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I Coraline Jones and her parents moved into a new flat in a very old house. The large manor had been divided up into several individual flats—on the ground floor, below Coraline and her parents, lived Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two aging former actresses who owned a large number of Highland terriers. Above Coraline lived a crazy old man with a mustache who had told Coraline that he was in the process of training a circus of mice. All of Coraline’s new neighbors called her “Caroline,” even as she repeatedly reminded them they were saying her name wrong. Coraline is frequently bored, and so she passed the time by visiting her strange neighbors or exploring the grounds. Outside the large house there was a big garden and an old tennis court which had fallen into disrepair, a large, deep well covered by wooden boards. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible told Coraline to stay away from the well because it is dangerous. One afternoon, Coraline discovered a “haughty” black cat playing near the tennis courts. Though she tried to approach the cat and play with it, it run away. One afternoon, Coraline was forbidden from exploring when a heavy rain begins to fall. Her mother and father told her she must stay inside. She tried playing with her toys and channel-surfing on the TV, entertaining herself briefly with a nature program about protective coloration—a phenomenon in which animals, birds, and insects disguised themselves to avoid predators. But it ended too soon, so Coraline wnt into her father’s office to talk to him. She wanted to keep on exploring outside. Her father suggested she explore the flat, and gave her a list of activities to do around the house, as counting doors and windows. While exploring the drawing room, Coraline realized that a large wooden door in the wall of it was locked. When Coraline asked her mother where the door went, her mother opened it with a a large old rusty black key. The door opened onto a brick wall, and Coraline’s mother explained that when the house was turned into separate flats, different rooms were bricked off from one another. Coraline asked what’s on the other side of the brick wall, and her mother told her there was one empty flat in the house that was still for sale. Coraline’s mother left the drawing room. Coraline called after her, asking her to lock the door—Coraline’s mother called back that there’s no sense in locking it since it doesn’t go anywhere. That night for dinner, Coraline’s father made one of his gourmet “recipes”, but Coraline didn’t like them, so she grabbed some chips and pizza from the freezer. Coraline’s father begged her to try the dish, but she refused. That night, as she was falling asleep, Coraline heard a strange noise. She got out of bed to investigate. In the hall, she saw a black shape that looked like a thin giant woman or a strange spider-like object. Coraline followed it and watched as it quickly hurried towards the door on the far side of the room. Coraline, scared and nervous, turned the light on. She saw that the large old door is now cracked open. Coraline returned to bed and had unpleasant dreams of a chorus of rats singing an ominous song: “We are small but we are many / We are many we are small / We were here before you rose / We will be here when you fall.” In this chapter, Coraline expresses common behaviour of children: being bored all the time and wanting to find something to do, not being quiet, being curious, being rebel. Her parents don’t pay attention to her because they are busy working. Coraline’s parents are clearly busy working—perhaps to pay for their new home or maintain their jobs from a new location. Coraline can’t see the reasoning behind her parents’ preoccupation with their work—she’s only focused on her own loneliness and boredom.

