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Zachary Stanke
Professor Lewis
English 115
December 10, 2015
Coraline and its Connection to Other Fantasy Literature
Kids having grown up in the modern era around the start of the twenty-first century,
have come accustomed to many fictional stories in books, movies, plays, and now video games
about realistic characters from our non-fictional world escaping into fantasy dimensions filled
with magical creatures, mystical new lands, and plenty of outrageous adventures to be had. During the past three hundred years many story tellers have told of the adventures of children wandering into new lands and discovering for themselves what it takes to survive and triumph as a
hero in their crazy new world. Discounting a few of the Harry Potter sequels, the only story being mentioned that was written in the twenty-first century is none other than the tale of a brave
little girl named Coraline written by Neil Gaiman and published in 2002. Although this loving
story may be one of a kind as a dark and touching fantasy, its premise however is anything but
original. The stories it is being compared against are Alices Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by
Lewis Carol, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950) by C. S. Lewis, later to become Peter and Wendy (1911) by J. M. Barrie, and the Harry Potter series (1997) by J. K. Rowling.
These stories all have in common the premise of a young child with a companion, traveling to
another dimension and saving it from impending chaos, which are all under the childrens fantasy literature category. It may come as a surprise just how similar these fictitious tales are from

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the nineteenth century all the way to Coraline in the twenty-first century, and how many themes,
genres, and tropes Coraline relates to from past novels.
To begin Coraline should be labeled first as a true female heroine who battles evil in the
face of mortal peril, and must face her fears and find her courage in the midst of all the struggle.
But as in every story the hero always has a sidekick who is there to either guide, help or encourage the hero in their quest for justice. In Coraline this role falls to the mysterious cat, who
many have pondered to just be a tangible self of Coralines subconscious. However, the cat was
essential to Coraline in defeating Other Mother especially because he gave her the plan in taking
her out, Challenge herTheres no guarantee shell play fair, but her kind of thing loves games
and challenges (Gaiman 65). This theme of a sort of mystical sidekick finds itself in every story
like Peters fairy Tinkerbell, and Harrys pet owl Hedwig. Both are much like the mysterious cat,
who is always beside Coraline and, seems to represent the proprietorial aura of phallic mastery
that knows and names the world in much the same way as the Cheshire cat does in Alice in Wonderland (Muller). In the film Coralines sidekick is mostly that of Wyborn, especially when he
comes to save Coraline from Other Mothers hand in the end. However, without Wyborn in the
book, Cat must use his wits to help guide Coraline to victory and even use his claws when Coraline throws him at Other Mother to escape through the corridor back home. And just like in other
novels, Hedwig in Harry Potter, to a more severe extent, sacrifices himself to save Harry from a
curse, and Tinkerbell grants her fairy dust to Peter and his band so that they may escape the
clutches of Captain Hook and his pirates. This dark theme of almost certain death leads to another theme within itself within Coraline.

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Another genre that also arises from Coraline and some other fantasy childrens literature
is a gothic theme. This theme of uncanny writing originates with many rewritings and spinoffs of
Alice in Wonderland, where she is placed in an asylum and many such other uncanny, gothic scenarios. This led to the idea that, Gothic Alice is part of a broader postmillennial upsurge in gothic childrens fiction (Buckley). But thinking back on Alice in Wonderland, the text originally
was not meant to include gothic relation. Although, with things like the Heart Queen golfing with
decapitated heads, painting roses with blood, demon cats, and a Jabberwock, it certainly leans
towards thinking, Coraline is firmly part of this trend, confirming through rewriting that Alice is
an uncanny text (Buckley). Other childrens literature like Harry Potter certainly confirms this
gothic trend with literal witch craft, gothic creatures like the dementors, and other themes like
murdered parents, and a cursed life by the hand of Voldemort. Coraline however ties this theme
together very well taking bits from past literature to improve upon the foundations that have been
laid out for its genre. It proves itself as a, well made gothic [that] nourishes child readers, 'giving concrete expression to abstract psychic processes . . . mingling the horror with healthy doses
of humour and hope (Buckley). This is done primarily through Other Mother and her uncanny
form and what happens once Coraline travels back to there other world to save her parents and
the childrens souls; then having to face off against gothic creatures like other father, demented
Spink and Forcible, and Other Mothers final form. The act of Coraline traveling back and forth
between these worlds is also a common pattern in childrens fiction.
This sort of reality to fiction kind of story telling is prevalent in all the books mentioned
before; where in some fashion, a child from Earths reality, either past or contemporary, finds a
way or is guided to a different world to then defeat some form of evil before usually traveling

