Power Of Language In Alice's Humpty
Alice’s conversation with Humpty Dumpty, another non-human creature, further demonstrates the power structure of language. Humpty Dumpty demonstrates the malleability of language when he gives words his own definitions, such as when he defines glory as “a nice knock-down argument” (244). Alice says to him that that is not what the word glory means, in response to which Humpty Dumpty says, “[w]hen I use a word […] it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less” (244-245). A bit later, Alice asks him whether he “can make words mean so many different things” and Humpty Dumpty says that the real question of language is “which is to be master — that’s all” (245). According to Humpty Dumpty, what others believe his words should mean is irrelevant, since the master of language can make any meaning they like. Since one can be master of language over others, language grants power to those who give names and
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Like Alice, Humpty Dumpty knows of the manipulations possible with language, since he uses them to be master. He calls his management of language “Impenetrability,” which suggests that the adult world of symbolic language, on some level, is impossible to completely understand (245). Humpty Dumpty himself does not completely exist in the realm of the symbolic, despite his mastery, since he responds to Alice’s saying “I beg your pardon?” with “I’m not offended,” appearing to interpret the phrase literally and miss its implicit meaning (244). His mastery of language may be impenetrable, but for him so is the symbolic nature of polite language. Humpty Dumpty shows Alice that it is capable manipulation of language that grants one mastery and power in the adult world, even if that world is not easy to
Like Alice, Humpty Dumpty knows of the manipulations possible with language, since he uses them to be master. He calls his management of language “Impenetrability,” which suggests that the adult world of symbolic language, on some level, is impossible to completely understand (245). Humpty Dumpty himself does not completely exist in the realm of the symbolic, despite his mastery, since he responds to Alice’s saying “I beg your pardon?” with “I’m not offended,” appearing to interpret the phrase literally and miss its implicit meaning (244). His mastery of language may be impenetrable, but for him so is the symbolic nature of polite language. Humpty Dumpty shows Alice that it is capable manipulation of language that grants one mastery and power in the adult world, even if that world is not easy to