Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky when first read seems to make sense - it follows a poetic form, has a rhyme scheme, and is separated into stanzas. The nonsense words sound sensical. The first stanza consists of invented creatures that have unheard of names and they are portrayed by nonsensical behavior. (Examples: "brillig", "slithy", "toves", "gimble", "wabe", "mimsy", "borogoves", "raths" and "outgrabe"). In "Jabberwocky" Carol demonstrates that the use and sense of words depends on the context, and that context doesn't guarantee meaning. Readers want to be familiar with these words because they appeal to the sound of these nonsense words. They also sound familiar because they sound like words that would be from our language. Another aspect that throws us off is the fact that we understand the overall story. It is a familiar story- it ends with a courageous and heroic son that killed the bad ugly monster. This also plays with our minds into wanting to define those nonsense words - forcing our minds to try and make sense of it all. However, we fail because there is no truth to nonsense, demonstrating that context does not guarantee meaning.