For some, it's alcohol or pornography or drugs.  For others, its shopping or television or YouTube.  For many unlucky fellows, it's a mixture of any of the above.  Whatever it is, there is no denying the fact that everyone struggles with inner demons.  Not everyone, however, meets a literal, sentient representation of their particular vice whilst innocently strolling through the woods.  Unfortunately for the plucky young girl in the picture Jabberwock by John Tenniel, running across some demon or other is exactly what happens to her.  The lovely thing about John Tenniel's sketch of the Jabberwock and indeed the poem it illustrates is that both are very open to interpretation.  Written almost entirely in nonsense words, The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll is vaguely the story of a young man who goes out searching for a frightful monster and, after he finds it, slays it.  However, depending upon any number of factors, one might come up with any number of different interpretations for The Jabberwocky and Jabberwock.  These factors might include how one defines the nonsense words, what kind of persona one gives to the characters in the poem, and ones level of prior knowledge of the works of Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel.  However, from the very human-like qualities of the Jabberwock, from the use of shadows and shading, and from the reality of both the fight and the lack of reason for one, a possible interpretation that we can defer about the picture of the Jabberwock by John Tenniel is that the young girl is facing a literal representation of one of her inner demons come to life.  

Because the only description of the Jabberwock in the poem is that it has "jaws that bite and claws that catch" and "eyes of flame", an artist can take as much imaginative license as he wants when sketching an illustration of it (Carroll, 31).  Therefore, it is quite interesting that John Tenniel deliberately gave his drawing of the Jabberwock distinctly human qualities.  For example, the change in texture along the tops of the arms and the base of the neck, as well as the round, button-like objects on the chest make it seem very much like the Jabberwock is wearing some kind of vest.  In addition to that, the wrinkles and change of texture around the ankles look suspiciously like the tops of shoes.  Then there is the fact that one can ascribe attributes like arms, legs, or ankles to a supposedly mythical creature in the first place.  While it's ghastly head, tail, and wings are definitely aspects of the supernatural, this does not negate the fact that it also has a head in the first place, elbows and knees, and very human eyes and teeth.  Possibly a reference to the hypothesis that man's greatest demon is himself, the Jabberwock's indisputably human characteristics lend themselves to the theory that what the girl is really fighting is one of her own inner demons.  

One of the more striking things about this picture is the fact that it is drawn in black and white.  The use of color is one of the artist's most valuable tools for getting a point across and that includes the use of the lack of color.  While there are many varying shades and textures in this picture, the lines themselves that form them are black.  One might also point out the fact that the background is dark while the figures in the foreground are much lighter.  When one thinks of truth, one normally sees it as black and white, good and evil.  In this instance, the black and white of this picture might denote the fact that the girls struggle with the creature is a metaphor for her real life, her true struggle with life's problems.  Another interesting observation one can make is that the girl's face is hidden while the Jabberwock's face is thrown into sharp, gruesome detail.  This might possibly allude to the fact that inner battles are often about forgetting oneself and focusing on the problem before one instead.  By using negative and positive imagery such as black vs. white and hidden vs. revealed, one might conclude that this picture of the Jabberwock is a commentary on the inner struggles of the young girl.  

Another observation one can make about this picture is how apparent the struggle between the girl and the Jabberwock is, and how unapparent the reason for the struggle is.  Clearly, they are fighting.  Each figure has weapons (in the girls case a sword, and in the Jabberwock's case claws) poised to kill the other.  One might also point out the fact that the chaotic and confusing lines of this picture give the impression of conflict.  For example, all the shading is done with crosshatching instead of simply block color.   The trees in the background confuse the picture as well, making it difficult to piece together exactly what is going on at first glance.  However, there is no indication as to why the girl and the Jabberwock are attacking each other.  In fact, there is no indication as to which is attacking the other in the first place.  This ambiguity helps the viewer to place themselves in the girls shoes which in turn gets them to think about what they would be fighting were they there instead of the girl.  Further supporting the theory that the monster the girl is fighting is actually a representation of one of her own inner demon, the vagness of the reason for the fight as well as the definiteness of the fight itself gives the viewer a chance to fill in the reason with their own struggle while giving them the common ground of the conflict to latch onto.

Even though the poem The Jabberwocky and the picture Jabberwock are both based almost entirely off of nonsense, that doesn't mean that clarity cannot be derived from them.  Merely making the task of interpreting them easier, the fact that both works are so ambiguous makes any interpretation of them possible and reasonable as long as there is evidence to support the interpretation.  Based on the human-like qualities of the Jabberwock, the dramatic dark lines and shading, and the reality and relatability of the struggle between the creature and the girl, one of these possible explanations is that the dragonish monster is a metaphor for the girl's real life problems.  While normal people's battle with their vices may not be so visceral or literal, one may still see a spark of their own personal struggle within this sketch of an intrepid young girl warding off a problem much bigger and scarier than her.  

