Line #19 Literature/AfterAlice


1	[[quoteright:665:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/after_alice.jpg]]
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3	''After Alice'' is a 2015 novel by ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' author Creator/GregoryMaguire that acts as a LowerDeckEpisode to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland.''
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5	Set during the events of the original book, this novel gives AscendedExtra status to two of ''Wonderland's'' minor characters: Alice's best friend, Ada, who was TheGhost and only mentioned in passing by Alice in one of the latter's monologues, and Alice's older sister Lydia, who only appeared in person at the beginning and end of the original story. When Alice follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, Ada and Lydia both go looking for her: Ada by following her down the rabbit hole, and Lydia by searching through 1860s Oxford. The rest of the novel alternates between their two perspectives--Ada's journey through the fantastical, nonsensical world of Wonderland, and Lydia's traverse around Oxford, which has it own, more subtle set of contradictions and illogic. (Alice herself only appears in person at the end of the book.)
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7	Also thrown into the mix are Josiah Winter, a handsome young abolitionist from the United States who's paying a visit to Alice and Lydia's father, and Siam, a former black slave boy from the Southern U.S. who Mr. Winter helped escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad and later ends up in Wonderland himself by falling through a looking glass.
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9	!!''After Alice'' contains the following tropes:
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11	* ADayInTheLimelight: The novel gives this to Ada and Lydia.
12	* AffablyEvil: The Walrus and the Carpenter devour poor, unsuspecting young oysters alive but still take the time to engage in a polite, friendly conversation with Ada.
13	* AllJustADream: Subverted. Alice ''thinks'' her adventures in Wonderland were this, but this is only because she passed out in the Queen of Hearts' courtroom when the Jabberwock appeared and thus wasn't conscious when Ada took her back to the surface world.
14	* AmbiguousEnding: It's implied at the end that [[spoiler: Ada's trip through Wonderland may have magically straightened her crooked spine, but the novel never officially makes it clear.]]
15	* AnimateInanimateObject: The Jabberwock is [[spoiler: Ada's iron corset that somehow came to life and turned into a monster while in Wonderland.]] There's also the Queen and King of Hearts (living playing cards), the White Queen (a living chess piece), and the Tin Ballerina and Tin Bear (living marionettes).
16	* AscendedExtra: Ada (Alice's best friend) and Lydia (Alice's sister) are two minor characters from the original book given this status here.
17	* BiblicalMotifs : Ada makes several references to the story of Noah's Ark in the Bible, and the White Queen at one point turns into a pillar of salt just like Lot's Wife. (Unlike Lot's Wife, however, the White Queen eventually gets better.)
18	* BlitheSpirit: Alice is described in the narration as being able to bring out the best in those around through her kindness, innocence and optimism.
19	* CanonForeigner: Josiah Winter, Siam, and Miss Armstrong (Ada's governess) in Oxford and the Tin Ballerina and Tin Bear in Wonderland.
20	* CheshireCatGrin: From the TropeNamer himself.
21	* CloudCuckooLand: Wonderland of course, but Oxford is also portrayed as this due to the DeliberateValuesDissonance of 1860s British society.
22	* CoolOldGuy: The White Knight.
23	* CoolOldLady: The White Queen.
24	* CourtroomAntics: The courtroom of the Queen of Hearts is just as crazy and nonsensical here as it was in the original book.
25	* DecompositeCharacter: The Sheep was the White Queen's alter-ego in ''Through the Looking Glass", but they're separate characters in this version and even get to converse with one another.
26	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Maguire certainly doesn't shy away from showing the racism, sexism and clashes between science and religion present in 1860s Oxford, while the characters of Mr. Winter and Siam serve as a reminder of the evils of slavery in 1860s America.
27	* TheDeterminator: Despite her physical handicaps and constant bewilderment over Wonderland and its CloudCuckooLander inhabitants, Ada won't quit searching until she's found Alice and brought her back to Oxford.
28	* DontGoInTheWoods: Shortly after arriving in Wonderland, Siam ends up lost in the Wood of No Names, where everyone who enters into it is magically made to forget his or her name. He later meets the White Rabbit in the Wood, who is also lost and unable to remember his name.
29	* DownTheRabbitHole: How Alice and Ada both get in Wonderland.
30	* TheDreaded: The Jabberwock to the inhabitants of Wonderland.
31	* EarnYourHappyEnding: It takes her the entire book, but Ada finally succeeds in finding Alice, escaping Wonderland with her, and returning her friend to Oxford. She also loses her awful iron corset for good and gains a new sense of self-confidence as a result of her adventures.
32	* TheEeyore: Rosadolorosa the white rose.
33	* EldritchLocation: Wonderland is a relatively benign version of this trope, shifting around Ada and transporting her from one location (like the Pool of Tears or the hall of locked doors in the rabbit hole) to another (like the upper branches of a tree or the Mad Hatter's tea party) at random.
34	* FaeriesDontBelieveinHumansEither: As in ''Through the Looking Glass,'' the Unicorn doesn't believe human children are real, even after meeting two human children (Alice and Ada) in the flesh.
35	* FollowTheWhiteRabbit: Ada follows the TropeNamer down into Wonderland just like Alice did.
36	* TheGhost: Alice herself, who never appears in person until the end. Tweedledum and Tweedledee also count, only being mentioned in passing by [[spoiler: Queen Victoria.]] Ada herself was this in the original book.
