Natalie Van Alstyne                          711           5-4-15

Coraline

Throughout the book Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, readers are able to see that the theme of the book is that there are two worlds and both of them are similar and different from each other.  The book is about a young girl, Coraline, and her parents, who move into a new house.  In the new house, at first, there is a door covered with bricks but later in the story gets uncovered, and at first leads only Coraline into a whole different world, which revolves only her which is different from the world she came from, where her parents do not pay any attention to her. At first, Coraline loves the new world, and wants to stay, but later on, she begins to hate it, and she and her parents, who are hidden from her, are trapped inside and cannot get out. Eventually, Coraline and her parents do get out, and go back to living a normal life.Throughout the book, before Coraline and her parents escape the other world, readers learn about both worlds and the way they similar and different.

In Coraline, some readers think that both worlds that the main character, Coraline experiences are similar.  On page 33, the book states, “The house looked exactly the same from the outside.  Or almost exactly the same: around Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s door were blue and red light bulbs that flashed on and off spelling out words, the lights chasing each other around the door.”  This shows each world is very similar because the author writes the houses “looked exactly the same from the outside,” and Coraline is surprised by that. Some readers believe this, but some others don’t.

Even though some readers believe both worlds that Coraline experiences are similar, the worlds also are very different.  On page 25, the author writes “she almost had it when someone said “Coraline”?  This shows the worlds are different because Coraline was surprised when someone she never met before knew how to pronounce her name instead of screwing it up which happened in the first world a lot.  Also on age 25, the author writes (talking about her mother, compared to the other mother), “Only her skin was white as paper.  Only she was taller and thinner.  Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.”  This shows that although the first worlds were somewhat similar, they also were very, very different. As you can tell there are more examples to show both worlds are different but still, they are similar in a way.  

Overall, Coraline experiences both worlds, and readers can learn they are both similar and different.  Readers do not only realize both worlds are similar and different, but some of us also come to realize we should be grateful for what we have and learn to live in the moment.