Momeraths - Unbirthday wrap up
Quotes from Unbirthday by Liz Braswell
1.
Suddenly Alice spotted something at the base of one of the gloomy trees: a little flash of unnatural color. She bent down and saw a single momerath, a bright pink one, desperately trying to pretend it was a flower...The little tufted head lifted up just a smidgen so that the tops of two large and innocent eyes could gauge her trustworthiness...The mome rath raised itself up out of the ground on a pair of purply-pink and cautious legs. Keeping both of its large eyes on hers, it tottered, unconvinced, around her feet. Alice stayed perfectly still, resisting the urge to scrunch and unscrunch her toes away from it.
page 109
2.
Finally the tiny thing made up its mind and went whirling into the woods. Alice wasn't entrely sure if it had decided to help her or was off on a mission of its own, but she followed nonetheless.
"I thought you felows always traveled in crowds," she said to make conversation. "When I was here last, I only saw you in packs. Or flocks, rather, or- what do you call dozens of mome raths? A herd? A murder? A blessing?"
The creature stopped long enough to look back at her with sad, baleful eyes. Then it spraddled its legs out and fell to the ground, eyes closed.
"Oh, I see. They were stepped on," Alice said softly. "I'm so sorry."
The mome rath gave her another look that was impossible to interpret without a mouth or other point of reference. Then it leap up and toddled on. Alice followed, continuing her conversation - but with herself this time. That was there was no more chance of her accidentally saying something hurtful to the other party.
"Eleven years later and I'm still mucking things up," she castised. "I used to laugh at little Alice for telling the Dormouse all about Dinah. What an improper thing to do, bragging to a mouse about a cat! And now here I am in a war-torn land asking the Queen of Hearts' latest victims as if they were no more than a - background image, a picture or illustration with no real feelings. Naughty Alice. Be more careful! Think before you speak! Remember what happened last time and learn from it!"
pages 110-111
3.
An all-black mome rath with particularly large heartbreaking eyes and a platter balanced on its head bumped into Alice's leg, obviously encouraging her to put her used tea things onto it. She didn't have any, of course, because the tea and its accompaniments looked disgusting.
page 306
4.
The black mome rath indicated the end of a long corridor with a careless twitch of its leg and then scooted back the way they had come, bouncing off the walls back and forth as it (he?) went.
page 308
I do want to talk about passage 2.
I love how Liz Braswell uses the momeraths to bridge Disney's Alice and Carroll's Alice. The momeraths are a Carroll creation, but Disney gave them a design, bipedal macoronis with eyes and no mouth :). Alice being self-aware and talking about her adventure in Wonderland as a young girl and remembering talking to the Dormouse about Dinah - this did happen in the Disney animated film, but this was also in Carroll's Alice. I like this, this bridge between the two similar yet divergent envisonments of Wonderland. Also Alice becoming reflexice and self-aware, and criticizing her past and recent behaviour is really powerful.
I am pretty sure this will be my last post about Wonderland creatures. There are others mentioned in this book like the JubJub bird (in Carroll and in the live action Alice), and the gryphon (Carroll, Alice Through) and Time (Carroll and Live action Alice Through), and toves and the borogroves (Carroll), but this is pretty much it in terms of characters/creatures being connected to Disney. There are descriptions of the Dormouse, the Hatter, the March Hare, Cheshire, Caterpillar (Absolem), I feel like everyone knows those characters anyway. This book also describes a post-Alice but before Alice Through. So it's a bit depressing to see beloved characters being tormented (mentally and physically). As soon as I have the link for this post I will update all of my previous Wonderland posts. Other notes about the other characters (gryphon, toves, borogroves) I will make notes in my second hand Oxford World's Classics Alice.
Wonderland series on my lj
by
peaces_icons alice's treasure box - braswell creation, gif icon from Disney's Alice
by
peaces_icons tulgey woods post
by
bellasinfonia dog and caterpillars and raterpillars, disney exclusive
by
shisora bread and butterflies, disney exclusive
by
fallbirds broom dog, disney exclusive
by
peaces_icons pencil birds, disney exclusive
by
peaces_icons momeraths, from carroll
by
peaces_icons adina the mirror bird, disney exclusive
1.
Suddenly Alice spotted something at the base of one of the gloomy trees: a little flash of unnatural color. She bent down and saw a single momerath, a bright pink one, desperately trying to pretend it was a flower...The little tufted head lifted up just a smidgen so that the tops of two large and innocent eyes could gauge her trustworthiness...The mome rath raised itself up out of the ground on a pair of purply-pink and cautious legs. Keeping both of its large eyes on hers, it tottered, unconvinced, around her feet. Alice stayed perfectly still, resisting the urge to scrunch and unscrunch her toes away from it.
page 109
2.
Finally the tiny thing made up its mind and went whirling into the woods. Alice wasn't entrely sure if it had decided to help her or was off on a mission of its own, but she followed nonetheless.
"I thought you felows always traveled in crowds," she said to make conversation. "When I was here last, I only saw you in packs. Or flocks, rather, or- what do you call dozens of mome raths? A herd? A murder? A blessing?"
The creature stopped long enough to look back at her with sad, baleful eyes. Then it spraddled its legs out and fell to the ground, eyes closed.
"Oh, I see. They were stepped on," Alice said softly. "I'm so sorry."
The mome rath gave her another look that was impossible to interpret without a mouth or other point of reference. Then it leap up and toddled on. Alice followed, continuing her conversation - but with herself this time. That was there was no more chance of her accidentally saying something hurtful to the other party.
"Eleven years later and I'm still mucking things up," she castised. "I used to laugh at little Alice for telling the Dormouse all about Dinah. What an improper thing to do, bragging to a mouse about a cat! And now here I am in a war-torn land asking the Queen of Hearts' latest victims as if they were no more than a - background image, a picture or illustration with no real feelings. Naughty Alice. Be more careful! Think before you speak! Remember what happened last time and learn from it!"
pages 110-111
3.
An all-black mome rath with particularly large heartbreaking eyes and a platter balanced on its head bumped into Alice's leg, obviously encouraging her to put her used tea things onto it. She didn't have any, of course, because the tea and its accompaniments looked disgusting.
page 306
4.
The black mome rath indicated the end of a long corridor with a careless twitch of its leg and then scooted back the way they had come, bouncing off the walls back and forth as it (he?) went.
page 308
I do want to talk about passage 2.
I love how Liz Braswell uses the momeraths to bridge Disney's Alice and Carroll's Alice. The momeraths are a Carroll creation, but Disney gave them a design, bipedal macoronis with eyes and no mouth :). Alice being self-aware and talking about her adventure in Wonderland as a young girl and remembering talking to the Dormouse about Dinah - this did happen in the Disney animated film, but this was also in Carroll's Alice. I like this, this bridge between the two similar yet divergent envisonments of Wonderland. Also Alice becoming reflexice and self-aware, and criticizing her past and recent behaviour is really powerful.
I am pretty sure this will be my last post about Wonderland creatures. There are others mentioned in this book like the JubJub bird (in Carroll and in the live action Alice), and the gryphon (Carroll, Alice Through) and Time (Carroll and Live action Alice Through), and toves and the borogroves (Carroll), but this is pretty much it in terms of characters/creatures being connected to Disney. There are descriptions of the Dormouse, the Hatter, the March Hare, Cheshire, Caterpillar (Absolem), I feel like everyone knows those characters anyway. This book also describes a post-Alice but before Alice Through. So it's a bit depressing to see beloved characters being tormented (mentally and physically). As soon as I have the link for this post I will update all of my previous Wonderland posts. Other notes about the other characters (gryphon, toves, borogroves) I will make notes in my second hand Oxford World's Classics Alice.
Wonderland series on my lj
by
peaces_icons alice's treasure box - braswell creation, gif icon from Disney's Alice
by
peaces_icons tulgey woods post
by
bellasinfonia dog and caterpillars and raterpillars, disney exclusive
by
shisora bread and butterflies, disney exclusive
by
fallbirds broom dog, disney exclusive
by
peaces_icons pencil birds, disney exclusive
by
peaces_icons momeraths, from carroll
by
peaces_icons adina the mirror bird, disney exclusive