ABSTRACT
Focusing on Lewis Carroll’s (1871) poem, ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’, this chapter surveys the ethics of anthropomorphic food. Following the recitation of ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’, Alice’s interpretive discussion with the Brothers Tweedle immediately re-frames the ethical dilemma of eating (in this case, sentient speaking animal-others), in the context of a larger ontological enquiry, one that puts Alice’s own existence in doubt. Thus, the relationship of humans with others is to be understood as on a par with questions as to the relationship between fiction (and dream) and reality. As is so commonly the case in the Carrollian oeuvre, Alice and the reader find themselves forced to weigh up what is odd and what is not, what is good form and what is impolite. It is not only nature and convention that are at stake in this interrogation of taken-for-grantedness; it is also important to consider at which point things get personal. One may read the episode as a parody of sentimentalism, likewise as a cautionary tale suggesting one is well advised to be wary of those larger and more powerful than oneself. Importantly though, this scene asks us to examine the relationship between euphemism and atrocity in our own dealings with the less powerful others.
