As you begin to formulate a thesis for your essay, think about the following distinction between topic and thesis. A topic is a general area of inquiry; derived from the Greek topos (place), "topic" designates the general subject of your essay. For instance, "Carroll's nonsense in 'Jabberwocky' sounds sensible" would be a weak thesis but a good a topic for an essay. From a topic, many specific theses can be extracted and developed. A thesis is more specific and delimited; it exists "within" your topic. In your essay, you need to use an argumentative thesis.
"Jabberwocky" sounds sensible because, as Robert Frost points out, "the sound of sense existed before words." As a work that conveys meaning without making literal sense, Carroll's poem illustrates the paradoxical ideologies of nonsense: "Jabberwocky" both posits an arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified, and uses playfulness to encourage children to enjoy language. In this sense, it undermines language as a reliable system of meaning, but also teaches readers how to understand and use language in meaningful ways.