This is a quick summary and analysis of Coraline
by Neil Gaiman.
This is a story about a girl named Coraline
who lives in the countryside with her mother
and father.
She is an adventurous girl who likes to explore.
She lives in a large house that is divided
into two other units.
One is occupied by two retired theatre stars
and the other is occupied by an old man who
trains mice.
As she explores her house, she finds a door
with a brick wall behind it.
However, when she tries to open the door a
second time, she finds that it leads to a
mysterious world that is similar to her own.
In this Other world, she meets her Other Mother
and Other Father, two figures that are similar
to her real parents, but they have button
eyes.
They treat her well and they want her to stay,
but she insists that she go back to her own
world in fear of having buttons sewn in her
eyes.
After her parents disappear in the real world,
Coraline goes back to the Other World to find
her parents.
There, she discovers that her Other Mother
has tricked other children into leaving the
real world.
Coraline challenges her Other Mother to find
the three souls of the children and her parents.
As per agreement, if Coraline finds the souls
first, she and the rest of them get to return
to the real world.
If her Other Mother finds them first, Coraline
will stay in the Other World.
Coraline finds all three souls in marbles
throughout the house and find her parents
in a snow globe.
With the help of a cat, she escapes through
the door and back into the real world.
Despite escaping, Coraline must deal with
her Other Mother’s hand, which is crawling
around and trying to steal a key that is around
Coraline’s neck.
In the end, after trapping her Other Mother’s
hand in a well, Coraline begins to fix her
relationship with her parents.
As always a lot can be said about this story,
but what draws my interest and attention is
the idea of dual worlds, as if everything
in this world is mirrored in another world.
More importantly, this book explores how roles
and relationships change in those dual worlds.
In the real world, Coraline assumes the role
of the “child” and her parents are the
“parents”.
But in the Other World, the roles reverse.
Coraline must save her parents and others
- a role that she is not used to undertaking.
And although there are no magical doors that
contain other worlds in my house, at least
any that I know of, we encounter several worlds
within our own world that act like dual worlds.
Different social spheres act as these dual
worlds where individuals must or choose to
assume certain roles and responsibilities.
For example, in one world, you might be a
“student” and as a “student” you undertake
certain responsibilities.
In another world, you might be a “son”
or “daughter”.
And in yet another world, you might be an
“employee”.
You’re the same person looking back in a
reflection, yet at the same time, you’re
different.
What do you think of the story?
Let me know in the comments below.
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