Alice in Wonderland

In Chapter 5, Alice met a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar asks Alice who she is, and she can give no suitable answer. Alice has changed so many times that she feels she can no longer answer the question with confidence. They have a discussion in which the Caterpillar gives significant guidance to Alice. The Caterpillar asks Alice to narrate a poem "You are old, Father William" which Alice does, but she recited it the wrong way. The Caterpillar also tells her that soon she will grow familiarized to the feelings of the animals. Alice speaks a wish to be larger and the Caterpillar disagrees with her repeatedly. Before crawling away, the Caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will make her shorter. Alice is not sure which side is which so she bites into one piece. One side makes her shrink smaller than ever, while another causes her neck to grow high into the trees, where a Pigeon mistakes her for a serpent. The Pigeon worries for her eggs so Alice tries to guarantee that she is not a serpent. However, Alice must answer honestly when the Pigeon asks if she has eaten eggs. The Pigeon argues that even if Alice is a little girl, and if a little girls eat eggs then they must be a kind of serpent. Then, after some more arguing, the Pigeon tells Alice to go away. Alice eats from each of the mushroom, until she brings herself back to her normal size.


The discussion between Alice and the Caterpillar conveys into the themes of change and evolution. As an example, the evolution and change for the Caterpillar is a normal part of his life. The Caterpillar is consistently calm, except when Alice complains of being only three inches tall, while the Caterpillar is exactly three inches tall. The Caterpillar seems to be less argumentative than the many of the creatures of Wonderland, even though he disagrees with almost the whole thing Alice says. Furthermore, change and evolution is what Alice is trying to learn in Wonderland in which the Caterpillar seems to understand ( makes him smart). Especially, when the Catterpillar asked Alice to recite the "You are Old, Father William" that also has a theme of change and evolution.