The Walrus and The Carpenter are minor characters in Disney's 1951 animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland. They are two jobless travelers whose story was told to Alice by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
Background
The Walrus acts as the leader of the duo. He is in many ways like Honest John from the film Pinocchio: he is a conniving moocher who resorts to trickery to get what he wants. While the Carpenter believes that finding employment will better improve their lives, work is the last thing on the Walrus' mind, regardless of his constant ramblings of "cabbages and kings" (his way of saying that their futures will soon enough be bright). He is also very greedy and self-conceited, not hesitating to eat all of the naive oysters (whom he deceptively convinced to follow him ashore and into a restaurant that Carpenter built out of bits of driftwood) belf, much to the Carpenter's anger of being left out of the feast.
The Walrus is an obese figure with light brown skin, a thickly mustached and black eyes that occasionally turn green whenever he makes a devious expression. He wears a green vest, blue bowtie, a navy coat and top hat, dark grey pants and brown shoes. He often carries around a cane.
The Carpenter acts as the Walrus's dim-witted sidekick and talks in a Cockney accent. He often acts before he thinks (nearly blurting out to the oysters their plans to eat them), leading his smarter friend to constantly beat him with his cane. Despite his stupidity, he is shown to be less despicable than the Walrus and very eco-friendly when he suggests that they clean up the garbage that was lingering on the beach only to have the Walrus turn down this idea when he knew it involved work. He is also a speedy builder, constructing a small restaurant out of driftwood in seconds as soon as the Walrus lured the oysters inside. However, the Carpenter does not take being swindled himself very well, bringing him to the point of vengeful rage against the Walrus when the latter devoured all of the oysters himself, leaving none for the Carpenter.
The Carpenter is a slender man with red hair and black eyes. He wears a white cap, light blue shirt, white apron, gray pants and brown shoes. He often carries around a hammer for practical use and as a weapon.
Appearances
Alice in Wonderland
When Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum warned Alice that her curious nature could get her in trouble they proceeded to tell her the story of the Curious Oysters who met their demise because of their curiosity.
The Walrus and the Carpenter were traveling through the beach when the Carpenter discovered a family of oysters. The Carpenter whistled to the Walrus that he had found the oysters in the water, and tried to catch the oysters, but the Walrus pulled him back and does it his way. The Walrus tricked them into coming with them on a walk, the oysters being unaware that the duo was planning to eat them. The Walrus used his clever lies to arouse the oysters' curiosity, but the mother oyster, who was fully aware of the Walrus's intentions, gave her children advice to stay in the ocean, only for the Walrus to shut her up, and, with a merry Pied Piper-like dance and flute solo, lured them to a restaurant built by the Carpenter in less than a few seconds. Once there, the Walrus tricked the Carpenter into preparing some bread and a sauce so he can eat all the oysters himself. When the Carpenter returned, he called the little oysters and, when they did not respond, he looked for them and, behind the menu, he saw the empty oyster shells and realized that the Walrus didn't leave any for him. He angrily chased after the Walrus for leaving him out for the feast.
They were later seen in the reprise of the caucus race, and near the end of the film, in the final chase sequence, when Alice tried to escape from Wonderland. In the scene, the Walrus and the Carpenter, along with the other characters in the film, chased Alice through a vortex leading her back to the doorway home.
Other appearances
In the Bonkers episodeĀ CasaBonkers, a walrus resembling the Walrus can be seen dancing with a female Dodo at the Rubber Room.
Live-action appearances
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Only the Carpenter, portrayed by John Prowse, appeared in the show. Alice met him when she found herself inadvertently in a strange wood while she left on Cyrus's tracks, himself having released itself from the cage where he was prisoner by Jafar. However, Alice became suddenly euphoric, insane, and amnesic concerning her lover. Will Scarlett who joined her, discovered that the wood had a power hypnotizing on people which they had crossed it, putting them in a state close to hallucinogenic effects and transformed them literally into trees as it was the case for The Carpenter whose legs were replaced by a trunk.
Trivia
- The Walrus and the Carpenter made a cameo appearance in the comics of Darkwing Duck.
- The Walrus appears as a walk-around character in various Disney theme parks, though he is rather difficult to find.
- Lacking tusks and flippers, the depiction of the Walrus looks less like the animal he is intended to be and more like a dark-skinned, rotund humanoid.
- The Walrus is one of the few Disney antagonists who successfully manages to kill multiple children.
- The Walrus also joins Foxy Loxy, Braum Bones, the Coachman, and Honest John and Gideon as one of the few Disney villains never to get any real comeuppance for his evil deeds (although being chased by the vengeful Carpenter is about as close as he comes to getting any form of it).
- The Walrus and The Carpenter, much like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, do not appear in the original Alice in Wonderland novel, but instead, appear in Alice Through The Looking Glass.
