Click on the "comment" button below to leave your blog post. I suggest you type your response first in a word document, and then copy and paste it into the comment box. When using book titles in your post you should set the title off with the underscore key: _Coraline_ (as the comment box does not recognize italics). If you are signed up to be a discussion leader, your blog post should be at least 500 words of original prose (do not duplicate anything other bloggers have already said here) in which you engage with the text for the week critically AND pose an original discussion question. If you are signed up to be a responder, your post should be 250 words in length and respond to, answer, extend, or disagree with a question or thought from another student's post. Be sure to write your full name and word count at the bottom of your post. The cut-off time for this blog post is Friday, March 18 at midnight (for discussion leaders) and Monday, March 21 at midnight (for responders).Discussion Leaders: McKenna, Amanda, Gianna, and TeAnna
Responders: Aly F. and Alison M.
In Neil Gaiman’s _Coraline_, critical theorist Bachktin’s term Carnivalesque is extremely prevalent. Carnivalesque is subversive questioning of authority through humor and chaos. While Gaiman’s take on this concept includes more horror than humor, the use remains the same. In the book Carnivalesque functions to, reveal truths about Coraline’s relationship with her parents, while allowing her to grow as a character.
ReplyDeleteCoraline’s relationship with her parents experienced times of turbulence throughout the novel. Coraline often felt ignored by her parents, constantly feeling bored and wishing for excitement. The first chapter of the book demonstrates much of the way Coraline does not get the attention she desires from her mother or father. As the narrator explained, “both of her parents worked, doing things on computers, which meant they were home a lot of the time.” (8). While her parents were often home, they spent their days busy, fueling Coraline’s love of exploring. In fact, it was on an exploration suggested by her father that led her to discover the mysterious large brown door in the drawing room. When Coraline finally chooses to enter through the door, she meets her other mother and father. Their creepy appearance with paper white skin and black button eyes (33) are anything but ordinary. The house she finds herself in looks “almost exactly the same” (41) as her real home, except the chaos in this fantasy world is everywhere. Coraline’s apprehensive nature toward her other mother and father is quickly diminished when she eats the “best chicken” (34) she had ever tasted. She then begins comparing her other mother’s cooking to her real mother, thinking how her chicken is “very dry and…never tasted of anything” (34). Even in her room she has “a whole toy box filled with wonderful toys” (36). However, Coraline soon realizes through her second trip through the door that this fantasy world is full of evil. The other mother captures Coraline’s parents, an in order to get them back she must win the game and find the lost souls. While meeting ghost children (99), the talking cat (88), and the creature in the sac (122), Coraline comes to realize this place is not where she wants to live. Eventually, Coraline exclaims, “’I don’t want whatever I want…what kind of fun would it be if I got everything I ever wanted?’” (145). Through the terror and chaos of the other realm, Coraline comes to the realization that her parents do love her, and she should be thankful for all that she has.
The Carnivalesque elements of the book originally lead Coraline to question her parents and the life she has at home. She sees her other mother and father, the delicious food they cook, her room full of toys, but a world full of evil. Through the chaotic and scary elements of the story, Coraline learns to appreciate her parents and the life they have made for her. She no longer desires what she thought she did, and comes to understand her parents want that best for her.
Word count: 506
Gianna Petan
In Neil Gaiman’s, _Coraline_, fear functions as the catalyst for character growth and identity. Coraline discovers what is important to her as she faces her fears and overcomes challenges.
ReplyDeleteTowards the beginning of the novel, Coraline seems unhappy about many of her parents’ actions, or lack thereof. Her parents are too busy with work to play, her mother will not buy her green gloves, and her father makes meals that Coraline dislikes. When her parents appear to be missing, Coraline takes it upon herself (after she is ignored by other adults) to find them. It is then she begins to recognize how important her parents are to her.
For example, before she returns to the other world and begins the search, she tells the cat a story about her father and the wasps. She concludes the story by saying, “But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave” (69-70). This is significant because Coraline is seeing her dad in a different light and actually admiring him. She no longer sees him as too busy or a bad cook, she is remembering in a new way. Coraline wants to be brave like her dad was with the wasps. Her dad faced his fear and Coraline has to do the same thing. She has to go back through the door, even though she is afraid of what is behind it. Coraline’s pep talk and stepping again into the other world are examples of how she has already grown as a character by overcoming fear. Do you think Gaiman could have included the wasp story for another purpose?
