Cheshire Cat

For other uses of the term Cheshire cat, see Cheshire Cat (disambiguation).

The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It appears and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing conversation. The cat sometimes points out philosophical points that annoy Alice.

At one point, the cat disappears gradually until nothing is left but its grin, prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat. This has become a point of notability for the cat: most people remember it most strongly performing its vanishing act.

Inspiration

Church carvings

There are reports that Carroll found inspiration for the Cheshire Cat in a carving in a church in the village of Croft-on-Tees, in the north east of England, where his father had been rector. Another view is that the cat is based on a gargoyle found on a pillar in St Nicolas Church Cranleigh, where Carroll used to travel frequently when he lived in Guildford. The cat is named after Carroll's home county, Cheshire. Others attribute it to a carving on the west face of the tower at St. Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall Village Warrington, Cheshire.

Cheese molds

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says grinning like a Cheshire cat is "an old simile, popularized by Lewis Carrol". Brewer adds, "The phrase has never been satisfactorily accounted for, but it has been said that cheese was formerly sold in Cheshire moulded like a cat that looked as though it was grinning." The cheese was cut from the tail end, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

Dockyard cats

A more likely origin for the story concerns the cats that lived in the port of Chester. Until the late 1970s, a monument to the Cheshire Cat stood beside the River Dee, where there had formerly been a cheese warehouse. It was said that cats sitting on the dock would wait for the rats and mice to leave the ships transporting Cheshire cheese to London and were the happiest cats in the kingdom, hence their grins. The monument was destroyed when Copfield House, a house that stood on the site of the warehouse, was demolished in 1979.

Other appearances/popular culture

The cat makes appearances in other works based on Alice in Wonderland:

File:Cheshire-Cat-Disney.jpg

Disney's version of the Cheshire cat in the 1951 Alice

He can be found in Disney's film version of the books, wearing pink and purple stripes and singing of the Jabberwocky in Sterling Holloway's voice. He speaks to the viewer on the games found on the Disney Masterpiece DVD version of the film, and sings the deleted song, "I'm Odd". Jim Cummings voices him here. This version of the Cheshire cat also makes a "non-speaking" appearance in the Disney/Squaresoft video game Kingdom Hearts.
The computer game American McGee's Alice features a tattooed, emaciated Cheshire cat who is Alice's constant companion and guide.

In other works:

The novel Automated Alice features a scientific explanation for the Cheshire Cat's ability to appear and disappear.
The cat appears in Jasper Fforde's novels about Thursday Next, in which it is the librarian of the great library in the book-world. In these novels, the cat has been renamed the Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat because the county boundaries were changed.
A variation of the character is found in the Peanuts comic strip occasionally, when the dog Snoopy takes on the persona of the Cheshire Beagle, with the same large smile and disappearing abilities.
The band Milburn's second single is titled "Cheshire Cat Smile", released 10 July, 2006.
In the graphic novel Batman: Haunted Knight, the Mad Hatter drugs runaway teenagers with tea, dresses them up like characters from the Wonderland stories, and keeps them with him for a deranged tea party. The first child Batman encounters while searching for the children believes herself to be the Cheshire Cat, and says nothing but quotes from his appearance in the book.
In the anime Kiddy Grade, Tweedledee and Tweedledum's spaceship is called C-Square, alias Cheshire Cat.
In the anime, Ouran High School Host Club, the characters Hikaru and Kaoru play the Cheshire Cat in the episode "Haruhi in Wonderland".
In the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, there is an episode which features Eriol as the Cheshire Cat.
An image of the Cheshire Cat is sometimes seen on LSD blotters.

File:Catbus.jpg

Catbus

The anime My Neighbor Totoro has a character named Catbus. He is as large as a real bus, has twelve legs, and has a hollow area with bus-like windows and fur-covered seats. Though not said to be a cheshire cat, he has the same large elongated smile and the ability to appear and disappear at will in striking resemblance to the Cheshire Cat.
blink-182's debut album was titled "Cheshire Cat".

Quotes

From Alice in Wonderland

"Please, would you tell me," said Alice, a little timidly, ... "why your cat grins like that?"

"It's a Cheshire cat," said the Duchess, "and that's why."

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Alice didn't think that proved it at all: however she went on. "And how do you know that you're mad?"

"To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so," said Alice

"Well, then, " the Cat went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

"... thought Alice, and she went on. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where –" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"– so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

From Disney's Alice in Wonderland

"If you really want to know he went that way." (Cat)

"Who? (Alice)"

"The White Rabbit."

"He did?!"

"He did what?"

"Go that way."

"Who?"

"The White Rabbit."

"What rabbit?"

"But didn't you just say . . . I mean . . . oh dear."

"Can you stand on your head?" (Headless body standing on head)

From American McGee's Alice

"Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: whenever you want it to be."

"Only some find the way, some don't recognize it when they do, some don't ever want to."

"Every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here."

"52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor. But when the deck slices and dices, it's no laughing matter."

"Withering cold incapacitates an enemy more completely than deep wounds. But winter does last forever."

"Since you know the moves, best play with whites. They go first."

"Unlike death... time moves on. Those who stood still with time move on also... unless they are dead."

"To the royal guards of this realm, we are all victims in-waiting."

From Terry Pratchett:

"Greebo's grin gradually faded, until there was nothing left but the cat. This was nearly as spooky as the opposite way round." - from Wyrd Sisters

External links