The fact that the key is much different from the others, foreshadows the existence of another world that lies just beyond the door. Coraline’s rejection of the fancy, carefully-prepared food her father makes in favor of unhealthy but popular pre-packaged meals shows that she doesn’t yet understand or feel gratitude for the love and care her parents show her. II The next day, the weather was good, so she went for a walk. Her mother told her “don’t go too far, and dress up warmly” (figure of authority, it resembles Alice). She chatted a little with Miss Spink, she told Coraline that men used to send her flowers when she acted in plays. She was looking for Miss Forcible, who she though was lost in the fog. But Coraline was an explorer so she would find her way back. Coraline was going around the gardens when her neighbour came over and told her that his mice sent her a message: “Don’t go through the door”. “They are funny, they got you name wrong, they kept saying Coraline. Nor Caroline.” (This is weird, the mice knew before her name) Coraline went indoors and told her mother that she was bored again. Her mother lamented that there was still a whole week left until the summer holidays are over and Coraline’s school year began, then suggested Coraline drawing something. Coraline quickly got bored of drawing. She checked the door in the drawing room again and found that it was locked. She went to visit her father in his study and told him “why don’t you play with me?” but he was too busy writing to talk or play with her. So she went to Mis Forcible and Miss Spink’s flat and had a cup of tea. Miriam Forcible and April Spink kept on talking as she wasn’t there. The women read Coraline’s future by looking at the black tea leaves that remained at bottom of her cup. Both agreed that she was in terrible danger, but they couldn’t tell her what she was in danger from, leaves are good only for general, not for specifics. Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. Then, Miss Spink gave her a stone with a hole in it, that was meant to repell bad things. Coraline went outside. She wasn’t afraid at all of being in danger, she thought it sounded exciting, and not like a bad thing. She doesn’t understand why her parents don’t pay attention, all she can see is that they don’t prioritize her. III The next day, they went to buy clothes for school and her mother didn’t respect her decisions. She wanted green gloves but her mother refused to buy them. Coraline wandered off and looked at a display, then her mother started to call her. She wandered back and told her mom that she was kidnapped by aliens but she escaped. (Fantasy, imagination). Then, her mother bought half a dozen of hair clips, but Coraline didn’t want them either. While they were in their wey back home, she asked her mother what was in the empty flat. Her mother told her that it was an empty room, and she couldn’t get into it unless she could walk through bricks. Her mother went out to buy some food. She was alone and bored so she looked for the keys to open the door. When she opened the door, the bricks had gone. It opened on to a dark hallway that lead her to the empty flat. The flat was almost the same as her flat. And there lived her “other family”. They were pale, tall and thin, and their eyes were big black bottoms. (it is said that eyes are the

windows of our souls, so Coraline couldn’t see anything on the bottoms. The witch tried to resemble as much as possible to Coraline’s mother, but she was not a human being, there was still darkness on her) The other mother’s fingers were too long, and her nails curved and sharp. (like a witch) She met her other mother and her other father. Everything looked amazing. Her other mother prepared a meal that tasted wonderful. They paid attention to her. The other mother told her that she had been waiting for her for a long time, it wasn’t the same there without her. Coraline didn’t know she had another mother, but the woman told her that everone does. Her other bedroom was a lot more interesting, the walls were painted in pink and green, there were books, toys, etc. She looked through the window. Outside, the view was the same one she saw from her own bedroom: trees, fields, and beyond them, on the horizon, distant purple hills. There were rats under the bed, they couldn’t talk, but they formed a circle, they began to climb on top of each other, forming a pyramid. The rats began to sing: “We have teeth and we have tails, we have tails we have eyes, we were here before you fell, you will be here when we rise”. (similar to what she had dreamed of before). Then they hid under the other crazy old man’s clothes, who was standing in the doorway. The other crazy old man invited her to have dinner, but she found him weird and felt uncomfortable. Immediatly she went outside to explore. Her other parents stood in the kitchen doorway as she walked down the corridor, smiling identical smiles, and waving slowly. “Have a nice time outside” said the other mother. “We’ll just wait here for you to come back, said her other father. Coraline doesn’t feel understood by her parents and wishes that they’d treat her differently, or perhaps be different people themselves. Coraline’s journey through a long, dark passage into a world which resembles her own closely but not perfectly is reminiscent of other literary heroines’ journeys to find themselves—most notably, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Coraline has found herself in a world which has all the trappings of paradise—parents who dote upon her, a brightly-colored bedroom, delicious food—but there is a terribly dark undercurrent suggesting that all of the pleasantries of this world are simply meant to trap Coraline. (The rats, the bottoms) The rats are mean, they seem to want to lure Coraline somewhere where they can harm her.The other mother’s love for them shows that they’re her devoted minions, and that Coraline can’t trust them, however much the other mother tries to frame them as friends or playmates. Coraline is disconcerted by the amount of attention her other parents are giving her. In her own world, all she wanted was her parents’ attention—now, though, she’s disturbed by the way the other mother and other father seem to watch her unceasingly. Coraline is learning some empathy for her real parents—and an important lesson about expectations and responsibilities between parents and children. IV She was outside the other house when she saw a large black cat, identical to the large black cat she’d seen in the garden at home. She said, “Hello, you must be the other cat”. No, the cat said, “I’m me, you people are spread all over the place. Cats keep ourselves together.” Coraline asked him “but if you are the same cat I saw at home, how can you talk?”

