Confusion in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

After finishing the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I felt a little confused. The first half of the book seemed to flow better and have more organization than the second half. When the reading is difficult it is hard to enjoy what you are reading. The part where I began to wonder what was going on was in chapter 9 when the dutchess took Alice to meet the mock turtle and the Gryphon. This whole "scene" with the history of his life and the demonstrating of the dance seems to be completly irrelevant from the rest of the book. However, the whole book seems to be crazy and somewhat irrelevant so maybe that is the point. If this book is hard for me; a 21 year old college senior, to understand, how in the world is a young child supposed to understand it? I feel I may be over analyzing the story and because young children don't normally do this it is easier for them to comprehend.