In Lewis Carroll’s 1871 novel Alice Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, the theme of identity is very prevalent. While this can be said of Carroll’s other Alice novel, one of the most interesting moments I found where identity is explored, was the scene where Alice is discussing the idea of names with a ridiculously-sized talking gnat. The Gnat declares that names are easily changed, and that it would actually be convenient for Alice to be able to change or lose her given name. While Alice does seem to forget her literal name when she enters the forest, I believe that names really represent identities in this sequence, which raises several important questions. What kind of power do our names hold over us? How easy or difficult is it for us to change our names and identities? How do our names affect other people’s expectations of us?
The Gnat points out that changing one’s identity, or losing one’s name, might not be such a bad thing; but how do we proceed through life without a clear set of principles? Carroll seems to be saying that it is possible to change our names and undermine what people think of us without sacrificing our true selves, but that doesn’t mean that one should. It is perfectly within Alice’s power, as seen by her trip through the forest with the fawn, to lose her name and all the responsibility that seems to come with it, but if she avoids the important parts of her life by constantly changing, she will be less developed in the long run. Just because Alice could avoid her lessons doesn’t mean she should. Throughout the novel, Alice is constantly trying to change who she is; she begins as a pawn in a fantastical game of chess with a goal of making it to the end of the chessboard to become a queen. But if you are losing part of yourself along the way, then maybe constant changing isn’t the best course of action. Carroll is most likely proposing that one must stay true to who they are instead of trying to change their name and identity for the sake of others.
Another major concept that Carroll explores here is the way in which our names and identities define who we are and how they can be connected. If Alice were to lose her name, would that make her a different person? This is a question that doesn’t seem to have a concrete answer but it is worth asking. When Alice loses her name in the forest it seems she has not gone through a significant change but the fawn she’s traveling with seems to be the exact opposite. It is warm and friendly to her when neither of them have their names, but when they remember who they are, the fawn takes off in terror. This seems to suggest that a name and identity come with certain expectations from others, and as the gnat claims in the passage, these expectations are changed when name and identity are changed. Without her name, Alice would not be expected to go to her lessons because without a name her identity is in question and if her identity is in question, than who is to say what defines her and what her responsibilities are.