THE BIG HINT
For the purposes of this theory, only three books will be referenced:
1. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
2. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Saw There by Lewis Carroll
3. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
There have been entire theories devoted to the literature references on LOST. This is not one of them. However, books, movies, plays and music on LOST are probably the most useful and consistently used clues to What's Going On. And they run the gamut, from Judy Blume to Stephen King, Homer to Hawking. Each book has been carefully inspected by legions of fans for some kind of code key: something that will unlock the secrets we're dying to know (or at least, guess right before the end).
However, what if the books referenced on LOST are all part of ONE big hint? Instead of dissecting each one for intimate connections to the plot or a character, let's utilize an English major's bread and butter: interrelated themes. A common theme among all these books would be very interesting, would it not?
Something simple. Something telling. Something bigger than the average bear.
I, actually, see TWO somethings:
Theme #1: TIME
(Yeah, I think we've pretty much got that one covered.)
Theme #2: IDENTITY
In particular, the MASKS we hide behind
or have stripped away to reveal our true identities.
AND THE WINNER FOR MOST OBVIOUS HINTS ARE...
Visual Clue 1: BUNNIES
The white rabbit is an obvious reference to Alice in Wonderland, and, like Alice, Jack begins his own journey into mayhem by chasing his white rabbit (so named by Locke), the vision of his father, dressed for burial, still wearing the sneakers Jack put on him (rather than spring for decent shoes),
Christian pops up in our story quite a bit, primarily when he haunts Jack's flash forwards and as the new spokesperson for Jacob and guide for Locke on island. ( It should be noted that Locke doesn't chase any rabbits. He catches, kills them and feeds them to Ben.)
Ben, however, proudly and affectionately displays his white rabbit. He carries it around with him in bag. In fact, it's his childhood pet, his bait-n-switch for Sawyer and seems to be evidence of something time-shifty at the Orchid Station, where Ben turns the "frozen donkey wheel."
The white rabbit also appears on Aaron's door (when Kate dreams of finding Claire in his room), at the "magic show," where Jack's Grandad passes off Christian's shoes, and in a book reference. (When Sawyer reads Watership Down).
In Alice's case, the white rabbit, in a huff to get to the Queen on time, leads Alice down the rabbit hole, straight into the topsy-turvey world of Cheshire cats and mad hatters, a world we later discover is a DREAM WORLD, when Alice's sister wakes her up by the riverbank. We hear Alice ponder the curiosity of her dream state when Jack reads her story to Aaron.
In the following quote, read by JACK to AARON (when Jack and Kate shack up after the trial), DREAM WORLD and IDENTITY are clearly linked.
"Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? But if I'm not the same, the next question is, 'Who in the world am I?' Aha, that's the great puzzle!"
Visual Clue 2: MIRRORS
A mirror reveals identity. That's its job. An effective mirror shows us a accurate reflection, how we really look on the outside. Who we really are. However, this reflection is the "flip side" of us. We see an accurate image of ourselves, but in reverse.
If we are unable to see things about ourselves in the mirror (one that is not distorted), it is a perceptional error. Often, we see what we want to see.
For Alice, the mirror, or "looking glass," is a doorway to another dream world. It is also a tool to convert the non-sense poem, "The Jabberwocky," into something "real." It is indecipherable to Alice until she reads its reflection in a mirror.
The best use of a mirror as a visual clue of identity is when Jack, clad only in a towel (so lovely!), smiles at himself after greeting Kate in the shower. His reflection in the mirror clearly shows the scar from his appendectomy (performed by Juliet on the island). However, there is no scar visible any other time during that scene.
IDENTITY, DREAM WORLD and REALITY are all interrelated in the images of bunnies and mirrors.
There is ONE MORE THING to consider.
Our film reference: The Matrix.
Neo, already suspicious that his life isn't "real," is told to "follow the white rabbit" for answers, which results in his being REMOVED from the artificial/dream world by "waking up" into the real one.
Jack's white rabbit, his father, tells Vincent to "wake him up." In fact, the opening shot of the pilot, Jack's eye
as it opens, as he wakes up, is echoed throughout the show over the past 5 years.
Of note: The name of the music scored for the opening scene? "Eyeland." Get it? Island? Eyeland? Theory by aohora
