I like to try to come up with logical answers to the Mad Hatter's questions.
K, so: how is a raven like a writing desk?
Well, we could say that, as a raven's call sounds like an imitation of a crow, people sitting at their writing desks all-too-often imitate or copy other writers instead of coming up with their own original, intelligent work.
OR, also, if you ascribe to the idea that a raven sounds like it's mocking a crow's sound, then perhaps the original question is meant to provoke us to consider the mocking that writers engage in which goes unnoticed many times because it's cleverly disguised. So, then, was the Mad Hatter trying to help Alice secretly in his own way, trying to get her to understand that her situation in Wonderland was not as it seemed?
Or, perhaps also, could the author of the story have been communicating the idea that the entire story is a satire of something in the real world, for us observers, to deduce for ourselves?
Alternatively, one could conclude that the creator of the question was implying that, as Poe's raven quoth, "Nevermore," the art of writing seemed to have a bleak future.
Care to hop onto this train of thought? I'm sure it has many stops to make.
