After reading Coraline and having studied the Monomyth structure it seemed to me that every story is made based on this Hero’s quest structure. Why is this structure so efficient and why do we all love adventures stories so much. The question asked for this essay summarizes my thought: Why do we care? In Coraline this circle of the Hero’s quest is perfectly followed, the different elements are made clear and easy to find. From the “call to adventure” to the “known and unknown” and finally “the return of the hero”, Neil Gaiman makes this kid’s book a perfect example of the Hero’s quest. To help me detail this structure better I will set my essay on the Hero’s Quest scheme found on wikipedia.com (see last page).
First off, Neil Gaiman gives us the starting point by setting up Coraline and her parents in a very odd and old house. Coraline is the “bored to death” main character about to become our Hero. She just moved with her parents and is desperately looking for something exciting and always goes “exploring”. Without knowing it, Coraline is about to throw herself into the adventures she asked for but with a bit more danger than she expected. The “call to adventure” in this story happens after she goes through the small door into the other home. She makes it back without a problem, but when she realizes her parents are missing, she has no choice but to go back looking for them. The door she has to cross to access her other mother’s house represent the frontier between Know and Unknown (on our scheme), a very clear line between a world Coraline knows way too well and the other world full of surprises and danger. Very quickly the “supernatural aid” comes in the form of the talking cat giving her information about the other world. Also we realize that the “Transformation” from the Hero’s Quest starts right away even before Coraline goes back through the door to start her adventure, when she reminds herself by telling the story to her friend the talking cat of how her father saved her from the bees that one time by standing and getting stung while he told her to run away, at this very moment Coraline starts realizing she cannot be afraid anymore and has to be brave (which she repeats to herself throughout the whole adventure). Then comes the Challenges and Temptation, everything in her other mother’s house is a temptation: Coraline is being given everything she wishes for (food, clothes, toys, games...), she has to decide between this perfect world with everything given to her and her real parents and the things she wouldn’t have. The second time she meets the other old man with the mouse in the flat above her, the other Mr. Bobo tries to convince Coraline she should stay and enjoy all these wonderful things she could have. The “Abyss, Death and rebirth” is made clear and something very interesting happens: Our little hero who started off being always frustrated by her mother who doesn’t give her what she wants, for example during “back to school shopping” with the gloves and the hat. Now that her mother is not there to control her desires Coraline could very well just succumb to the temptation and stay with the other family, instead, the balance between Coraline’s Id and Ego is established when she admits only wanting her real parents and what comes with it (or should I say what “doesn’t” come with it). Of course in a children’s book there could be no death or real violence, so instead, Neil Gaiman choose to have a symbolized death of Coraline as a child controlled by her Id and her rebirth as our new grown-up Hero being perfectly balanced by her Superego.
Coming back to the start of the Unknown part of our scheme, the Evil monster is here embodied by the Other Mother, who has created this house as a spider would have built her web to catch her prays. The other mother is the main challenge and also takes on the role of Threshold guardian when she steals the key from Coraline trapping her into her house. But after exploring the entire other house which ends pretty quickly since the other mother had created nothing further than the yard, Coraline takes action to save her parents and three other souls by challenging the other mother to a game. Comparing Neil Gaiman to our scheme we realize the author made a few twist in this structure, making the “Revelation and Abyss” occur in the middle of many challenges and not after them (temptations, the other father in the flat attacking her, the old man tempting her...).
Then after having accomplished all challenges, not succumbing to temptations and the final fight (using the cat) with the other mother, Coraline finally reaches the Return point of her adventure. But being back in her own house is not the final test she goes through. The author offers us one last twist, taking one part from the unknown part of the scheme and bringing it into Caroline’s known world: The other mother’s creepy hand desperately looking for the key. As if our little hero had to prove that what she had gone through and learnt in the other world had to be tested in the real world. Coraline passes the test using a “Picnic party trap” and is finally able to enjoy a good night of sleep.
Now getting back to our main question: Why should we care? What could possibly be so important to us that we feel so close to this little character? How do we end up feeling so close to Coraline? How do we end up feeling like even though none of us has ever gone through a small door and had to fight an evil woman with button eyes, we still related to this story? And finally, how do this Hero’s Quest structure and its elements make this happen?
Whether this structure comes natural with telling such stories or the authors use this structure on purpose, the Hero’s quest structure is the key to having every heroic archetype into one single story, making each of us readers automatically connected to the story one way or another. Whatever main archetype we represent (see Carol Pearson’s Heroic Myth self-test), we can find our own archetype into this story and any story containing the Hero’s Quest structure.
For example, after taking the test my results were: mainly Altruist and also Warrior, probably the most obvious archetypes here (probably for me at least, since they are my archetypes). Coraline herself is the main character representing this archetype by going back for her parents even though she is only a kid and is very scared at first, this makes each reader who would have as a result the altruist feel closer to the hero and have interest in knowing how her quest ends. Coraline also represents the Warrior: having to fight her temptations, having to fight her other father, having to defend herself…etc. The point is here, that Coraline goes though most heroic archetypes and is surrounded by the rest of them, bringing us closer to her and the story. This gives us more interest in the development of the action. It appears we feel closer to what is similar to us and this is why having a structure enabling a story to have connection to each reader will make it interesting for readers of all ages.
