Blog 16: Rhetorical Reflection, Notable Moment, Analysis-Coraline

Blog 16: Rhetorical Reflection, Notable Moment, Analysis-Coraline

Rhetorical Reflection: Coraline
Coraline, the last book of the semester is one that I have neither read, nor heard of. It is described as being the “book that tells a fascinating and disturbing story that frightened me nearly to death” by Lemony Snicket. This book, by Neil Gaiman, was a New York Times best seller, and it has also been made into a movie. From reading the back cover, the story line is about a girl who discovers a house that is almost exactly like her own and she must find a way to return to her own life and escape the family who wants to make her their own. Although dark gloomy books are not my favorite, I look forward to reading this book over thanksgiving break, and seeing how the story unfolds.

Notable Moment: Coraline
After finishing Coraline, I have to admit that it is not one of my favorite books. The plot line was very creepy and I don’t think that I would choose to read this book on my own. With that said, there were plenty of moments that caught my interest. Whether it was the two ladies Miss. Forcible or Miss. Spink, or Mr. Bobo the characters were very interesting and had their own stories about themselves. A notable moment that I enjoyed was closer to the beginning of the book in chapter four. This marked the beginning of Coraline’s journey in the other house with the other mother, and other father. Also, the animals can talk here and this is where Coraline meets the cat. After much discussion Coraline tries to be nice to the cat and asks its name.
“The cat yawned slowly, carefully, revealing a mouth and tongue of astounding pinkness, ‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said. ‘No?’ said Coraline. ‘No,’ said the cat. ‘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.”

All in all, this introduction with the cat grew into a friendship between Coraline and the animal and ended with them both being saved and escaping the other family.

Analysis: Coraline
For the Analysis of Coraline I wanted to focus mainly on the button eyes that the other mother and other father have and what they portray in the book. Of course there can be many different meanings for the button eyes, but in my opinion I thought of rag dolls upon the mention of them. Because rag dolls have these button eyes and are only dolls they are controlled by the person who plays with them.
In the case of this story, the other mother was trying to turn Coraline into something that she could control and she was doing it by the button eyes. If Coraline was to accept the button eyes, and allow the other mother to put them on her, she would no longer be able to see the world around her and, in essence, would be controlled by the other mother like a rag doll.
Also, the button eyes take away your vision and no longer allow you to feel as free as you would if you had eyes. Finally, the button eyes of the mother are unique in the fact that she takes away others eyes to make up for her eyes being taken, and it is a way for her to steal souls.