Coraline

Throughout the book, Coraline has help from many sources on her quest to defeat the other mother. Early on, this help comes from her neighbors, Miss Spink, Miss Forcible, and Mr. Bobo, but as the story progresses, Coraline befriends the cat and the ghost children as well, creating a wide net of support on her journey.

Coraline, who is the only child of her family and the only child in the divided house, regularly visits Miss Spink and Miss Forcible when she is bored. After Coraline discovers the door in the drawing room, she has a significant visit with the two old ladies. Upon finishing the tea provided by the ladies, Miss Spink offers to read her tea leaves. Miss Spink relays to Coraline that she is “in terrible danger” (18), which Miss Forcible confirms with a second opinion. This reading leads to the old women providing Coraline with one of her most important tools: the stone with the hole in it. This stone becomes a symbol of the help Coraline receives from her allies throughout the book. Mr. Bobo, Coraline’s upstairs neighbor, also offers help, but in a less direct way. Mr. Bobo has a mouse circus he is training, and he occasionally relays messages from the mice to Coraline. One of the most significant messages Mr. Bobo relays comes in Chapter 2. After Coraline has become curious about the drawing room door, Mr. Bobo tells her the mice have a message for her: “The message is this. Don’t go through the door” (14). Though Mr. Bobo himself doesn’t know what the mice are referring to, he faithfully delivers the message, thinking it might mean something to Coraline. Mr. Bobo returns at the end of the book to offer more information to Coraline. Before Coraline has defeated the other mother’s right hand, Mr. Bobo tells her that “[s]omething has frightened [the mice]” (149), which tells Coraline that the hand is searching the house for the key. Later, once she has bested the hand, Mr. Bobo tells Coraline “[t]he mice tell me that all is good” and “[t]hey say that you are our savior, Coraline” (158). This information is important because without the help of the ghost children Coraline cannot be sure she has finished with the other mother once and for all. Coraline’s neighbors both above and below her family’s flat act as allies for Coraline, giving her important information and useful tools to defeat the other mother.

Coraline also forms several alliances within the other world, the most of important of which being her friendship with the cat. Coraline initially meets the cat in the real world, but it “slipped away if she ever went over to try to play with it” (3). However, once Coraline enters the other world, the cat becomes more receptive to interaction with her. In Chapter 4, Coraline spots the cat outside the house in the other world. She greets it, and, to her surprise, it speaks to her. The cat tells her it isn’t the other cat because there is only one of it. The cat seems to know a lot about the other world, and he offers limited information to Coraline about it and the other mother. During their first interaction, the cat tells Coraline that “[i]t was sensible of [her] to bring protection” (36). Though Coraline doesn’t know it yet, the cat is referring to the stone with a hole in it. The cat drops several other hints about the nature of the other mother and the extent of her power as the plot progresses.

In Chapter 5, it offers the advice to “[c]hallenge her. There’s no guarantee she’ll play fair, but her kind of thing loves games and challenges” (63). This advice leads to Coraline’s showdown with the other mother, which ultimately leads to her freedom. The cat becomes a key player in Coraline’s success during Chapter 10. After Coraline loses track of the large rat carrying the final soul, she believes she has failed and will lose her game with the other mother. However, the cat arrives right on time to catch and decapitate the rat, saving Coraline from failure. Still, the most important role of the cat comes during the climax of the story, when Coraline must distract the other mother to escape. Coraline “hard as she could, [throws] the black cat toward the other mother” (129). The cat goes on to claw and bite at the other mother’s face, allowing Coraline time to grab the snowglobe containing her parents and escape. The alliance she’s formed with the cat allows her to gain its trust and use it to injure and distract the other mother. Coraline also meets the ghost children in the other world. These children help Coraline by providing her with information and lending her their strength. When Coraline meets these children in Chapter 7, they tell her how the other mother “will take your life and all you are and all you care’st for, and she will leave you with nothing but mist and fog” (84). These children, the former victims of the other mother, provide insight into the other mother’s motivations and give Coraline hints about how to counter her. At the end of Chapter 7, one of the ghost children whispers to Coraline to “[l]ook through the stone” (85). Through the stone, Coraline is able to discern the children’s lost souls from the rest of the other mother’s world, ensuring Coraline’s success in her game with the other mother. Finally, as Coraline makes her escape after throwing the cat, the ghost children lend her their strength to seal the door shut. As Coraline battles to close the door, “their hands closed about hers […] and suddenly she felt strong” (132). This pivotal moment allows Coraline to escape the other mother and make it safely home with the souls of the ghost children, the cat, and her parents.

With the help of her neighbors, the cat, and the ghost children, Coraline is able to conquer the other mother. The roles of these allies show how important it is to have people on your side when facing a difficult challenge or adversary.