The cat told her that cats didn’t talk at home, and he went away offended (she offended him as Alice). She pleaded him to come back. She said she was sorry and they could be friends. “We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephants, but we’re not” (he gives tricky asnwers as the Cheshire Cat in Alice). Coraline asked what his name was, but he said cats didn’t have names, because unlike people, cats knew who they were, so they didn’t need names. (People as Coraline are trying to define themselves and find their identity). Coraline asked him how he arrived to that place, and the act showed her that he just walked behind the tree and there he could go in and out of the place. Coraline went over to the tree and looked behind it. The cat was gone. (As it happened in Alice, the cat appeared and dissappeared as he wanted, but he would be present whenever she needed him). The cat appeared behind her, he told her that she was wise to bring “protection” with her to this world. Then he vanished among the trees. Coraline wondered what he had meant. She went to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible flat, but it turned out that in that place it was a theatre and one of their Scottie dogs was asking for the tickets to see the show. She didn’t have any, but the dog let her go in anyway. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible came onto the stage. Miss Spink was riding a onewheeled bicycle and juggling balls. Miss Forcible skipped behind her, holding a basket of flowers. She scattered the flower petals across the stage as she went. The dogs clapped enthusiastically, so they unziped their elderly bodies to reveal beautiful young women inside, with black buttom eyes. They requested a volunteer from the audience, and one of the dogs urged Coraline to go up on stage. The other Miss Forcible pulled out a knife from a box while Miss Spink led Coraline to a board at the corner of the stage. She put a balloon over Coraline’s head and stepped away. Miss Forcible threw the knife at the balloon, and the dogs clapped. Miss Spink gave Coraline a box of chocolates and thanked her for being such a good sport. She asked the dog next to her if he would like a chocolate, he said yes. Coraline thought chocolate wasn’t good for dogs, and the dog told her that there it was all they ate. (Wishes become true). Coraline asked how much longer the performance was, and the dog next to her told her it never ends. Coraline stood up and left the theater. The other Miss Spink and the other Miss Forcible seemed to be living out the dreams of their real-world counterparts—but the idea that their performance is never-ending started to make it seem like more of a prison sentence than wish fulfillment. Their other parents were waiting for her with large smiles on their faces. They brought her back up to the house, and as they walked, Coraline’s other mother stroked Coraline’s hair. Coraline told her to stop, and she did. Coraline’s other father asked if Coraline liked their world, Coraline says she did. Coraline’s other mother told her that she could stay there forever if she’d like. Coraline considered the question, shifting her hands around in her pockets—as she did, she felt the stone with the hole in it. Coraline’s other father told her that if she wanted to stay, she had to do one small, simple thing. She needed to change her eyes. Coraline wanted to go. So she went to the drawing room and pulled open the door, where she found just darkness. She stepped into the darkness and turned back home. V Coraline went back home. Her parents weren’t home, so she was waiting for them. All alone, in the middle of the night, Coraline began to cry (even though her parents didn’t pay too much attention, she knew they protected and looked after her) While she was

sleeping, the cat woke her up. The cat led her to the mirror, where she saw her parents asking for help. She called the police station, but of course, they didn’t believe that her parents were missing, and that they were trapped in another world. (This happened in Alice as well, adults don’t believe that children can be wise, they believe that children don’t know anything.) She believed her other mother was hiding them to make her go back. She got ready to go to the parallel world, to rescue them because she remembered when her father and her went for a walk and he saved her from wasps. He asked her to run while he stayed with the wasps and got stung. Therefore, he got twenty-nine stings, and she only got one. He wasn’t scared, because he knew he had to give Coraline enough time to run, or the wasps would have come after both of them. She wanted to rescue them, because her parents would do the same for her. She went back to the parallel world and she carried candles and apples. She didn’t want to be with her other parents, but she wanted her parents back, so she said she would be brave. She