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1971. ---. The Diaries of Lewis Carroll. Roger Lancelyn Green, ed. Vol. 2. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1971. ---. The Humorous Verse of Lewis Carroll. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1933. ---. The Oxford Pamphlets, Leaflets, and Circulars of Charles Lutwedge Dodgson. Edward Wakeling, ed. Vol. 1. Charlottesvile, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1993. ---. Symbolic Logic. Ed. William Warren Bartley, III. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1997. ---. Symbolic Logic and the Game of Logic. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1958. ---. The Wasp in a Wig. Martin Gardner, ed. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1977. Cohen, Morton N. Lewis Carroll: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1995. Deleuze, Gilles. The Logic of Sense. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. Fisher, John. The Magic of Lewis Carroll. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. Foulkes, Richard. Lewis Carroll and the Victorian Stage: Theatricals in a Quiet Life. London: Ashgate, 2005. Guiliano, Edwards, ed. Lewis Carroll: A Celebration. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982. Higonnet, Anne. Lewis Carroll. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2008.

O'Neill 25 Hudson, Derek. Lewis Carroll: An Illustrated Biography. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1977. Little, Edmund. The Fantasts. Amersham, England: Avebury Publishing Company, 1984. Lovett, Charlie. Lewis Carroll Among His Books: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Private Library of Charles L. Dodgson. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005. ---. Lewis Carroll and the Press. London: Oak Knoll Press, 1999. Lurie, Alison. Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: Subversive Children's Literature. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. Manlove, C. N. The Impulse of Fantasy Literature. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1983. Moses, Belle. Lewis Carroll in Wonderland and at Home: The Story or his Life. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1910. Phillips, Robert, ed. Aspects of Alice: Lewis Carroll's Dreamchild as Seen Through the Critics' Looking-Glasses. New York: The Vanguard Press Inc., 1971. Rackin, Donald. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1969. Robson, Catherine. Men in Wonderland: The Lost Girlhood of the Victorian Gentleman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Sale, Roger. Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E. B. White. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978. Sandner, David. The Fantastic Sublime: Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children's Fantasy Literature. London: Greenwood Press, 1996. Saunders, Corinne. A Companion to Romance from Classical to Contemporary. Oxford:

O'Neill 26 Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Stoffel, Stephanie Lovett. Lewis Carroll in Wonderland: The Life and Times of Alice and Her Creator. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997. Susina, Jan. The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature. New York: Routledge, 2010. Sutherland, Robert D. Language and Lewis Carroll. Paris: Mouton, 1970. Thomas, Donald. Lewis Carroll: A Portrait with Background. London: The University Press, 1996. Wallace, Richard. The Agony of Lewis Carroll. Melrose, MA: Gemini Press, 1990. Wilson, Robin. Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2008.