Is Alice the only pawn in Alice in Wonderland?

Answer 1

In Through the Looking Glass, which is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice is the only pawn who actually gets to play in the game. When Alice goes through the looking glass, the game is already part way through and there are only a few pieces still in play.

Lewis Carroll provided a diagram showing the position of the pieces at the point at which Alice joins the game and a description of the moves in the preface to the 1897 edition (see related questions below.) This replaced a list of characters in earlier editions that described which characters represented which pieces. This list was removed as it confused the way in which the moves of the game are paralleled by the action of the story.

In that list the characters who represent pawns are given as:

White

Daisy

Haigha

Oyster

"Lily"

Fawn

Oyster

Hatta

Daisy

Red

Daisy

Messenger

Oyster

Tiger-Lily

Rose

Oyster

Frog

Daisy

"Lily" is the baby daughter of the White King and Queen. Alice takes her place in the game as Lily is considered too young to play.