Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

           Really?

Alrighty then! The riddle was originally created by Reverend Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and appears in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Many have guessed why a raven is like a writing desk. Some think it is because they are both black (as at that time Carroll wrote with a pen that had to be dipped in ink and the ink would splatter) or that they both had feathers (as at that time Carroll was likely to have written with a quill pen). In the book, Alice is asked the riddle by the Mad Hatter. When Alice admits she cannot guess the answer, the Mad Hatter admits he doesn't know the answer to the riddle he has asked.

“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.

“No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter.

Some Carroll specialists feel that in this verbal exchange the Mad Hatter is like a philosopher who asks questions that cannot be concretely answered. Some feel he is like those people at parties that say things that make no sense. After all, Alice does later tell the Mad Hatter, "I think you might do something better with the time [...] than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers."


 Carroll was asked years later to give the answer to the riddle and he gave this response:

So, the best answer I can give you is this: "Did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?" 

Forever in Wonderland,

Professor Repentista