Jihwan Lee
Throughout many types of literature, we can see a number of supernatural creatures such as gods, giants, dragons, vampires, and witches. Authors create new figures throughout history. What are the new creatures’ rolls in literature? There are three possible reasons which are the following: interest, instincts, and manipulation.
First of all, supernatural creatures generate a reader's interest. As we see, those characters sometimes look different from human and have special abilities which human beings do not have. Some of them can fly, emit fire or even change the weather. This is exactly the same thing going on the novel, Coraline. Coraline’s other mother’s eyes are big black buttons. The other mother has supernatural abilities; she can change objects and create new circumstances. In addition, supernatural creatures sometimes act as antagonists, like Coraline’s other mother, which the hero or heroine have to overcome. It was not is to fight for Coraline against the other mother since she has supernatural ability. The stronger the antagonists are, the more interesting hero’s journey is, when he deals successfully with the opponent.
Secondly, it is one of human beings’ instincts to create new objects. In other words, curiosity inspires human being to create something new. As a primitive invented a new hand axe which had not existed until he created, a author creates new characters on his instincts. When the curiosity comes to a reader, he wants to read something new in order to satisfy his desire. As the author creates the new supernatural character who has peculiar button eyes, the other mother creates a new environment for Coraline to keep her in the other flat. When Coraline got out of the other flat, every journey seemed to finish as Coraline said that “I got you three back... I got Mum and Dad back. I shut the door. I locked it. What more was I meant to do?” (144) It was very interesting that at the moment when Coraline and the three kids in the picnic found something strange going on around them. Another creature which was the right hand of the other mom showed up. The right hand is also a new supernatural object which can not move by itself in real. The other’s creativeness led the other to create new figures and it made the novel more interesting. A new creature which is created by human being through their instincts captivates human again.
Lastly, supernatural figures can manipulate people to become afraid of paranormal phenomenon. People can not resist those supernatural events by themselves, then it leads them to find a refuge in religion. When it comes to kids, the only thing that they can rely on is their parents. Most of the books for children should have some sort of educational objects. When kids explore a new place or bully their friends, they always get into trouble or pay the price. Coraline found her life at the new place boring and she thought her parents did not care about her very much. It was the beginning of the journey. As we see, Coraline went through dangerous situation and managed to come back to her real life. The other father told Coraline that “Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you... You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand.” (118) However, Coraline strongly resisted his other fathers thought. It implies that children are supposed to follow their parents and come back home no matter what happens. Even though supernatural things seem to be interesting or a exploring game with friends sounds good, children are told that they should follow rules. Children are manipulated by some stories books for educational reasons.
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