Who are Nobody and Somebody in Through the Looking Glass?

Answer 1

'Nobody' is a joke character, who doesn't really exist, who is referred to in Chapter 7, The Lion and the Unicorn.

In the same episode, the word 'somebody' is used in its conventional sense to describe Haigha, the Anglo-Saxon messenger:

And I haven't sent the two Messengers, either. They're both gone to the town. Just look along the road, and tell me if you can see either of them.'

`I see nobody on the road,' said Alice.

`I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. `To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!'

All this was lost on Alice, who was still looking intently along the road, shading her eyes with one hand. `I see somebody now!' she exclaimed at last. `But he's coming very slowly -- and what curious attitudes he goes into!' (For the messenger kept skipping up and down, and wriggling like an eel, as he came along, with his great hands spread out like fans on each side.)

`Not at all,' said the King. `He's an Anglo-Saxon Messenger -- and those are Anglo-Saxon attitudes. He only does them when he's happy. His name ia Haigha.' (He pronounced it so as to rhyme with `mayor.'

`Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some more hay.

`Nobody,' said the Messenger.

`Quite right,' said the King: `this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you.

`I do my best,' the Messenger said in a sulky tone. `I'm sure nobody walks much faster than I do!'

`He can't do that,' said the King, `or else he'd have been here first.

Answer 2

In "Through the Looking Glass," Nobody and Somebody are characters who engage in a humorous conversation about being invited to a party and attending it with their curious names. Nobody insists that they will want to come, while Somebody counters that they will have already arrived. Their interaction highlights the nonsensical and playful nature of the book.