‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where—’ said Alice. ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
The Cat answers question with question, forcing purpose before path. The mini-dialogue works like a tutorial: goals first, routes second. The philosophical mood fits a lesson about direction and desire. Thematically, freedom without aim feels like drift. Wonderland keeps making Alice define what she wants, not just what she flees. Readers hear career and life advice hidden in play. Clarity of ends turns any road into a choice, not a trap.