As Coraline is discovering her identity, she also has to worry about losing it. In the real world her neighbor’s continually get her name wrong, but when she is playing the game with the other mother, the issue of identity becomes much more serious. The other mother could actually steal her soul. Coraline finds this out when one of the ghost children say, “Names, names, names. The names are the first things to go, after the breath has gone, and the beatings of the heart” (98). This is significant because children that are trapped there are completely forgotten. Nobody remembers their names, including themselves. Although this is frightening, it motivates Coraline. She does not want to lose everything about herself, so she does not accept that the other mother will keep her there. She is very determined to win the challenge against the other mother. It becomes important for Coraline not only to find her parents and escape, but also to free the three souls. She wants to keep her identity (and life) and give the children back theirs. Do you think this passage was meant to address identity or instill fear?
Coraline frees the children’s souls, finds her parents, and gets them all, including the cat, safely home. After everything she experiences and overcomes, Coraline seems more than happy to have her old life back. For example, her father is still preparing meals. “Dinner that night was pizza, and even though is was homemade by her father (so the crust was alternately thick and doughy and raw, and too thin and burnt), and even though he had put slices of green peppers on it, along with little meatballs and, of all things, pineapple chunks, Coraline are the entire slice she had been given” (169). This is significant because she has grown to appreciate her parents. Before Coraline would complain and even refuse to eat what her father made. Even though her father may not make her favorite meal every night, she was happy to have a father that loved her. Where else do you see examples of character growth in the novel?
Word count: 632
Amanda Sheeran
Character growth is a clear theme in Neil Gaiman's _Coraline_. The "wasp story" on pages 56-59 shows Coraline's respect and admiration for her father and his bravery, but was also Coraline's inspiration to be brave herself. She could have easily stayed at home where she was safe and hoped that her parents would eventually return, however she decided to be brave like her father and go and save her parents. This is one of the first of many examples of Coraline's growth as a character. Another example is at the end of the novel, after Coraline learns the real name of the “crazy old man upstairs.” She says to him, “It’s Coraline, Mister Bobo, not Caroline. Coraline.” Mr. Bobo responds by calling her “Coraline,” with “wonderment and respect.” (160) The point was once Coraline shows Mr. Bobo respect and kindness by addressing him by his name, he returns that behavior by listening to her and calling her by the correct name. This shows how Coraline has matured over the course of the novel and she is now getting the acknowledgement she wants. Coraline’s parents may never actually acknowledge her saving them, perhaps they don’t even know it happened, but at the end of the novel they do actually pay attention to her and show her affection. Coraline’s dad even picks her up and carries her, “which he had not done for such a long time, not since he had started pointing out to her she was much to old to be carried.” (140) Character growth is presented most clearly by Coraline in the novel, but as in the previously mentioned example she has even inspired growth in other characters.
DeleteWord Count: 279
Alison Marek
In Neil Gaiman’s novel _Coraline_ there is a recurrent theme of identity, naming, personal growth and the importance of self-identity. Coraline is almost always alone on her journey, so she must develop a strong sense of her personal identity as she grows. She then struggles with the identity of those who are around her: her mother versus the other mother, her father versus the other father, the the ghost children, and her neighbors.
ReplyDeleteCoraline is scared to go back through the door, but she knows she must to save her mother and father. When she is telling the cat the story about her dad going back to get his glasses although he was scared, she points of the characteristics that make someone brave. She says to the cat “when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave,” (59). Coraline wants to identify as brave because although she’s scared, she is going back into the bedlam’s world to bring her parents back. When Coraline sees herself in the mirror, she says to herself “I will be brave… no, I am brave,” (61). Coraline realizes that even though she is scared of going back into the other world and being taken by the other mother and other father, she is going to do it anyway for her family. This is where Coraline begins building a stronger sense of personal identity and experiences personal growth. It enables her ability to successfully rescue her mother and father.
In the very beginning chapter, Gaiman begins hinting at the importance of names to Coraline’s personal identity. While Coraline is talking to Miss Spink, Miss Spink mispronounces Coraline as Caroline and Coraline corrects her without ever addressing any of the other topics of conversation. Only a few sentences late Coraline says “I asked you not to call me Caroline. It’s Coraline,” (4) when speaking with yet another one of her neighbors. The idea of a name being of importance to a person’s identity is challenged when Coraline asks the ghost children who they are. One answers “names, names, names” (83) and “we keep our memories longer than our names,” (83). The ghost children deemphasize the attachment that people have with their names as their only identity. The sadness in the ghost children’s voices resonates with Coraline and she empathizes with them. When Coraline asks who they are and how they got there, she realizes that they have lost all sense of their identity. The beldam took their sense of living when she took their souls and Coraline realized that she had an opportunity to help them regain their personal identities with their souls. This reiterated her previous realization that she identified herself as brave.
Throughout the story Coraline learns that it doesn’t matter what people think of her; identity comes from within. Everyone must develop their own based on their inner self.
