Destabilizing the Legacies of Eggsplaining: A Feminist Reading of Humpty Dumpty

Abstract: In this short commentary piece, we read Blanche McManus' illustration of a scene from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass as a commentary on our contemporary political situation. The conversation between Alice and Mr. Dumpty is dominated by "eggsplaining" yet Alice remains complicit and fixated on Mr. Dumpty until he dismisses her. The moment of her dismissal is also the moment when chaos strikes. We illustrate old tales such can be re-read and re-told in our politically tense time to offer clarity as well as potential ways to subvert oppressive and violent power structures.