Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 1 summary

What happens

1. Bored beside her sister, Alice follows a talking White Rabbit after seeing it take a watch from its pocket.
2. She falls down a deep well, talks to herself, and lands unharmed on sticks and leaves.
3. She follows the Rabbit into a hall, loses sight of it, and finds that every door is locked.
4. A golden key opens a tiny door into a garden, but Alice is too large to pass through.
5. She drinks from a labeled bottle and shrinks to ten inches, then discovers she cannot reach the key on the table.
6. After crying and scolding herself, Alice finds and finishes a cake, hoping it makes her larger or smaller.

In this chapter

What to notice

The sentence shows how quickly Alice’s expectations change. She begins treating impossible changes in her body as practical ways to reach the garden.

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