Character Analysis
Characters in: Looking-Glass World
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are twin brothers, fat little boys who like grinning and reciting poetry to Alice. They continually act out the nursery rhyme from which they come, quarreling because Tweedledum says Tweedledee broke his rattle. Before they can actually harm one another, they are driven apart by a giant crow. Although they are locked into this pattern of events, we also notice them because they are the only little boys in all of the Alice books. Strangely, Carroll doesn't include any boy characters anywhere else in the stories – perhaps just because most of the roles are taken up by animals or game pieces. Perhaps it's also because Carroll imagines Alice's proper companion as a man like himself, not a boy her own age. It's a little bit creepy. But Tweedledum and Tweedledee certainly don't make boys look very good – they're grinning, rude, mischievous, and violent.