114 pages • 3 hours read
Frank BeddorThe Looking Glass Wars
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaPart 3, Chapters 50-56Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 50 Summary
The Cat brings Redd the key to the Looking Glass Maze, having retrieved it from the battle at the puzzle shop; Redd is unable to get it open. She orders the Cat to prepare their forces for the coming Alyssian attack. She goes to the place at the heart of Mount Isolation where she keeps the Heart Crystal, taking its power for herself.
Chapter 51 Summary
Alyss and the Alyssians arrive at the Chessboard Desert and strategize their attack on Mount Isolation. Alyss knows that her powers will be useless unless she can get closer to the Heart Crystal, and she is inspired for how to get past Redd’s forces.
Chapter 52 Summary
Alyss and her friends split up to enter Mount Isolation while an army—that Alyss manifested from her imagination—distracts Redd’s forces outside. Once inside the fortress, the group realizes that Dodge has disappeared; Bibwit and Alyss know that he went to confront the Cat.
In his battle with the Cat, Dodge takes several of the Cat’s lives, but Dodge’s anger gets the best of him, and the Cat catches Dodge off guard and deals him a serious wound.
As Alyss approaches the secret hall leading to the Heart Crystal, she is cut off from the rest of her group. She must continue onward to face Redd by herself.
Chapter 53 Summary
Alyss struggles to control her anger and grief at the sight of Redd. Alyss and Redd fight before the Heart Crystal, which changes color—from white to red to red and white—to reflect the power struggle. Redd distracts Alyss with a vision of Dodge about to be attacked by the Cat, and Redd knocks Alyss unconscious.
Chapter 54 Summary
Redd crafts an illusion to fool Alyss, making her believe she is once again Alice Liddell in Oxford, but Dodge appears and warns Alyss that it’s a trick, which allows Alyss to deconstruct the illusion. Alyss realizes that she cannot completely suppress her anger and that she can instead use it as motivation; as Alyss’s confidence and emotional control increase, so do her powers. Eventually, Redd realizes that Alyss is stronger than she is, and once Alyss overpowers Redd, Redd escapes by throwing herself into the Heart Crystal. Meanwhile, as Dodge battles him, the Cat—with one remaining life—likewise hurls himself into the Crystal. All appears to return to normal, but it is uncertain what Redd’s final action bodes.
Chapter 55 Summary
Alyss takes her place as Queen after the battle. She talks with Bibwit, who says that although Redd’s fate is uncertain, passing through the Heart Crystal has certainly made her immortal and that she will remain in some form as an animating force, in the same manner as the inventions that pass through the crystal into other worlds. Alyss imagines a version of herself to send through the Crystal back to the Liddells in Oxford, and Alice Liddell lives out the rest of her life.
Chapter 56 Summary
Alyss ascends to her queenship but knows that she must deal with the aftermath of Redd’s regime. At the end, she turns to see her reflection in a looking glass, which morphs into the image of Genevieve and Nolan; Genevieve tells Alyss that it’s all in her head, to which Alyss responds, “I know—isn’t it wonderful?” (358), indicating that she is comfortable with herself and the power of her mind.
Part 3, Chapters 50-56 Analysis
In this set of chapters, both the narrative and individual character arcs come to their climax. Conflict peaks in the battle between Redd and Alyss, paralleling Dodge’s battle with the Cat. The main conflict of the narrative, that between Redd and Alyss, resolves when Alyss defeats Redd, although questions remain after Redd goes through the Crystal. Additionally, the narrative’s thematic arcs reach their climax when Alyss finds a deep sense not just of self-belief but also of emotional balance in order to defeat Redd.
For the characters of Alyss and Dodge, these battles contain the major turning points. Alyss finds the balance in her darker emotions; she realizes that it is “unrealistic to never get angry or upset” (346) and that it’s “only a matter of degree” (346). She is able to channel those emotions into a focused energy that gives her the victory.
In contrast, the foreshadowing in Dodge’s narrative—of his increasing reliance on hatred and repression of his better impulses—culminates in his battle with the Cat, wherein he is consumed by that hatred. As a result, Dodge is wounded; if not for Alyss’s intervention, he likely would have died. The climax of Dodge’s arc is a negative one that precludes growth. Redd remains a static character.
The final two chapters make up the denouement; the conflict with Redd is over, and Alyss takes her rightful place as queen. However, there are still loose ends: Alyss knows that “Wonderland’s recovery will take vigilance” (355), as pockets of Black Imagination loyalists still remain. No one knows what will happen now that Redd and the Cat have passed through the Crystal. Characters like Dodge and Hatter are left with somewhat incomplete character arcs—or, rather, are situated at what will likely become the beginning of new arcs. Hatter takes a leave of absence to pursue personal matters, an indication that he is attending to a side of himself other than duty. With the Cat’s escape, Dodge’s vengeance is incomplete, leaving him at an uncertain place with his hatred. These loose ends likely foreshadow plotlines and themes that will become central in the sequels or the trilogy as a whole.
