The White Rabbit's the drug dealer, and Alice follows him down the hole. The hole is the place of drug addiction, easy to fall in, hard to get out of. There are many locked doors inside a tunnel in the hole. These are all the paths and opportunities in life that are now barred from Alice because of the drugs. She can even see a lovely garden through one of the keyholes (idealism and dreaming, seeing that the grass is greener on the other side). The 'drink me' bottle and 'eat me' cake that cause shrinking and growing respectively are drugs or substances in general. She can only be too small or too large, never just the right size to get the key to open one of the doors. This symbolizes how it is hard to stay balanced and on an even path with drugs. Too small, you don't get any love or help and people could care less..you shrink in the shadows. Too large, you cause a big scene and people virtually crucify you for it.
Alice cries and ends up creating a pool of tears. This symbolizes her depression and being stuck in her own consciousness because of the drugs. She meets other creatures in the pool of tears, these are aspects of her mind and memories or interpretations of living beings in her life. They all climb on an embankment and think about how to get 'dry'. Dryness means no more tears or suffering or mess due to the drugs. The mouse does a big boring lecture, this would be the institutionalized and rational approach to save the druggie. It's a bit too dry and doesn't work. The dodo bird suggests a Caucus Race, a race where everyone runs in circles where no one is the clear winner. This is reminiscent of politics or the 'rat-race' or daily grind of life, everyone is trying so hard but in the end they pretty much get nowhere. Also note the dodo is supposed to be extinct, so to follow advice from an extinct creature is bound to get you in the same spot. All the creatures get afraid and run away when Alice talks about her cat. This could mean her pet, which is her addiction. It could also mean something from the opposite end, and old memory of innocence and a time before the drugs, and the mind creatures feel it too alien and foreign to deal with.
The White Rabbit appears again (drug dealer remember) and is looking for the Duchess's gloves and fan. They symbolize political or financial power. The White Rabbit aspires to make it to the top selling drugs. He mistakes Alice for his servant (as any druggie could be a servant to the dealer), and he tells her to go into a house and retrieve them. This is like, go and get your money for the next fix...it could be your parents house, it could be a break and enter, just go. When she grows inside the house and fills it all up, this is to show she can't just do it stealthily, people notice (family, neighbors, you name it). This horrifies the rabbit. He orders his gardener (drug grower) Bill the Lizard, to go down the chimney. This is like the White Rabbit saying, let's solve this with more drugs somehow, because my living always has to end with selling drugs. It could also mean put the grower in a position closer to the user so the dealer doesn't get incriminated as easily, use the others as shields. Animals gather around and gawk at Alice's giant arm. This is like saying 'holy crap look at those track marks!' The signs of drug abuse are very evident. The animals are still aspects of the mind or representations of real people as they were before. They all hurl pebbles at her (the user gets stigmatized and punished) and the pebbles turn to cakes of which Alice eats and grows small (the punishment is sobering enough that Alice shrinks her presence and does what she has to in order to look normal again). OR the cakes are as drugs and are used to try to fix the problem (use a medicine of the same nature to fix it all...a la methadone to fix heroin for example.)
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| by Krista Huot |
Alice wanders off and comes to a giant mushroom (obviously symbolizing the psychedelic sort). The Blue Caterpillar perched on the shroom smoking a hookah is a veteran user, possibly another dealer as well. Alice admits she is under identity crisis, and can't even remember a poem (it's common to 'lose yourself and your mind' when under the influence, no?) The caterpillar explains one side of the mushroom makes Alice bigger, one makes her smaller. These are two sides of the same drug, it represents the dual nature in many drugs. As before, it is hard to find the right balance and be 'the right size'. Alice breaks off some pieces of the mushroom to try. First she shrinks extremely small, then she grows tall enough to have her neck go into the treetops. A pigeon thinks she is a snake (ie a 'stool pigeon/tattletale' thinks she is a 'do no-good person'.) Alice tries a bit more and finds a fairly normal height. She might be able to get away with using drugs without too much mess! Alice finds herself at the Duchess's house, guarded by fish and frog footmen (any old private bodyguards or military men). Alice has traveled through the drug chain and has come close to the source. Certain corrupt politicians (or just people in any position of power) usually have a hand in a country's illegal drug trade. The cook is brewing up a new batch of drugs, but there is too much pepper (potent effect). This makes the Duchess and Alice and the Duchess' baby sneeze. Think of the expression 'that's nothing to sneeze at'. The too-powerful drugs are in danger of exposing the orchestrators and users. The cook is used to just making the stuff and is indifferent. Alice comes to realize the Duchess' baby is a pig (the police) as she coddles it. She might as well have the cops in her palm with all the dirty stuff going on. Internal corruption trickling down the layers.
