Coraline - Resolutions - Chapters 9 and 10

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

The adventures continue, and we realize that adventures can be 'outward' actions and/or 'inward' realizations. Both are adventurous (and sometimes the inward one is more scary than the outward one ...). Also, give attention to the illustrations by Chris Riddell. Do they exemplify the story for you or not?

Please remember to use spoilers for those bits of the story that you discuss, but said discussion might be giving the plot away to people who haven't read Coraline yet.

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Chapter 9 Discussion

Read the chapter and, below, discuss it. You may write of anything from Chapter 9 (or previous chapters, as they tie into Chapter 9)...

Again, if you don't think of anything in particular to say, talk about this!

Look at the page before the start of Chapter 9 -- the art by Chris Riddell. That picture! Does it prepare you for the actual storyline which is introduced in Chapter 9?

Chapter 10 Discussion

Read the chapter and, below, discuss it. You may write of anything from Chapter 10 (or previous chapters, as they tie into Chapter 10)...

If nothing else occurs to you to discuss, maybe you find this fun (scary?) to discuss -

Did "I'm an explorer" (at the beginning of the chapter) resonate within you in any way? Was there a thing of 'nope, this is enough for me!' inside you as you read that or did you think 'yes, let's keep going on, I want to know what is what!' ?

Be sure to have at least 100 words in your discussions for each chapter to earn credit towards the awesome awards!



Remember that while there is no hurry to get this done, know that our Event ends and everything is due 11:59 PM, June 8th, HOL time.

Enjoy!

[River Fenwick]

Chapter 9:
Chapter nine makes me far more frustrated with the other mother and proud of Coraline than the other chapters so far. I hate how unwilling the other mother is to get her own hands dirty, such as making whatever is left of the other father (as Coraline says best, the poor thing) attack Coraline in an attempt to force Coraline to lose the game and stay. Coraline didn't want the other mother's hint or 'helping hand' in the search for the last soul. She also recognized that the other mother was likely setting her up for a trap when Coraline received the front flat key, which we now know was one. She also didn't return the key to the other mother after locking the door, which is likely a wise decision. I'm so proud of her ability to see through the other mother's actions as of late.

Chapter 10:
Chapter ten is definitely getting to the story's climax, with Coraline figuring out that the snow globe contains her parents. She has all three soul marbles for the children, though it becomes clear that the other mother doesn't intend to hold up her end of the deal. The black cat saved the day by killing the rat when it took off with the last soul marble and nearly escaped due to Coraline tripping. The cat recognized the world's shift as the other mother sealed all the ways in and out, showing she wouldn't keep her word. I assume the next chapter will have a confrontation, so we'll see how that turns out.

[Maeve Madden]

Chapter 9:
This chapter was the most terrifying one for me. When Coraline discovers the Other Father, she shows him kindness. The Other Father tries his best to show kindness back to Coraline - however, since the Other Mother is controlling him, he cannot avoid attacking her. When the Other Father lunged towards Coraline, I had goosebumps all over my arms. Coraline’s reaction shows just how intelligent she is. She had a split second to react and she made a smart decision. I cannot even imagine how scared she must have been in that moment. I wonder if the Other Father had remorse. It seemed like he did at the start, but could he truly show remorse when his very being was controlled by the Other Mother?


Chapter 10:
The drawing in Chapter 10 is extremely unnerving, especially after reading the rest of the chapter. Knowing this character is made of rats gives me the creeps. Anyways… I thought that Coraline showed extreme maturity during this scene: “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?”. She’s absolutely right, and it’s incredible that someone her age would come to this conclusion. However, most people her age don’t have to go through a traumatic experience like the one she’s going through. This just goes to show how much she’s matured (or had to mature) through this experience.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

Chapter Nine:
On the page before the start of Chapter 9, the sketch by Chris Riddell definitely does prepare me for the actual storyline that is about to follow. The whole sketch has that spooky, sinister, scary feel to it, and the long and curved tongue, the sharp teeth, everything says that this chapter is about to be one of the scariest so far. It also depicts the key being swallowed by the Other Mother or rather the Bedlam who is a demon. Then in the sketch, there is the “fake” house created by the Bedlam, in the background, where the deterioration or rather the “fading away” is depicted very nicely, when the Other Mother is not trying to hide anything from Coraline anymore. With those tiny pieces floating away, it almost looks like the visuals of Voldemort’s death in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.