37	* GoAmongMadPeople: Well, what else does Ada expect to happen when she's in [[CloudCuckooLand Wonderland?]]
38	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The Queen of Hearts as usual. Averted, however, by the White Queen and [[spoiler: Queen Victoria.]]
39	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Ada and Alice.
40	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Alice.
41	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria]], and a young man who is heavily implied to be [[spoiler: Creator/LewisCarroll himself.]]
42	* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Siam]] chooses to stay in Wonderland at the end of the novel rather than go back to the unjust and bigoted surface world.
43	* LivingToys: The Tin Ballerina and Tin Bear are walking, talking marionettes.
44	* LowerDeckEpisode: ''After Alice'' focuses on what Ada, Lydia and the other people in Alice's life are up to during the latter's famous trip to Wonderland.
45	* TheMadHatter: Ada meets the TropeNamer himself.
46	* MagicMirror: Like Alice in ''Through the Looking Glass,'' Siam ends up in Wonderland by traveling through the mirror above the fireplace in Alice and Lydia's house.
47	* MagicMushroom: The Caterpillar's mushroom as always.
48	* MissedHimByThatMuch: Ada keeps running into inhabitants of Wonderland who have met and talked to Alice earlier, but never finds Alice herself until the very end.
49	* MissingMom: Alice and Lydia's mother has recently died when the events of the novel begin.
50	* NamedByTheAdaptation: Alice's sister (unnamed in the original books) is here named Lydia, she and Alice are given the last name of Clowd, and Ada is given the last name of Boyce.
51	* NothingIsScarier: The Jabberwock only appears in person at the end of the book, but it's just as scary when the only sign of its presence is its terrible roar.
52	* NurseryRhyme: The Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, Lion, Unicorn, and Humpty Dumpty all originate from these.
53	* OfCorsetHurts: Ada has to wear a heavy, restricting iron corset in order to fix her crooked spine. It falls off of her twice--once when she lands in Wonderland, where [[spoiler: it turns into the Jabberwock]], and for good at the end after she returns from Wonderland with Alice. She may not need it anymore by this point, since [[spoiler: it's implied that something about Wonderland magically straightened her spine.]]
54	* OffWithHisHead: The Queen of Hearts is just as decapitation-happy as in the original book.
55	* OnlyFriend: Alice to Ada.
56	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When she finally catches up with Alice at the end of the book, Ada is very surprised to see her normally very polite and respectful best friend mouthing off to the Queen of Hearts.
57	* PeopleZoo: Ada and the White Queen somehow end up in display in Wonderland's version of this, where animals look at the ''humans'' on display.
58	* PrecociousCrush: Lydia (who is only fifteen) has a crush on Mr. Winter (who is in his twenties at least).
59	* PublicDomainCharacter: Alice and most of the Wonderland characters from the original books.
60	* PunchClockVillain: The Executioner, who has to study a script given him by the Queen of Hearts to know who he's supposed to execute next.
61	* RandomEventsPlot: Other than her goal of trying to find Alice, Ada's journey through Wonderland is just as random as Alice's. (Possibly even ''more'' random in this case, since Wonderland itself keeps shifting around Ada and transporting her from location to location.)
62	* RiddleForTheAges: Just ''how'' did [[spoiler: Queen Victoria]] end up in Wonderland in the first place?
63	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Alice's name is in the title, but she's not the main character here--that role goes to Ada, Lydia and Siam.
64	* SequelHook: Ada mentally promises to come back for [[spoiler: Siam]] if she ever makes it back to Wonderland.
65	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The inhabitants of Wonderland are much more prone to this than in the original book.
66	* ShoutOut: The narrator in Chapter 30 references (then yet to be written) famous works of literature like ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'', Franchise/JamesBond, ''Literature/PeterPan'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.
67	* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Mr. Winter (an abolitionist) and Siam (a former slave himself) both know this all too well.
68	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Alice only appears in person at the very end of the book, but it's her disappearance into Wonderland--and Ada and Lydia's subsequent searches for her--that drives most of the book's plot.
69	* SmallNameBigEgo: Rosa Rugosa the pink rose.
70	* SuddenlySpeaking: The Duchess's pig-baby, who could only cry or grunt in the original book, is fully capable of speech here.
71	* TalkingAnimal: As in the original book, most of the animals of Wonderland have the ability to talk.
72	* TalkingToPlants: Ada converses with three talking Roses by the shore of the Pool of Tears.
73	* TokenBlack: Siam.
74	* UnexplainedRecovery: The White Queen turns into a pillar of salt after eating a piece of the Caterpillar's mushroom, but later shows up at the Queen of Hearts' courtroom just fine and dandy and back to (relatively) normal.
75	* {{Unicorn}}: Ada encounters one at Wonderland's PeopleZoo.
76	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Ada letting her iron corset fall off of her when she lands in Wonderland is what causes it to [[spoiler: turn into the terrible Jabberwock.]]
77	* UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain: Where Ada, Alice, Lydia and all the other "real-world" characters (with the exception of Mr. Winter and Siam) live.
78	* VillainyDiscretionShot: Ada meets the Walrus and the Carpenter ''after'' they've eaten all of the oysters, and so they come off as very polite and friendly to her.
79	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse?: Did [[spoiler: Queen Victoria]] ever make it out of Wonderland and back to Great Britain after Ada and Alice did?

Context Literature / AfterAlice