Alice in Wonderland VII -- chapter 4: FETCH!

Lewis Carroll was a proponent and practitioner of "automatic writing," which indicates writing without planning ahead.  I've also heard it called, and myself call it, organic writing.  The approach seems fitting for the man, so intent as he was on remaining within his childhood and avoiding the general responsibilities and associations of adulthood.  Now along those lines, critics generally assert that the puppy in the second portion of this chapter is out of place, and that it must have wandered into Alice's dream (more on the dream in a moment) by mistake.  Also, they claim it's the only animal that interacts with Alice but doesn't speak (however, I think those critics have forgotten or ascribe a different standard to the baby who turns into a pig two chapters from now).  It doesn't require a lot of imagination to understand how Carroll, lost in a session of automatic writing, came up with the puppy and didn't give a second thought, at least in the moment, as to whether it did or didn't fit in Wonderland.  However, Carroll didn't submit the book for publication after his first draft.  He made a number of changes, including some additions and subtractions of lengthy substance.  From my limited perspective and even more limited expertise, I expect he could have easily removed the game of fetch with the puppy here and the story wouldn't have suffered.  The question then is why did he keep it?  I think it could be for reason of simple narrative fluidity.  Alice undergoes a significant experience at W. Rabbits house and is soon to undergo another with the Caterpillar in chapter 5.  The moment with the puppy is a respite for Alice and therefore a respite for us--a relatively stress-free interlude between two traumatic events.

Now about the dream (and the narration claims directly that Wonderland is a dream, as Alice escapes it only by waking up), and I'm just going to put this out there and invite your thoughts: It's not Alice's dream; it's Carroll's dream.

1. A couple of simple notes:  "Mary Ann" was a common, generic nickname for a servant girl (also, there's a lot more slang usage ascribed to the name and its other forms, "Mary Anne" and "Marianne," many of which are period appropriate); ferrets were used for hunting rabbits.
2. Alice's perspective of her relationship with W. Rabbit is interesting as it changes depending on her size. When she's small, she's intimidated by him; when she's large, she's utterly unconcerned.  What might this say about Alice and/or Carroll, or the latter's impressions of the former?
3. With the new growth elixir, is Alice projecting her assumptions of Wonderland by past experience onto her present and causing an ordinary draught to do what it does, or does Carroll simply understand that he doesn't need her to have it labeled in order for her to drink it?  (Okay, that question was a syntactical mess!)
4. Alice can't move about the house as she'd like, and it makes her uncomfortable, and she claims "It was much pleasanter at home."  The discomfort and the house being too small for her is, I think, a pretty typical issue for kids, especially as they mature.  They want to break free.  How can we reconcile Alice's feelings in Wonderland with her feelings in life in this case?  They don't align (Alice uncomfortable in a house that doesn't fit her now that she's grown in Wonderland, and Alice comfortable in a house in life despite her growth and development), unless maybe, though not exclusively, you place at least a little of Carroll into the Alice who's currently in Wonderland.  Thoughts?
5. "Digging for apples" -- two possibilities (and W. Rabbit seems to understand neither): 1, in French, potatoes are apples of the earth; and 2, Irish apples was slang for Irish potatoes, and Pat is an Irish name, not to mention his likely Irish accent, also emphasized here as the Rabbit calls Pat a goose for his pronunciation of "arm."
6. The next couple pages don't offer a lot to analyze, but just a perfectly narrated comic sequence.  This has always been one of my favorite scenes.
7. Notice the continued mention of Dinah and her use as a tool of threat.
8. Alice has not forgotten her goal to find the garden, and her plan to get there is perfectly childish: "neatly and simply arranged" and impractical, which is just as well as she won't get there anyway.
9. Finally, notice how Alice wishes she could stick around play with the bigger, though still obviously young, puppy (and maybe this is why Carroll keeps it), yet it's just too big and dangerous, and she has to run away, no matter how she regrets leaving it behind.