"What is it you want to buy?" the Sheep said at last, looking up for a moment from he  knitting.
"I don't quite know yet, " Alice said very gently. "I should like to look all around me first, if I
might."
"You may look in front of you, and on both sides, if you like," said the Sheep; "but you can't look
all around you -- unless you've got eyes at the back of your head."
But these, as it happened, Alice had not got: so she contented herself with turning around, looking
at the shelves as she came to them.
     The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things--but the oddest part of it all was that,whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty, though the other round it werw crowded as full as they could hold.
"Things flow about so here!" she said at last in a plaintive tone, after she had spent a minute or so
in vainly pursuing a large, bright thing that looked sometimes like a doll and sometimes like a
work-box, and was always on the shelf next above the one she was looking at. "And this one is
the most provoking of all--but I'll tell you what--" she added, as a sudden thought struck her. "I'll
follow it up to the very top shelf of all. It'll puzzle it to go through the ceiling!"

But even this plan failed (Through the Looking Glass, pp. 154-5).

This passage demonstrates the essence of fantasy literature as it so frequently appears in both
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. According to "Fantasy
and Conceptions of the Real" (Landow), fantasies can be distinguished from other styles of
narrative by the "problem of knowing." Fantastic literature continuously challenges the reader's
(and the protagonist's) sense of "the ground rules" or what can be assumed. This insecurity of
knowing characteristic of fantasy should penetrate all aspects of a story, including setting,
characters, and plot. In the above passage, within two pages of text, Alice is faced with several
problems of knowing. At first, the common phrase "I should like to look all around me first," fails
to convey the meaning that Alice intended. She assumes that the Sheep who is waiting on her will
understand her comment to mean that she'd like to browse (as the reader has surely done), when,
in fact, the Sheep takes her words literally. Furthermore, the Sheep stretches the meaning of
Alice's comment to imply that Alice wants to stand perfectly still and see, simultaneously,
everything that surrounds her. Not only is this an interpretation of speech that Alice is unprepared
for, but it also challenges the convention of speech that the reader is accustomed to.

Alice's physical surroundings are also very precarious in this scene. The Sheep, the counter and
the floor of the shop are all as they should be--conforming to the "ground rules" of gravity and
solid objects--however, the shelved items float about in an unexpected and hitherto
unencountered manner. Despite the irrationality of the situation, Alice quickly adjusts to the new
rules of her environment and develops a plan to trap the item she admires by forcing it to the
ceiling (where, as she understands things, it should not be able to escape). However, Alice's
rationale is virtually useless in this shop and, as she finds out, the objects have no trouble
whatsoever in passing right through the ceiling.

Even in the smaller details of Alice's encounter in the store, assumptions are challenged and old
rules must be abandoned. As Alice tries to investigate the contents of the shelves, she looks at
them more closely (assuming that a closer look will reveal more detail) and finds that the harder
she looks, the less she sees. In addition, the specific object that Alice tries to catch isn't really a
specific object, but an ever-changing combination of two very unrelated items: a doll and a
work-box. After this scene, it seems amazing that Alice can function in a world where it is
impossible to know anything for certain, and where it is challenging to carry out the most common
of tasks.
Despite ever-changing environment and logic, Alice continues to deal with the challenges that
beset her. No prior experience in Wonderland can teach her about what to expect in her next
adventure, nevertheless, she manages to get through each bizarre encounter, ready to face new
situations that will challenge and re-challenge her assumptions and ability to "know."