Coraline

Coraline

Front cover by Dave McKean
Author	Neil Gaiman
Illustrator	Dave McKean
Cover artist	Dave McKean
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	horror, dark fantasy, children's novel
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Harper Collins (US)
Publication date	2 July 2002[1]
Media type	Print, e-book, audiobook
Pages	210
ISBN	0-06-113937-8
OCLC	71822484
Dewey Decimal	813
LC Class	PZ7.G1273 Co 2002

Coraline (/ˈkɒrəlaɪn/^[2]) is a dark fantasy children's novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella,^[3] the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella,^[4] and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers.^[5] The Guardian ranked Coraline #82 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.^[6] Gaiman started writing Coraline in 1990. The titular character's name came from a typo in "Caroline". According to Gaiman, "I had typed the name Caroline, and it came out wrong. I looked at the word Coraline, and knew it was someone's name. I wanted to know what happened to her."^[7] It was adapted as a 2009 stop-motion animated film, directed by Henry Selick.

Plot[]

Coraline Jones and her workholic parents move into an old house that has been divided into flats. The other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two elderly women retired from the stage, and Mr Bobo, initially referred to as "the crazy old man upstairs," who claims to be training a mouse circus. The flat beside Coraline's is unoccupied, and a small door that links them is revealed to be bricked up when opened.

Coraline goes to visit her new neighbors. Mr. Bobo relays to her a message from his mice: "Don't go through the door." Coraline also has tea with Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and Miss Spink spies danger in Coraline's future after reading her tea leaves.

Despite these warnings, Coraline decides to unlock the door when she is home by herself. This time, she finds the brick wall behind the door is gone. In its place is a long hallway that leads to a flat identical to her own, except inhabited by the "Other Mother" and "Other Father," who have black buttons for eyes. The Other Mother is notably taller and thinner than her real mother. Her black hair seems to move by itself, her skin is paper-white, and her nails are long and red. Coraline finds the "Other World" more interesting than her own; the Other Mother cooks food that she actually enjoys, both of her Other Parents pay more attention to her, her toy box is filled with animate toys that can move and fly, the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible perform a never-ending act in their flat, and the Other Mr Bobo performs a mouse circus. She even finds that the stray black cat that wanders around the house in the real world can talk. The cat identifies itself as the same cat that lives in the real world and possesses the ability to traverse between the two dimensions. Although intentionally rude and unhelpful for the greater part of the conversation, it briefly praises her for bringing "protection," then vanishes.

After Coraline returns to the copy of her flat, the Other Mother offers Coraline the opportunity to stay in the Other World permanently, but in order to do so, Coraline must allow buttons to be sewn over her eyes. Coraline is horrified and returns through the door to her home. Upon her return, Coraline finds that her real parents are missing. They do not return the next day, and the black cat wakes her and takes her to a mirror in her hallway, through which she can see her trapped parents. They signal to her by writing "Help Us" on the glass, from which Coraline deduces the Other Mother has kidnapped them. She first calls the police, but they do not believe her. So Coraline, though frightened of returning, goes back to the Other World to confront the Other Mother and rescue her parents. In the garden, Coraline is prompted by the cat to challenge the Other Mother, as "Her kind of thing loves games and challenges." The Other Mother tries to convince Coraline to stay, but Coraline refuses and is locked within a small space behind a mirror as punishment.

In the small dark closet space, she meets three ghost children. Each had in the past let the Other Mother, whom they archaically refer to as the "beldam", sew buttons over their eyes. They tell Coraline how the Beldam eventually grew bored with them, leaving them to die and cast them aside, but they are trapped there because she has kept their souls. If the essences of their souls can be rescued from the Beldam, then they can pass on. The ghost children implore Coraline to escape and avoid their fate.

After the Beldam releases Coraline from the mirror, Coraline proposes a game: if she can find the essences of the ghost children's souls and her parents, then she, her parents, and the ghost children may go free. If she fails, she will finally accept the Beldam's offer. Coraline searches through the Other World and overcomes the Other Mother's obstacles by using her wits and Miss Spink's lucky adder stone (the protection the cat spoke of) to find the souls' essences. She also deduces that her parents are imprisoned in a snow globe on the mantelpiece. The ghost children warn her that even if Coraline succeeds, the Beldam will not let her go, so Coraline tricks the Other Mother by announcing that she knows where her parents are hidden: in the passageway between the dimensions. The Beldam cannot resist gloating by opening the door to show Coraline that her parents are not there. When the Beldam opens the door, Coraline throws the cat at her, grabs the snow globe, and escapes to the real world with the key, and the cat quickly follows. While escaping, Coraline forces the door shut on the Beldam's hand. Back in her home, Coraline falls asleep on a chair. She is awoken by her parents who don't have any memory of what happened to them.

