The “Eat me/drink me” scene has become very iconic in pop culture. But for something so heavily associated with childhood, there is a deceptively dark current running through it. In the novel, Alice is very much playing at being an adult, although the reader knows that she thinks very much like a child. Carroll’s use of understatement makes this obvious to the reader. Phrases such as, “if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds,” and “if you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later,” hint to the reader that Alice has a concept of consequences but may not be able to foresee them accurately (Carroll 10). This lends an ominous air to the scene, as the reader cannot