Chapter Ten:
Coraline’s exclamation of "I'm an explorer" did initially resonate with me, but then as the story progressed, during a lot of scenes, I kept feeling like, “nope, this is enough for me!”, especially when Coraline kept going to the other side, despite noticing a couple of things that felt odd, she decided to shrug them off and keep going to the Other Mother. But once Coraline’s parents were captured, I did start to feel like "Yes, let's keep going on, I want to know what is what!" because when your loved ones have been captured or are in some sort of trouble in general, and especially when it is because of your actions, you just cannot ignore it. You must do everything in your power to help them, or in Coraline’s case, save them from the Other Mother, and to do that, we must keep going and find out everything that is going on, so that we can come up with a solution to the problem.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

Chapter 9:
Chapter nine makes me far more frustrated with the other mother and proud of Coraline than the other chapters so far. I hate how unwilling the other mother is to get her own hands dirty, such as making whatever is left of the other father (as Coraline says best, the poor thing) attack Coraline in an attempt to force Coraline to lose the game and stay.
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Yes I agree. It also made me a bit irritated because it was evident how all the characters in the Other Mother's world were puppets under her control, and she was terrible to them as well. In that world, everyone was tormented by her, or were too scared of her to disobey her orders. This is the definition of a tyrant who uses others to do their dirty work for them, and if someone disobeys them, they get that person out of the way as well.

[Adeline Morior]

Chapter 9

First things that stood out for me personally was how Coraline thought; “But she loved Coraline as a miser loves money, or a dragon loves its gold. In the other mother’s button eyes, Coraline knew that she was a possession, nothing more. A tolerated pet, whose behaviour was no longer amusing.” This stood out for me because one, it was very wise of Coraline to realise something a lot of Adults don’t even realise and secondly it shows the lack of love the other mother mostly had due to her own mother not treating her right which made me sad for her. As a child, I would have believed her had she said she wanted to help, Coraline was smart, wise and cautious. It shows she was learning from her experiences.

Something else that I found really sad was when she was with the other father and said; “Poor thing, You’re just a thing she made and then threw away.” There is a strong sense of how the world takes value of things and the sadness of it. The thing that freaked me out the most was the image of the other father opening its mouth monstrously big and when it slithered up the stairs after her. I don’t think my heart would have been able to take that amount of fear. She was really smart when she decided to “Do something else” when he chased her.

Chapter 10

Okay so loads for me to unpack with this chapter. First, how terrible she must have felt with the adrenaline in her system after escaping the horror of the cellar and then knowing full well “But if there was one thing that Coraline was certain of, it was that this flat would be worse.” while still moving forward. Bravery. Something a child goes through in their path to growing up is realising illusion from reality. When she said; “I’m not frightened. There was nothing here that frightened her. These things—even the things in the cellar—were illusions, things made by the other mother. She could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed.” This is a journey of growth and of growing up.

There was a funny parallel for me when it was said; “You’ll go home. You’ll be
bored. You’ll be ignored.” Especially since the other mother did the exact same thing to her own creations, ignore them when they became irrelevant. It also shows her growth when she says “You don’t understand. I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not Really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?” This let me think back not too long ago when she wanted what she wanted in the clothing store and how she wanted to stand out and be different. Learning something important in her journey on the other side.

Something else to mention is her lesson in achievement versus failure when she feels she has failed the children and how the help of others can lift us up. Something I have personally learned is how much more braver and determined you can be when someone else depends on you like when the cat was scared. “You’ll be fine,” said Coraline.“ Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll take you home.” This gave her a stronger purpose to be strong for someone else.

Also this was too much terror for me: Chapter Image

[Dibyarup James Potter]

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Something else to mention is her lesson in achievement versus failure when she feels she has failed the children and how the help of others can lift us up. Something I have personally learned is how much more braver and determined you can be when someone else depends on you like when the cat was scared. “You’ll be fine,” said Coraline.“ Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll take you home.” This gave her a stronger purpose to be strong for someone else.
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Wow, this such a brilliant conclusion to draw. Yes, this is very true. I think it is often called the "saviour effect" where a team member will do everything in their power to help the team succeed, provided they have the means to at least get started on the path to help. This is usually seen in project teams at the workplace where a team member can work extra hard, in case the rest of the team is failing, only to ensure project success.