How does Coraline reinforce modern day stereotypical gender roles? How does she challenge those stereotypes? How do both the mother and father and the other mother and father both reinforce and challenge stereotypical gender roles?
Word Count: 514
McKenna Inglis
I agree that identity plays a big role in Neil Gaiman's _Coraline_. One doesn't usually read about identity and names in children's books in such an obvious way. There are multiple times in the beginning of the book where Coraline is called Caroline by her neighbors. On page 4, Coraline has a conversation with Miss Spink which goes, "'You see, Caroline', Miss Spink said, getting Coraline's name wrong.." Then directly after this on the same page Coraline has a conversation with Mr. Bobo who also gets her names wrong by calling her "Little Caroline". The author makes an effort to make sure that we are readers are noticing that Coraline has to remind everyone of her name continuously. This seems to be a bit of foreshadowing to the part in the book when Coraline meets the children with no souls trapped in the other world.
DeleteWhen Coraline meets these children the first thing that she asks them is what is their name, as would most people. One of the children responds with, "'Names, names, names, said another voice, all faraway and lost. The names are the first things to go, after the breath has gone, and the beating of the heart" (98). This quote is significant because it shows us how much an identity can mean, we instinctively ask people what their name is when we meet them because that is how we identify ourselves. Coraline is in the middle of figuring out who she is in the world and this shows how she is figuring it out.
Aly Fouts
Word Count:258
In Neil Gaiman’s _Coraline_, readers enter another world otherwise known as portal quest, a term coined by Farah Mendelsohn. The world that Coraline enters beyond the door is parallel to the reality she is familiar with. Within the parallel universe: the food tastes delicious, her parents pay attention to her, and she feels loved. In the current world, Coraline faces loneliness and abandonment due to her parents’ busy lives. Gaiman connects these feelings with the descriptions of the toys in her room: …the kind of things you find in the bottoms of toy boxes in the real world: forgotten objects, abandoned and unloved (115). The negative feelings led to the adventure and became a motive to stay in the parallel universe.
ReplyDeleteThe novel allows readers to reflect on the world as they know it, while adding adventure to stretch the imagination’ thus, combining characteristics of realism and fantasy. According to Hintz and Tribenella, the fantasy world defies the laws of physics and science, while realism provides insight into existing human realities. Coraline’s relationship with her parents and running away on an adventure touches on the legacies of new realism, where readers connect the novels to their own lives. For instance, when Coraline first enters the parallel universe, she hugged the other mom but knew right away that it wasn’t her. In this sense, it is implied that Coraline really loves her family and later readers learn that her parents were doing their best for her. Lack of communication can cause children to become distant or make them feel isolated, which are some of the experiences we see Coraline’s family is facing. Also, Coraline had to face the consequences of her disobedience of entering the door, by saving her family. Children can relate in this way by understanding that each choice they make hold various levels of consequences. Another thing that children face is finding their identity, which is a common theme in a lot of adolescent books. Coraline doubts herself many times throughout the book, stating that she should be this but is not. Like when she is about to enter the door, she understands that it takes bravery and that her bravery came from her fear of the unknown and to save her parents. Her character develops as the cat guides her like a conscience. She goes back to the other world to save her parents, because she knew that her parents would do the same for her. This growth shows how much her bond with her parents have strengthened, especially from the beginning of the book. There is a huge difference and a change. In the end, Coraline grows and develops as she begins making choices with confidence and compares her experiences between the two worlds.
Questions for the responders: Imagine if _Coraline_ followed the rules and didn’t enter through the door, would this novel have the same effect on you? How would you respond, if you were given the opportunity to enter a world where your desires came true?
Word count: 506
TeAnna Friday
The biggest similarity I noticed between Lewis Carol's _Alice In Wonderland_ and Neil Gaiman's _Coraline_ is the use of Bachktin's term carnivalesque. This term is used to describe when a story takes something or someone of authority and describes this in such a way that we don't see it as authoritative. In _Alice In Wonderland_ an example of the use of carnivalesque is the very end of the story when a courtroom trial is being described. Carol describes the trial as something of humor that doesn't make very much sense when in reality trial is something very serious. An example of this in _Coraline_ would be from page 19 when Coraline is talking the Mr. Bobo. "'The message is this. Don't go through the door'. He paused. 'Does the mean anything to you?'" (19). This is what Mr. Bobo told Coraline that his mice told him to tell her. Although it is a serious message and we find out later that Coraline should have listened, having a message come from mice is a way of flipping things on their head.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, both of these books' use of carnivalesque show the main characters that they really do like their lives in the regular world after they experience the "other" worlds they travel to.
Aly Fouts
Word Count:212