Merlyn's Musings~: StoryBook Club goes down the rabbit hole.....

"We're all Mad Here"

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
Alice: How do you know I'm mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn't have come here.
Alice: And how do you know that you're mad?
The Cat: To begin with, a dog's not mad. You grant that?
Alice: I suppose so,
The Cat: Well, then, 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 angry. Therefore I'm mad."

Indeed, it IS so very confusing here.

People do and say the most odd things.

But if you do what you don't like, and like what you don't do...then you should be fine.
Or something like that.

So.....WHO ARE YOU?

and Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?

Our StoryBook Club dealt with great and grand questions such as these last night at our Monthly Meeting of Mad Minds as we all went down the rabbit hole following Alice on the suggestion of Lewis Carol (Charles Dodgson) who was, while brilliant....a bit mad himself, methinks.

And unproprietaly and disappropriately attracted to young girls....like Alice. In a day and age of Victorian modesty and manners and buttoned up sexuality, he managed to find his way to having alone time with his companions of choice ~ young girls betwixt the ages of 8-16. As a matter of fact, he proposed marriage to an 11 year old and there were many mothers who disavowed his company with their children.
More than likely it was his penchant for photographing them nude.

A strange bird he was, indeed.
A dodo. (who was represented as himself, by himself in his own writings...)

Curiouser and Curiouser....

And WHY did we do this?
Because "The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things / Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings / And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings...."

and because there are no actual children allowed at these our StoryBook Club's Children's Literature group, we can discuss at will any themes we like.
From narcotic enhanced ponderings...

To sexual innuendo laced throughout the story.....

While it may have been a wild and fun, non-moralist story written for children, there was enough bizarre correlations to deeper and darker themes lying within this story to keep us all guessing....

But while we guessed and speculated on child pornography, pedophilia, Victorian mores, and the roles of women and children in that age of the priviledged gentry....we ate.

And documented this table and event for posterity's sake :)

We ate very well, as we always do, of so many delightful themed offerings!
Our group met this night at fellow clubmember Stephanie's house for a sumptious teatime!

With Cakes and Treacle Toffee...

Lady finger sandwiches, of cucumber and cream cheeses...

Teas ....of course!!

and Oysters and Bread and Butter....

Carrot Cake and delicacies to delight the tastebuds!

All washed down with laughter, friendship and some refreshing Vodka and Grapefruit served in lovely silver teacups!
Mmmmmmmmm!

Then we finished out our evening with a documentary on the life of Lewis Carol. It was a bit stuffy.
But we weren't, with the comments and additives given from the cuff.

It's such a deep story though...and we didn't get to enjoy the actual stories as much as the digging through the symbolism, so we are continuing next month with "Through the Looking Glass- And what Alice found there"