Other Influences
The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts. From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbit>
Jefferson Airplane’s song White Rabbit Characters Slick referenced include Alice, the White Rabbit, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the White Knight, the Red Queen, and the Dormouse.[11] Slick reportedly wrote the song after an acid trip.[12]
In The Matrix, there are several metaphysical “waking up” metaphors that reference the Wonderland stories. Early in the film, Neo is told to follow the “White Rabbit” and seconds later, his doorbell rings, and when he opens the door he finds a woman with a tattoo of a white rabbit on her shoulder. Later in the film, Morpheus offers him the “red pill” to “find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes”. Right before he meets the Oracle one can see Night of the Lepus playing on a nearby television, symbolizing Neo’s decision to “follow the white rabbit” and to disturb the order of the Matrix.From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbit>