The Cheshire Cat appears and beckons Alice to the March Hare's house. The Cheshire Cat could just be another guise of her own cat, perhaps the side of her addiction that is always smiling (even denial itself). The Mad Tea Party commences, this is pretty much a buncha druggies going off the handle and partying together. The Mad Hatter talks about time always standing still at tea time, referring to time distortion when using drugs or how there is almost no time for anything else in a user's life.
They talk of many riddles and stories, which mean nothing in the end. Some of them purport to see a higher consciousness, but to Alice she just wants her cheap kicks and nothing involving too much thinking. She leaves very tired, thinking intellectualism and drugs shouldn't mix.
Alice then enters the Queen of Hearts' gardens. This is the abode of foolish love and supposed virtue. It means Alice is at her best behavior trying to come clean (or appear as such). Politically the Queen represents the head of country as well. There is an image of doing it all nobly in God's name, but seldom is a nation so free of being tainted. There are playing card people everywhere, they are political and civil servants or just any ol' people. Nonetheless they are all just ones to get 'played'...and also represent the game-like nature of it all and the gambling involved. They paint white roses red, as the white ones symbolize purity or even death, where the red ones mean more conventional irrational Cupid style love and romanticism. The Queen's bitchiness shows the instability of this Cupid style love and virtuousness, and how unrealistic and hypocritical it can be.
Everyone starts playing a game of croquet with flamingo mallets and hedgehog balls. Flamingos symbolize poise and beauty and delicateness, and looking pretty. Hedgehogs are prickly situations or people and they are more earthy and rugged, defensive and tricky. So it's a volatile combo. It's just another metaphor for finding the impossible middle path or balance point in the realm of life, and substance abuse. Then the Queen orders the beheading of the Cheshire Cat. They say this is not easily possible, because oftentimes the cat IS just a floating head. This represents wars on 'drugs' or wars on 'terror'. Are you fighting just the drugs or terrorism, or the people behind it all? So they call upon the Duchess, who was imprisoned. Perhaps she got caught in her corruption. They need an insider to help de-root the problem. The Duchess rambles of morals to distract all present. Of not much use, the Duchess is dismissed and threatened to be executed ('hey at least it'll look like we're doing something about the problem!')
Alice meets the Gryphon..who represents noble justice, the supreme and flawless court. She also meets the Mock Turtle. He is not a real turtle, yet claims he once was back in school days. A real turtle represents a 'slow and steady wins the race' methodical and mindful approach to all things. So the Mock Turtle is the opposite- a 'sellout' who is apart from wisdom and patience, and he cries fake tears. Perhaps he is a sort of defense lawyer for Alice, or just representing all aspects of falsehoods in the face of the truth. The Gryphon easily interrupts the Mock Turtle, and they dance the Lobster Quadrille (a metaphor for the 'dance' of a trial..and how you can easily get 'pinched'). Perhaps Alice enters into a plea bargain, or a deal to rat out parts of the bigger scheme. Then things are diverted to a bigger trial, the Knave of Hearts who stole the tarts. The tarts are a country's livelihood, or GDP or whatnot. The Knave is just another corrupt politician or aspect of dumb love and wishful thinking. So the small drug problem is once again focused on a larger network of deceit. Ironically the grower (Bill The Lizard) is part of the jury and the White Rabbit the court's trumpeter. The Judge is the King of Hearts (the head justice or power of the nation). Alice begins to look bad by growing larger (her problem becoming obvious), and 'knocks over the jury box' in the process as well. Things get so out of hand the Queen shouts "off with her head!" and all the cards swarm over her. Due to some new facts brought to light, Alice is prolly gonna get in more shit than she bargained for after all. Alice wakes up from it as if it were all a dream, yet she is so disconnected from what is real and what is not. It could be a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream.
Either way, what became of Alice? I heard these days she's a stripper :
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| Photo by Nastaja Fourie |
