There is some foreshadowing going on when the caterpillar tells Alice to "keep her temper". Perhaps later on in the story Alice will get tired of all the madness and she will freak out on someone or something. Also she may get trapped and lose her temper at a time for which only a level head will get her through, ultimately teaching her a lesson. The Cheshire Cat is always grinning because he is a Cheshire Cat. "They" being Lewis Carroll, put a hookah in the story because in children's stories, this content is not harmful. Kids do not know what a hookah is about and they really cannot learn from this book what it is for. Alice eats the mushroom because she wants to be the right size to enter the house of the Duchess.

There could be drugs in the hookah. There could be lemonade in the hookah. The thing is, there was no mention of what exactly is in the hookah and people can only make a guess. The way people look at this subject greatly determines where their minds are whether it is good or bad.