That night, Coraline has a dream in which she meets the three children at a picnic. The children are dressed in clothes from different periods and one seems to have wings. They warn her that her task is still not done: the Beldam will attempt to get her back and will try to get the key to unlock the door. Coraline goes to the old well in the woods to dispose of the key. She pretends to have a picnic, with the picnic blanket laid over the entrance to the well. The Beldam's severed hand attempts to seize the key, but steps on the blanket and falls into the well. Coraline returns to the house, greeting her neighbors and gets ready for school the next day.

Characters[]

• Coraline Jones – The young explorer. She is curious, intelligent, resourceful, and courageous. Coraline is often irritated by rain, crazy grown-ups (as they all seem to be), and not being taken seriously because of her young age. She's described as being "small for her age", but Coraline is not afraid to face anyone; she is the most adventurous person in the book. Even though Coraline wants to never see the Beldam again after learning about her true nature, she does so anyway in order to rescue her parents. After everything she had heard about the Beldam and what she has done to Coraline's family, she can't deny that the sorceress does genuinely love her in her own selfish way. She feels some empathy for her at the very slightest and realizes that she wants a strong mother-daughter bond that she doesn't fully understand how to make. This shows the compassionate side of Coraline Jones and the strong will she has. In the film, she is voiced by Dakota Fanning.
• Mrs. Jones – Coraline's mother. She is very busy most of the time, and sometimes a little inattentive, but she loves and cares about Coraline. She is nice, and helpful, though Coraline considers her to be rather boring. Coraline also gets annoyed with her real mother because she doesn't seem to want to let Coraline "fit in". In the film, her first name is Mel and is voiced by Teri Hatcher.
• Mr. Jones – Coraline's father. He works at his house on the computer. He cares about Coraline very much and is kind, brave, and helpful. He makes "creative" food creations that Coraline strongly dislikes. He, too, is usually too busy to spend time with Coraline. In the film, his first name is Charlie and is voiced by John Hodgman.
• The Cat – A black cat from the real world. The cat acts as a mentor to Coraline and guides her through her journey. He is left unnamed, as he explains that cats do not need names to tell each other apart. Although, the Other Mother refers to him as Vermin before being attacked. Unlike many of the characters in the novel, he does not have an "Other World" counterpart, saying that unlike other creatures in the world, cats can "keep themselves together". He moves freely from one world to the other, although he appears to be capable of talking in the Other World. He possesses a very sarcastic personality, constantly belittling Coraline, but nevertheless is helpful to her. He is defiant of the Other Mother but seems to tremble at the thought of being stuck in the Other World forever. He befriends Coraline and helps her escape from the Beldam, though Coraline also uses him as an impromptu weapon. He is voiced by Keith David in the film.
• The Beldam (also known as the Other Mother) – The primary antagonist of the novel. She is an evil sorceress and the ruler of the Other World. She looks similar to Coraline's real mother but taller and thinner, with long black hair that seems to move by itself, black button eyes, paper-white skin, and extremely long, twitchy fingers with long dark red nails. During the course of the novel, she grows taller, thinner, and paler, looking less and less like Coraline's mother. She cannot create, but only copy, twist, and change things from the real world when constructing her version of it. She collects children, whom she loves possessively to the point of eventual destruction, taking their souls so they cannot leave her world and caring for them until they pass away, but wanting to feel their happiness and joy afterwards. It is implied that she murdered her own mother because when Coraline asked her if she had a grave she replied "Oh yes, I put her there myself." In the film, her true form is a humanoid arachnid with needle-like fingers on her hands. She is referred to several times as "the beldam", a Middle English word meaning "grandmother", "ugly old woman", "hag", or "witch", and also used to refer to creatures of fairy. In the film, she is voiced by Teri Hatcher, who also voices Coraline's mother.
• The Other Father – A creation of the Beldam in the image of Mr. Jones, the Other Father is used to help trick Coraline to stay in the Other World. Like her real father, he has a study and sits there during the day and will not talk to Coraline for long. He does not work, however; he merely occupies the study, as he is not permitted to talk to Coraline by himself. He is much more fun than Coraline's real father and always tries to be cheerful and fun in front of Coraline. In reality, the Other Father is sad and nervous. The Beldam ends up punishing him for revealing too much to Coraline—she transforms him into a soft, doughy, grub-like creature, and orders the Other Father to trap Coraline so she cannot win her challenge. He voices his reluctance to harm her, yet cannot refuse the Beldam's orders and attacks, but Coraline narrowly escapes. In the film, he is voiced by John Hodgman, who also voices his real world counterpart, but his singing voice is provided by John Linnell.
• Miss Spink and Miss Forcible – A pair of retired actresses who live in the flat under Coraline's. They own many aging Scotties, such as Hamish, Angus, and Jock, and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as actresses. They recognize the danger Coraline is in after reading her fortune through tea leaves and give her an adder stone to help protect her. In the Other World, they are youthful and perform continuously in front of many different dogs, who, in the Other World, are anthropomorphic. In the film, they and their Other World counterparts are voiced by Jennifer Saunders (as the voice of Spink) and Dawn French (as the voice of Forcible)
• Mr. Bobo – A retired circus performer living in the flat above Coraline's; he is commonly referred to as the Crazy Old Man Upstairs. Over the course of the book, he claims to be training mice to perform in a mouse circus, and often brings Coraline messages from them, though at first Coraline doubts he even has mice to train and doesn't listen to what he says to be messages from the mice. His Other World counterpart trains rats and is in fact made of rats. In the film adaptation, he is renamed Sergei Alexander Bobinsky, but goes by Mr. Bobinski or Mr. B, and is voiced by Ian McShane, who also voices his Other World counterpart.
• The Ghost Children – The spirits of three children who were previous victims of the Beldam: two girls and one boy. The boy is described as having a dirty face and red trousers. One of the girls has brown hair, a pink blouse, and a pink skirt. The other has a brown bonnet and brown dress. They were trapped by the other mother at different times before Coraline, and reside in the dark space behind the mirror. After having their souls restored, they go to the afterlife, but not before meeting Coraline for a last time, in a dream where she has a picnic with them. Here, she sees their true appearances and they thank her for freeing them from the Beldam, while also warning her that she is not done with her.