was afraid but she wouldn’t show it. The other mother wanted her to believe that her parents were bored and tired of her, with a fake scene reflected in the mirror, in which her parents were on holidays. Coraline was sure in her heart that what she had seen in the mirror was no more than an illusion. A rat brought the old key from Coraline’s own flat. Then, she locked the door. She didn’t want to sleep in the same place as her other mother, so she went outside and talked to the black cat. She asked him, why the other mother wanted her to stay there for ever. He said “She wants something to love. She might want something to eat as well. It’s hard to tell with creatures like that.” He recommended her to challenge her. She won’t play fair, but she loves games and challenges. He told her “I’d go inside if I were you. Get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you”. (He is giving her a piece of advice) VI Coraline and she didn’t know who she was, or where she was. She talked to the other father and he told her that the rats were their friends (because they obeyed the other mother) the cat was a problem (because he helped Coraline to defeat the other mother). That’s why the other mother had disappeared, she was “fixing” the doors, to keep the cat out. He wasn’t supposed to talk to her because he would run his mouth. She wanted to go out but he told her that there isn’t anywhere but there. That house is all she made. She went into the drawing room and she saw a snow globe with two little people in it. Then, she set off into the woods. The trees looked less treelike the farther she went, until the mist began, and trees disappeared. The world she was walking through was a pale nothingness. “I’m an explorer, though Coraline to herself. And I need all the ways out of here that I can get. So I shall keep walking”. (She was determined to achieve her goal). The cat appeared in the misty whiteness. He told her that there was nothing to find there. It was the part that she hadn’t bothered to create. She kept on walking until she arrived to the same place. It was a small world. “It’s big enough for her, said the cat, Spiders’ webs only have to be large enough to catch flies.” Then a rat appeared. The cat said he hated them, because they are all spies for her. The cat started to play with the rat. Coraline walked back into the house. She was standing in front of the mirror. The other mother called her, but she wasn’t in the mirror. The other mother wanted to talk to her, but Coraline told her that she wanted to go home and be

with her real parents, that she would never love her because she was sick, evil and weird. Then, the other mother pushed Coraline into the dim space behind the mirror, “to teach her manner”, and locked the door. She might come out when she had learned some manners, and when she was ready to be a loving daughter. VII Coraline was there, behind the mirror, in the darkness. She was about to cry, but she didn’t. She thought she was alone, until her hand touched something that felt for all the world like somebody’s cheek and lips, small and cold. And a voice whispered in her hear “Hush!”. She felt a cold hand touch her face, another voice said “art thou alive?” She said yes, but they were not alive. Caroline asked them who they were, they told her names are the first thing to go after you pass away. (just as the cat had said before), they could remember their nearest as their governess, but not their names. Her eyes were beginning to get used to the darkness, therefore she could see the shape of three children about her own size. She asked the voice she was listening to if it were a boy or a girl. “When I was small I wore skirts and my hair was long and curled, but now that you ask, it does seem to me that one day they took my skirts and gave me britches and cut my hair. I believe I was once a boy”. Coraline asked them what had happened to them, they said that they ended up there because the other mother said she was their other mamma, but they never saw their true mamma again. She stole their hearts and souls and left them there. They told her to run away, but she wouldn’t do it because the other mother had her parents. One of the voices said “if you could win your parents back from the beldam (witch), you could also win free our souls” They couldn’t flee without their souls, they belong to the dark and to the empty places now. They light would shrivel them, and burn. The children believed it would happen the same to Coraline, but she realised “She won’t keep in the dark forever, she brought me here to play games. Games and challenges the cat said. I’m not much of a challenge here in the dark” As she fell asleep, a ghost kissed her and said “look through the stone” and then slept. VIII The other mother came and fetched Coraline out of the cupboard. She mentioned that Caroline needed to be taught a lesson. Now, they shal...