Coraline - Advancing Strangeness - Chapters 3 & 4

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Our Spring Read Along, featuring Coraline, continues on as we foray into this story with advancing bits of strangeness here and there.

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

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Chapter Three - Discussion

Read the chapter and, below, discuss it. You may write of anything of Chapter 3 (or previous chapters, as they tie into Chapter 3)..

If nothing else occurs to you to discuss, answer this question!

By now, you have gathered that the name Coraline is simply Caroline with the first A and first O switched around. (Okay, so they are the only A and O in that name ...) Why do you think this was done? Why did the parents select this name and/or why did Neil Gaiman choose this name for that character in his story?

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Chapter Four - Discussion

Again, read the chapter and discuss it below (in the same post that you've started for Chapter Three).

Anything in particular you want to discuss?

If not, try this ....

I love the cat! I love some of his lines; okay, maybe all of them. What's your favorite quote that the cat says in here? Why? Or, do you just like it and don't know why?

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



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!

Are you enjoying the story yet?

[River Fenwick]

Chapter 3:
Chapter three is nicely written to give the reader a sense that the other house and other parents shouldn't be trusted despite Coraline's interest since it's much different from what she is used to. There are differences in the environment, such as the picture with the boy whose face has a more sinister look than that same picture in her actual house, that show this. It seems convenient that this other house and family are playing into what Coraline wants out of life, such as making her dinner that isn't frozen or tampered with by her father. It's luring her in, using her curiosity and boredom to its advantage.

Chapter 4:
Chapter four is creepier than the other chapters so far. I get the feeling that the cat is the only being that is slightly looking out for Coraline in this weird alternate reality, especially when it tells her that it was wise to bring protection to this strange other place. The protection mentioned is seemingly the stone with a hole in the middle that Miss Spink gave to her in chapter two. I'm glad Coraline returned home at the end of the chapter. However, she will likely continue her trips to the other world in future chapters, with the dangers becoming more prevalent to us as readers and hopefully to Coraline so that she'll learn to stay away.

[Anne-Marie Gagne]

Chapter Three
The first couple of pages are a bit slow and boring but considering that Coraline is bored the whole time she and her mother are shopping, it actually works. School clothes shopping as a kid was never boring for me but I have quite a few siblings so it was always an adventure to go (and probably a hassle for my parents, especially when we were younger and hid in the clothing racks haha). Coraline being so bored that she gets the keys down from where they were put up shows that she is, like most children, always in need of something to occupy her but she’s at that age where nothing is interesting unless it's something she’s not supposed to have or do.

With the warning from the man upstairs’ mice and her tea leaves saying she was in danger, I wouldn’t’ve opened that door, let alone gone inside. Coraline being the curious child she is though it must have felt like torture until she was able to see what was on the other side. Considering the last time she saw it opened, it led to a brick wall so I’m not really sure what she planned to do when it was opened but I bet it wasn’t what actually happened.

For the name Coraline, I have a version of the book that has a foreword that was added to the 10th anniversary editions in 2012. The reason her name is Coraline is because he had actually meant to type Caroline but misspelled it and when he saw Coraline he said he “knew it was someone’s name” and he “wanted to know what happened to her”. I love when this happens to writers. Had an idea, made a mistake, and then made the mistake into a new and better idea!

Chapter Four
Chapter four is really a step up in the creepy factor! Compared to some things we are shown in chapter three (like the boy’s portrait in the corridor from her home to the other home), we’re shown more things that are the same but so very different! The button eyes especially make everything so creepy. The other man upstairs’ rats (instead of mice) seem so horrifying and the one on his head just staring at Coraline with those red eyes until it was covered was described in such a way that it almost sent chills down my spine.

The dogs at Miss Spink and Forcible’s show, while appearing happy, were also very creepy. It’s all the ladies want, being young and performing for an audience, but it’s so very weird. I felt uncomfortable reading it and know it would be ten times worse if it were to actually happen to me. I do like to think that the dogs being able to eat and only eating chocolate is something subconsciously Coraline wishes she could do. Though most kids (and some adults) wish they could do that.

I did really love the cat! He was so sassy and unhelpful while also being more helpful than one would think. He was giving Coraline information she needed to know about the other world without ever explicitly saying anything. I did really love this exchange between Coraline and the cat:

”We… we could be friends, you know,” said Coraline.

“We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephants,” said the cat. “But we’re not. At least,” it added cattily, after darting a brief look at Coraline, “I’m not.”

The use of “cattily” made me laugh out loud because a cat probably does everything cattily haha.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Thank you, Anne-Marie, for the explanation of the name 'Coraline'!

I had wondered and wondered, and now I know.

Also, that which you quoted, from the cat, is ALMOST what I put in the introduction post, because I absolutely love it.

Yes, River, Chapter 4 is definitely as you wrote: "Chapter four is creepier than the other chapters so far" .... (or is it )

I noticed Anne-Marie concurs! Chapter four is really a step up in the creepy factor!

[Maeve Madden]

Chapter 3:
The juxtaposition of the other mother’s world and Coraline’s real world is startling. For the first time in this book, Coraline is interested by what’s around her. Things are bright, the food tastes good, and the people are finally interested in her. However, there’s a sinister mood through the whole chapter. It starts with the boy in the picture: his expression is nasty and there’s something different about his eyes (buttons, I presume). Then, the rodents from upstairs are rats with glowing red eyes, animals which traditionally have a more negative connotation than mice. The other mother’s appearance is more sinister too: buttons for eyes, extremely pale skin, tall and thin. When Coraline leaves the house to explore, her other parents are watching her, waving and smiling. On the surface, this may look nice, but taken in the context of the chapter, it seems extremely creepy.