Adaptations[]

Film[]

With the help of the animation studio Laika, director Henry Selick released a stop motion film adaptation in 2009 that received critical acclaim. At the 82nd Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Animated Feature but lost to Pixar's Up. In the film, Coraline is depicted as having short blue hair and freckles. Henry Selick added a new character, Wyborn "Wybie" Lovat, who vexes Coraline at first but over time, grows on her. In the Other World, he cannot speak but is an ally to Coraline. At the end of the film, Coraline reaches out to help Wybie tell his grandmother what is behind the little door.

Comic books[]

A comic book adaptation by P. Craig Russell, lettered by Todd Klein and colored by Lovern Kindzierski, was published in 2008^[8]

Musical[]

A theatrical adaptation, with music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt and book by David Greenspan, premiered on 6 May 2009, produced by MCC Theater and True Love Productions Off-Broadway at The Lucille Lortel Theatre.^[9] Nine-year-old Coraline was played by an adult, Jayne Houdyshell, and the Other Mother was played by David Greenspan.^[9]

Video games[]

A video game adaptation, based on the film, was published and developed by D3 Publisher of America. The game was released on 27 January 2009 for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Wii platforms and contains features such as playing as Coraline, interacting with other characters, and playing minigames. The game received mostly negative reviews.^[10][11]

Opera[]

An opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage, based on the novella, made its world premiere at the Barbican Centre in London on 27 March 2018.

References[]

External links[]

• Chapter One
• Audiobook page from publisher, with audio excerpt
• Coraline video interview
• "The Other Mother" Guardian review by Philip Pullman
• Rudd, David "An Eye for an 'I': Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and the Question of Identity" Children’s Literature and Education 39(3), 2008, pp. 159–168
• The Lesson of Coraline – Business Week article about Polyjet Matrix in Coraline animation
• Coraline at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Coraline Blu-ray 2D & 3D disc review by Christian Hokenson