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back to their original home. For Coraline, she by chance stumbles upon a small door in her new
home and with help from the doll, mice, and her mom in the movie, is led to discover that this
door leads into the Other world, where her dreams of a perfect reality come true and other
mother has fixed all the negative things that she disliked about her Real world. Coraline is
pretty original in the idea that both the real and new world are practically the same, other than
from a few minor tweaks. However, Coraline as a little girl stumbling into this world by accident is very similar to how Alice falls into the rabbit hole or Lucy falls in between the coats of
the Wardrobe into the fresh snow of the land of Narnia. Noel Smith in Richard Goodings article
also mentions Harry Potter as part of the trending, Familiar narrative pattern featuring a border
between real and fantasy worlds, a pattern that in adolescent fiction allows for the construction of
a safe milieu for the playing out of id fantasies. As just mentioned, this theme of a real and fantasy world intertwined is used to make it easier for the younger generation to imagine and play
out their fantasies in relatable environments coming straight from the story. Harry Potter even
goes as far to use a real place like Kings Cross Station where Harry Potter can go to the wizarding world by going through Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Coraline uses the relatable environment of a pretty ordinary old home, in a boring place where in the first line of the book,
Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house. (Gaiman 1). And in
theme with most reality and fantasy intertwined stories the main character always has a thirst for
adventure and justice.
It is not just relatable sidekicks and similar gothic genres that puts Coraline into the same
category as this niche of childrens fantasy literature. Coralines identity as a child with an urge
for adventure and a sense of justice is seen throughout these past novels in very similar fashions.

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Alice in Wonderland, Peter and Wendy, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, all have female heroines who travel to their other dimension and have to defeat some sort of evil Overlord
who threatens the lives of the innocent. Lucy has to battle the White Witch with her kingdom and
Aslan once venturing into Narnia, Alice must defeat the Jabberwock after going through the rabbit hole, and Wendy must take on Captain Hook after flying off to Neverland. All very similar to
how, Coraline went through the door. She wondered what the empty flat would be like if that
was where the corridor led, in order to rid the world of Other Mother (35). Even in Harry Potter
Hermione Granger as the female heroine must fight alongside her friends against he who must
not be named, after traveling to the wizarding world. However, if none of these children, all under the age of 12, had not had that urge to adventure, discover, and explore new worlds Alice
may have never followed that rabbit into the hole, Wendy may have never taken Peters hand off
to Neverland, and our Coraline may have never followed the mouse through the little door. Coraline is so excited to just explore and discover that everything else is put out of her mind, In danger? Thought Coraline to herself. It sounded exciting. It didn't sound like a bad thing. Not
really, (83). These kids do not just want to leave all their troubles behind and go on an adventure, they also strive to bring justice wherever they go.
On top of all the magic and wonder behind these children and their exciting lives, lies a
philosophy of wanting to do good, conquer evil, and save the innocent. This moral principal, that
is never really explained by anything other than sympathy, is what drives these kids in every single story to muster up the courage against all odds, and all hope, to fight back against the evil.
Harry Potter must literally sacrifice himself in order to defeat Voldemort. He accepts this in order
to save the entire world from darkness. Alice has to kill the Jabberwock to save Wonderland, Pe-

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ter and Wendy must fight Captain Hook to save the lost boys, and Lucy and her family must face
off against the White Witch to rescue the Narnia. This all relates heavily to Coralines quest in
saving her parents and the souls of the three dead children. However Coraline takes it a step further and actually seeks to explain how ridiculous it is that any of these tiny kids could ever hope
to succeed against such terrifyingly evil creatures. After all, these are just small kids without a
learned sense of the real world and the consequences that come from every action. But it is truly
epic when Coraline talks of a past experience with her dad and actually seeks to explain her
mindset of bravery when she goes to face Other Mother, "It wasn't brave because he wasn't
scared; it was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew
the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave, (75). Coraline after all is no
ordinary girl and goes above and beyond the expectation of a simple instinctive child.
Coraline is a very special book apart from all these similar stories as it looks much deeper
into the psyche of these heroic children and actually does try to make sense and somewhat explain these uncanny and absurd stories and how a normal kid would act in such a strange circumstance. Unlike stories like Peter and Wendy, and Alice in Wonderland, which act more like kids
fairytales and emphasize more the fun and adventure that the kids are having, Coraline looks
deeper into how the character feels and in this way teaches kids a moral way of dealing with
these similar circumstances. Now coming all the way from 1865 with Alice in Wonderland to the
last Harry Potter novel published in 2007, we can see the similar themes of child bravery, adventure, mixed realities, and companionship that relate across all of these stories and have made into
Coralines core storytelling, and continue to permeate the fabric of many books, movies, stage
plays, and video games today.

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Works Cited
Buckley, Chlo Germaine. "Psychoanalysis, Gothic Childrens Literature, and the
Canonization of Coraline." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 40.1 (2015):
58-79. Project MUSE. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. New York: Harper Collins, 2002. Print
Gooding, Richard. ""Something Very Old and Very Slow": Coraline, Uncanniness, and Narrative
Form." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 33.4 (2008): 390-407. Project MUSE.
Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Muller, Vivienne. "Same Old 'Other' Mother'? : Neil Gaiman's Coraline." Outskirts 26 (2012): 1.
ProQuest. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.