Finally, we found out who sang the song at the end of Chapter 1. However, the question still remains: how did the rats get into Coraline’s dream?

Chapter 4;
I love the cat! Its arrogance and poise are exactly what I would expect from a cat. My favourite quote from the cat, and perhaps from the whole book, is “Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.”

The creepiest part of the chapter for me is when Coraline is called on-stage by Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. In particular, when Miss Spink says: “Now Coraline, what’s your name?”. This highlights that there’s something not quite right with the situation and adds to the creepy factor.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

Chapter Three:
I think that Neil Gaiman chose the name Coraline to emphasize upon the fact that the people living in the house where Coraline’s parents bought a flat, were very clumsy and ignorant. Also, we can see how Coraline corrects them time and again, but all of them simply never pay attention to what she says, and instead continue speaking about themselves, while repeatedly calling Coraline by the name Caroline, despite her repeated corrections. Hence, Neil Gaiman chose this name to further demonstrate how Coraline was not given enough importance in the real world, thus making her want a better life, with people who actually care about her, which leads her to fall for the other Mother’s trap.

Chapter Four:
In my opinion, one of the most amusing quotes from the cat is: "No," it said. "I'm not the other anything. I'm me." The cat's response to Coraline’s "…You must be the other cat." sounded incredibly funny and sarcastic, almost as if the cat was disappointed at how naïve Coraline was. Also, since the cat said it so plainly, not showing much emotion, it made it even more hilarious, almost like a parent correcting their child’s silly mistake. Interestingly, when the cat said this, it reminded me of Severus Snape, but I could not exactly pinpoint the reason behind it. Overall, this quote really stood out to me and added to the book's humour.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

...
For the name Coraline, I have a version of the book that has a foreword that was added to the 10th anniversary editions in 2012. The reason her name is Coraline is because he had actually meant to type Caroline but misspelled it and when he saw Coraline he said he “knew it was someone’s name” and he “wanted to know what happened to her”. I love when this happens to writers. Had an idea, made a mistake, and then made the mistake into a new and better idea!
...

Oh, wow! That's a very interesting fact, Anne! And I believe something similar but not quite happened with J. K. Rowling as well. So while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King's Cross in 1990, she first got an idea, which developed into Harry Potter later on. Now, here the "mistake" equivalent was the fact that the train was delayed. And if the train was not delayed, who knows, we probably would not have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling today, and by extension, we would not have HOL either. It is very, very fascinating, honestly. How one chance based event such as Rowling's train being delayed, or Gaiman's typing mistake started a chain reaction, leading to the books, from there the movie(s) and so on.

[Adeline Morior]

Chapter 3

A little bit and a lot creepy…Well, first I would like to mention what stood out for me, the contrast between the lack of colour in what her mother chooses versus what Coraline wants in clothing and how colourful and “interesting” her new bedroom is to her. The lack of food and a little bit of neglect from her mother versus the abundance of food and over attention from her “other” parents. It should also be mentioned the creepy and unfortunately scarily easy way it can seem to lure a child by just things like toys, colours and promises of things they love which in my opinion makes this a whole lot darker. I found myself afraid for her when she wanted to go explore outside. The rats sound cute and concerned for her in her own world but in this new world you question their intentions and existence. The creepy part for me is mostly the extreme eagerness of everyone for her arrival…

Chapter 4

Other than the scare factor, some interesting things I thought about. I like how the cat is unapologetically itself and hints on the different sides of people. That being said and then showing the “basic dreams” of her neighbours being lived out or at least how they probably see themselves basically showing that. Talking animals are a big lure to the imagination to the extent that Coraline didn’t want to lose the opportunity at a friendship with one. Like a child. The creepy 'other parents' way of wanting her to do things purely because they want it shows a lot about the contrast between how adults sometimes think how children sometimes think. The fact that they actually scared her when she was previously excited about danger.

[Dibyarup James Potter]

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It should also be mentioned the creepy and unfortunately scarily easy way it can seem to lure a child by just things like toys, colours and promises of things they love which in my opinion makes this a whole lot darker.
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Adeline, I totally agree with this. I feel like it is a very important lesson that should be taught to every child by their parent. Because it is a real issue, and in the past there have been countless such incidents where a child was lured with the promise of things they liked. However, one thing should be noted here, that children should also be taught about realistic expectations. In the story Coraline wants a lot of things which is natural in case of children, but it is the parents' responsibility to help them understand about what they can and cannot afford to give them or perhaps for some other reason are unable to provide at the moment.

In Coraline's case, it is quite clear that her father, being the parent who cooks, tried a lot of recipes, but those were just not to Coraline's liking, so she decided to eat frozen pizzas or other similar items. However, it is very important, in my opinion to teach children to learn to eat everything, because in life, they might not always get what they prefer, and developing the habit to eat what is available or be content with what you have, (in Coraline's case her clothing that was being purchased by her mother) is very important early on, so that as adults, they are able to survive in the real world, even during tough times. For someone who has never been taught this as a child, and always given whatever they have wanted, it is usually very hard to cope as an adult out in the real world.

In Coraline's case, she should have noticed the oddities, especially the button eyes, and that should have immediately alarmed her, but she ignored those signs in favour of the special treatment she was receiving with everything she wanted. So I believe that it is a really essential part of parenting, to teach these things as soon as possible to avoid such incidents.