On a summer afternoon in 1862, a mathematician named Charles Dodgson rowed up the Thames with three young sisters and made up a story to keep them entertained. One of those girls, Alice Liddell, begged him to write it down. Three years later, under the pen name Lewis Carroll, he published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the world met a girl who follows a rabbit down a hole and finds that nothing on the other side makes sense. More than a century and a half later the story keeps getting reinvented, from Disney's 1951 animated film to Tim Burton's 2010 version with Johnny Depp as a wild eyed Hatter.
Curiouser and Curiouser
Alice herself is the reason it works. She's curious, polite until she isn't and willing to argue logic with anyone, even a caterpillar perched on a mushroom. She grows too tall, shrinks too small, cries a pool of tears and then has to swim through it, all while trying to figure out the rules of a world that refuses to have any. Every reader who has ever felt like the only sensible person in a room full of nonsense understands her completely. She isn't a fearless hero, either. She gets cross, confused and homesick, which is exactly why she feels so real.
The Strangest Cast in Literature
The characters she meets are some of the most quoted in the English language. The White Rabbit, with his waistcoat and pocket watch, is forever late and forever panicking about it. The Caterpillar puffs on his hookah and asks the most unsettling question in the book: "Who are you?" The Cheshire Cat grins, disappears piece by piece and cheerfully informs Alice that everyone there is mad. The Hatter hosts an endless tea party where it is always six o'clock and riddles have no answers, because he quarreled with Time and Time stopped cooperating. And the Queen of Hearts rules a croquet ground where flamingos are mallets and hedgehogs are balls, shouting "Off with their heads!" at anyone who displeases her.
A Personality for Every Kind of Madness
What makes Wonderland perfect for a quiz is that each character represents a way of facing a world that doesn't make sense. Alice questions it. The Hatter throws a party in the middle of it. The Cheshire Cat smiles at it and vanishes when it gets boring. The Queen of Hearts tries to control it by shouting. The White Rabbit scurries from one appointment to the next, trying desperately to keep up. The Caterpillar sits above it all and asks you to figure out who you are first.
Most of us lean toward one of those styles on a hectic Monday. If you've ever answered a stressful email with a joke, you know a little about the Hatter. If you've ever stared at your calendar in a cold sweat, you and the White Rabbit have a lot to talk about. And if you've ever ignored the chaos entirely and taken a nap, the Cat would approve.
Before You Fall Down the Rabbit Hole
The questions ahead ask about your relationship with time, what you'd do with a bottle labeled "Drink Me," your favorite accessory and how you'd handle a queen in a very bad mood. Some are silly and some are sneakily revealing. Answer with whatever pops into your head first, which is exactly how anyone in Wonderland would do it.
