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I've been reading 不思議の国のアリス (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) and there's a
sentence that is baffling me. It reads:

> [After having fallen down the rabbit hole]
>
> それがすごく急で、 **アリスがふみとどまろうかと考えるひまもないうちに** 、気がつくと何やら深い井戸みたいなところを落っこちているところでした。

My main concern is the bolded part. I'm not sure if it's Alice who "does not
have any free time to consider remaining" or whether it's the "inside that
does not have any free time to consider remaining". I guess the latter case
would seem more probable; one could interpret it as figurative language: i.e.
that's how relentlessly fast the rabbit hole seemed to progress.

How does うち work here? And who is the subject of the verb 気がつく? Is it Alice or
the general observer?
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2015-04-07T05:42:04.203
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2015-04-07T10:34:52.763
2015-04-07T08:03:29.520
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question
grammar
Which noun is being modified in アリスがふみとどまろうかと考えるひまもないうちに
The former; the fall was so sudden (それがすごく急で) that she had no time to consider
bracing her feet.
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2015-04-07T06:25:44.550
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2015-04-07T06:25:44.550
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answer
> 「Mini-sentence A + **うちに** + Mini-sentence B」=
>
> "B happens **while** A is happening."

B = [気]{き}がつくと[何]{なに}やら[深]{ふか}い[井戸]{いど}みたいなところを[落]{お}っこちているところでした

A = アリスがふみとどまろうかと[考]{かんが}えるひまもない

Above is the structure of the whole sentence and one's comprehension of this
structure is the prerequisite to a good analysis of any part of it.

You clearly are unfamiliar with the usage of 「～～うちに」, which is a temporal
expression just like " **while** " in English. 「うち」 has several different
meanings and you could find them all in a medium-sized dictionary. "
**Inside** " is one of the meanings but that is not what it means in the
sentence in question.

> " And who is the subject of the verb 気がつく?"

It is Alice; No other possibilities.

「アリスがふみとどまろうかと考えるひまもないうちに」, therfore, means:

"while Alice had no time to think about holding her ground"
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2015-04-07T10:34:52.763
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2015-04-07T10:34:52.763
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer