What is a Hookah?
December 2, 2009I have noticed quite a few blogs mentioning drugs and other things in this childrens book. What people really mess up on is in chapter five of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland involves the Caterpillar smoking a long hookah. Students have thought that a hookah was a form of drugs that caused the Caterpillars dreamy state.
However, a hookah is a water pipe that was invented in India and found it’s way to the Middle East and Europe. In those countries, the hookah was viewed as a purer way to smoke because it went through the water before the tobacco or other products reached the lungs. The hookah is not as harsh on the lungs as direct smoking because it passes through water, which has lead to the opinion that hookahs are safer than cigarettes. However, studies have shown that smoking a hookah is the same or even less hazardous to a persons health then smoking a cigarette. The hookah at the time I believe was a foreign object that mystified Europeans. This may have been why Carroll use the hookah for his story. Africa, the Middle East and Asia were all, in a sense a dreamlands for the Europeans, so why not include a hookah? Not to mention children werent as protected back then in the 1800′s.
If you are getting curious and curiouser about where I found this information, it was on Wikipedia and other various sites on the internet.
Christian Long
Katherine H.
Melissa H
Rivu D.
Alex E.
Sylvia A.
Oh, wow. Nice research you did on the hookah. I never thought about the fact that the hookah may have played a different role back then. Rather than drugs, it’s simply a mystical object to Europeans like Carroll, furthering the wondrous, mysterious effect of Wonderland. Foreign objects DO interest people. Lots of people get all giddy when they get to eat with foreign utensils such as chopsticks, simply because it’s unusual. You really have gotten the point of the hookah; the book isn’t as drug based as people seem to think, it was written over a 150 years ago after all. The hookah is there for the “oooh-ahhh” effect, not the effect of drugs.
Yes! Alex I never thought about it like that! How do you do it!!! I can totally see Europeans back in the day think the hookah to be some weird thing of Indian ritual. Maybe Carroll was trying to make the Caterpillar like the Genie from Alladin. Or like just a strange person with advice, like a fortune teller or something. I can totally see how he could of portrayed this. It wasn’t a drug reference at all! All it was was just making the Wonderland a little bit more strange for his readers and Alice.
I actually wrote a blog about this the other day saying how it was a drug reference, but honestly you have changed my mind. Fill free to comment on it and change my mind even more!
The hookah is still a form of drug as much as cigarettes and heroin are. They have lighter effects, but they are still a drug. Having been friends with some of the oddities on the fringe that play with such dangerous items, I can say that cigarettes and hookah both have a calm or mental-blocking inducement. Hence why the caterpillar takes such long pauses to speak; his mind is fogged by the toxic substance.
I 100% disagree. Children were far more shielded from elements such as drugs in the 1800s. Today it is accessible anyway in thousands of ways, even under your kitchen sink are the materials to make strong hallucinogens. The extremely Christian England of the 1800s did not experiment heavily with smoking drugs.
Well, if you smoked Marijuana in the hookah, would it not still cause adverse effects on the body? They would just, supposedly, be ‘turned down’ compared to smoking it normally.
Wow, this really made me stop and think. I really see what you are saying here. People tend to overreact to things that they don’t know about and I am sure that is how parents of that time period would have feelt about something like the hookah and Carroll knew that. Stories were and still are told to teach lessons to young children so, if the author knew what types of lessons parents wanted to teach their children he could create a story that would appeal to all audiences. However, times have changed and the world around us affects how we see and react to things so, diffenent generations will see things like this differently.
All this information is very new to me! It was very wise of you to research the history and true process and meaning of the hookah. I compliment you, really. All of us who wrote about the hookah didn’t have enough information to correctly interpret Carroll’s usage of it in the story. It’s fascinating that the hookah is acutally a way to purify the tobacco being smoked. Might this suggest something about the Caterpillar’s choice of drug?
I would love to hear your thoughts more about what the hookah in the story might mean. Perhaps because the hookah is considered “purer” than smoking, it might bring insight to the caterpillar. Once again, I would love to hear your thoughts.
I like that way of thinking. Sure there is always the aspect of the drugs, but Carroll probably did put the hookah in the story for another reason. It makes sense that Carroll, a British writer, would mention this mystical object that is from the Middle East. Back in the 1800′s the hookah might have been a sign of more upper class, higher society. In saying that, you could see the caterpillar as an important figure of Wonderland. He is already posed that way, because he is perched atop a mushroom to where Alice can only get small glimpses of him, and he is also smoking this weird new pipe thing. It definately makes him look more sophisticated, and more of a influencial character.
I found it very interesting that Carroll gave this tool to the caterpillar. The caterpillar is supposed to be wise, but why would Carroll give such a wise character an object like this one? Of course back then they did not have commercials that said this kind of stuff is bad for you but didn’t they know one some kind of level? Do you have any ideas on why Carroll gave the Caterpillar hookah