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Explanation and Analysis:
Through the Looking-Glass, along with the other Alice novels, helped popularize the genre of nonsense literature. This does not mean that the novel does not make any sense. Nonsense literature as a genre uses an array of playful literary devices to challenge logical frameworks and make light of things society usually takes as a given. Often, the "nonsense" in nonsense literature is playful on the surface, but closer examination can yield deeper philosophical meaning. At the end of Through the Looking-Glass, Alice is crowned Queen and must host a dinner party. Everything imaginable and unimaginable goes wrong. She can't serve the mutton because the mutton is alive. The Red Queen won't stop backseat hosting. The guests climb into the serving dishes, and the serving utensils come alive to cause problems. This is all overwhelming to Alice and charmingly silly to the reader. Alice cannot make sense of what is happening, and her frustration at the nonsense leads her to wake up from her dream.
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