First off, Neil Gaiman gives us the starting point by setting up Coraline and her parents in a very odd and old house. Coraline is the “bored to death” main character about to become our Hero. She just moved with her parents and is desperately looking for something exciting and always goes “exploring”. Without knowing it, Coraline is about to throw herself into the adventures she asked for but with a bit more danger than she expected. The “call to adventure” in this story happens after she goes through the small door into the other home. She makes it back without a problem, but when she realizes her parents are missing, she has no choice but to go back looking for them. The door she has to cross to access her other mother’s house represent the frontier between Know and Unknown (on our scheme), a very clear line between a world Coraline knows way too well and the other world full of surprises and danger. Very quickly the “supernatural aid” comes in the form of the talking cat giving her information about the other world. Also we realize that the “Transformation” from the Hero’s Quest starts right away even before Coraline goes back through the door to start her adventure, when she reminds herself by telling the story to her friend the talking cat of how her father saved her from the bees that one time by standing and getting stung while he told her to run away, at this very moment Coraline starts realizing she cannot be afraid anymore and has to be brave (which she repeats to herself throughout the whole adventure). Then comes the Challenges and Temptation, everything in her other mother’s house is a temptation: Coraline is being given everything she wishes for (food, clothes, toys, games...), she has to decide between this perfect world with everything given to her and her real parents and the things she wouldn’t have. The second time she meets the other old man with the mouse in the flat above her, the other Mr. Bobo tries to convince Coraline she should stay and enjoy all these wonderful things she could have. The “Abyss, Death and rebirth” is made clear and something very interesting happens: Our little hero who started off being always frustrated by her mother who doesn’t give her what she wants, for example during “back to school shopping” with the gloves and the hat. Now that her mother is not there to control her desires Coraline could very well just succumb to the temptation and stay with the other family, instead, the balance between Coraline’s Id and Ego is established when she admits only wanting her real parents and what comes with it (or should I say what “doesn’t” come with it). Of course in a children’s book there could be no death or real violence, so instead, Neil Gaiman choose to have a symbolized death of Coraline as a child controlled by her Id and her rebirth as our new grown-up Hero being perfectly balanced by her Superego.
Coming back to the start of the Unknown part of our scheme, the Evil monster is here embodied by the Other Mother, who has created this house as a spider would have built her web to catch her prays. The other mother is the main challenge and also takes on the role of Threshold guardian when she steals the key from Coraline trapping her into her house. But after exploring the entire other house which ends pretty quickly since the other mother had created nothing further than the yard, Coraline takes action to save her parents and three other souls by challenging the other mother to a game. Comparing Neil Gaiman to our scheme we realize the author made a few twist in this structure, making the “Revelation and Abyss” occur in the middle of many challenges and not after them (temptations, the other father in the flat attacking her, the old man tempting her...).
Then after having accomplished all challenges, not succumbing to temptations and the final fight (using the cat) with the other mother, Coraline finally reaches the Return point of her adventure. But being back in her own house is not the final test she goes through. The author offers us one last twist, taking one part from the unknown part of the scheme and bringing it into Caroline’s known world: The other mother’s creepy hand desperately looking for the key. As if our little hero had to prove that what she had gone through and learnt in the other world had to be tested in the real world. Coraline passes the test using a “Picnic party trap” and is finally able to enjoy a good night of sleep.
Now getting back to our main question: Why should we care? What could possibly be so important to us that we feel so close to this little character? How do we end up feeling so close to Coraline? How do we end up feeling like even though none of us has ever gone through a small door and had to fight an evil woman with button eyes, we still related to this story? And finally, how do this Hero’s Quest structure and its elements make this happen?
Whether this structure comes natural with telling such stories or the authors use this structure on purpose, the Hero’s quest structure is the key to having every heroic archetype into one single story, making each of us readers automatically connected to the story one way or another. Whatever main archetype we represent (see Carol Pearson’s Heroic Myth self-test), we can find our own archetype into this story and any story containing the Hero’s Quest structure.
For example, after taking the test my results were: mainly Altruist and also Warrior, probably the most obvious archetypes here (probably for me at least, since they are my archetypes). Coraline herself is the main character representing this archetype by going back for her parents even though she is only a kid and is very scared at first, this makes each reader who would have as a result the altruist feel closer to the hero and have interest in knowing how her quest ends. Coraline also represents the Warrior: having to fight her temptations, having to fight her other father, having to defend herself…etc. The point is here, that Coraline goes though most heroic archetypes and is surrounded by the rest of them, bringing us closer to her and the story. This gives us more interest in the development of the action. It appears we feel closer to what is similar to us and this is why having a structure enabling a story to have connection to each reader will make it interesting for readers of all ages.
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