Jabberwocky

3 Pages 783 Words

Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky is a difficult piece of literature to read. The poem begins by telling the reader the setting of the poem. From the words in the text, “Twas briling and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wave”, we can assume that the day is beautiful and that it is possible things are blowing in the wind. Next, the father tells the son to “Beware the Jabberwocky, my son!”. We now know that whatever this Jabberwocky may be, it is a dangerous thing or creature. The father then elaborates more on the Jabberwocky, “the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!”. We know for sure now that it is a wild creature of some kind. The father also seems to be warning his son of some other types of animals, “Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!”. From reading that excerpt, we know that the Jubjub is a bird but we are not quite sure what a Bandersnatch is. By reviewing a little, in order not to get lost in the nonsense words, we know that there is a boy who is warned by his father to “beware” of the Jabberwocky, the Jubjub bird, and the Bandersnatch.
The boy then reaches for his sword and he rests by the Tumtum tree. While the boy is resting against the tree, he is in deep thought. What the boy is thinking, will probable always be a mystery to us, but we can always speculate. I believe that the boy was probably thinking about the Jabberwocky and wondering if he could really overpower it. I think that he second guesses himself; if he was sure that he could defeat the Jabberwocky, then he would go in search of it. I think that he also has thoughts of not disappointing his father.
All of a sudden, this calm setting takes a twist, as the long awaited Jabberwocky appears. The Jabberwocky comes hurtling out of the woods making horrendous noises with its eyes of flame. The boy does not miss a beat, “One, two! One, two! And through and through the vorpal blade went snic...