It is said that the mock turtle’s name was inspired by the name of a dish that was popular during the Victorian period, mock turtle soup. In Carroll’s fairy tale, the mock turtle is melancholy in character. This is because he was once a real turtle. In Dalí’s Alice in Wonderland – The mock turtle’s story artwork, the turtle hovers above the sea in reference to the story that he tells Alice about living and going to school under the sea.