James Caceres
11/26/13
ENG 102
Realistic
Transformation
Does
literature play any roles in our lives? Is it important? In literature, though some works may seem
distant to what our actual lives may be, there is most often a correlation to
our own lives. In literature there
is a common general use of archetypes which represents recurring patterns
within people and objects. An example would be
the first thought in a person’s mind when thinking of a police officer or nurse
and the similarity if someone else was to think of the same idea. Though people may not fall into the nurse or
police officer archetype, there are archetypes that many people do fall into.
Most which happen to fall into the 12 common archetypes. In literature most if not all characters
follow the same common archetypes.
In Coraline by Neil Gaiman, the main character Coraline goes over a
growing progression through three common archetypes. These archetypes follow as the orphan, seeker,
and the warrior. Coraline’s
transformation through various archetypes depict how the reader or people in
general, go through various transformations of archetypes within their own
lives both strength and weaknesses.
Coraline
within the first chapters of the book follows a great pattern towards the
orphan archetype. Coraline is constantly attempting to find a sense of
belonging with her consistently busy parents. Though her efforts are futile, her tough
minded orphan attribute allowed her to find and explore other possibilities. Someone following the same orphan archetype
are most often able relate to the acts and emotions faced by Coraline. Such acts such as being ignored as a kid, or
the feeling of not belong while wanting to belong.
An example would be in chapter 2 where Coraline tries to entertain
herself by seeing her father,
“Coraline
went to see her father. He had his back to
the door as he typed. “Go away,” he said cheerfully as she walked in. “I’m
bored,” she said. “Learn how to
tap-dance,” he suggested, without turning around. Caroline shook her head. “Why don’t you play with me?” she asked. “Busy,” he said. “Working,” he added. He still hadn’t turned around to look at her. “Why don’t you go and bother Miss Spink and
Miss Forcible?”” (21, coraline),
This part of the story shows a great
example, of the type of loneliness Coraline had felt while also lacking a sense
of belonging. This is why the
orphan archetype suits her greatly at this point. Nevertheless Coraline’s life as an orphan
leads her to her next archetype transformation which she uses to cope with her
feelings from the orphan archetype.
This archetype is the seeker.
Though
Coraline is a natural seeker, as demonstrated by her constant want for
exploration; Coraline’s seeker archetype is more emphasized due to her
orphan attribute, meaning her lack of attention from her parents had led her to
become a better seeker which ultimately leads to her journey. Attributes of a seeker consist of a constant
need to explore the world, to gain a sense of fulfillment. Additionally a weakness of a seeker abide by
the often possibility of aimlessly wandering while journeying. Coraline greatly accommodates these seeker
traits as she always attempts to find something to do. As when Coraline is told to stay away from
the well since it’s dangerous, “Coraline set off to explore for it, so that she
knew where it was, to keep away from it properly.” (5-6, Coraline) where she proceeds
to drop pebbles to test for it depth.
To where she discovers it’s extremely deep.
Additionally when Coraline is bored, her seeker trait kicks in when she
goes off to count the number of all the doors and windows in her house. These examples of the seeker trait greatly
correlate to those whom may have one point have lived a life as a seeker. This seeker trait may have most likely
occurred during childhood when one often needed to find something to entertain
the inner kid in us. This allows the
reader to better feel the exact emotions which Coraline herself is feeling. This in turns aids the reader in gaining a
greater overall understanding of the story.
Additionally it shows to those of the seeker archetype that they are not
alone in their thrill for journeys and quests.
However, similar as to Coraline’s transformation between orphan and
seeker, where her orphan archetype has led her to her seeker archetype, Coralines
seeker archetype leads her ultimately to her warrior transformation.
Coraline
transformation to a warrior occurs slowly.
Coraline continues the role of a seeker up to and beyond when where she
finds the door to the other world.
Previously being a brick wall behind the door, she eventually stumbles
on it cracked open and leading elsewhere.
Coraline seeker traits at this point hit a peak as she travels into the
other world. Here she finds a
home similar to Coraline’s home, but not exactly her home. She additionally finds her other mother and
father whom contain button eyes, and unlike her actual mother and father go out
of their way to tend to all of Coraline’s needs.
Coraline continues to explore this realm, and finds a great joy within
it since she is most familiar with being ignored and enjoys the attention. After a few visits to this “other world”,
Coraline starts taking notice to the worlds flaws, and realizes that it’s
actually out to get her; triggering her
warrior transformation. According to “What
Story Are You Living”,
“The
Warrior archetype often has a code of honor involving a high level of
discipline, principle, and, as in this story, heroism. The warrior enjoys competing and tends to
embark on crusades.”(96, What Story Are You Living).
Coraline comes to fulfill these
attributes when challenging the other mother in a game of exploring. Coraline stakes her life with the additional
possibility of having buttons sewn onto her eyes by failing this challenge. Since it is a game of exploring which is one
of Coraline’s archetypes “the seeker”, it aids her through her challenge to
defeat the mother. Coraline’s archetype
from orphan, seeker, to warrior has helped her battle in saving her parents and
the children's souls. Similar to all
people and readers, the archetypes that we live in our lives help us overcome
the challenges many face.
One
may ask why does this matter to the reader?
It matters because like Coraline, we as a people do come from common
archetypes which take place in all literature.
Additionally by knowing and understanding our archetypes and other ones
as well, it is possible to develop a greater understanding of the world and
people around us. People may not open
a door and enter a fictional world with challenges, but people do open doors to
face real world challenges. What aids people in
these challenges are knowing their strengths and weaknesses within their
archetype. Nevertheless
literature helps depict the possibility of transformation. Where one day we may be an orphan, and a year
later be seekers, to soon become a warrior in our own worlds. Literature assists in obtaining this
knowledge, and by this shows that we ourselves are each living a unique story.
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman and many other works of literature assist in the understanding
of archetypes and the world around us. Coraline aids as a great example on
how literature allows readers to enter a fictional world and come out with an
understanding of the non-fictional world.
Through archetypes as one of literature’s arsenals it allows readers to
live a story of their own by incorporating themselves and common archetypes to
the story. For these reasons
alone give a vast reason for why literature is important. For literature contains many
correlations to our lives then we may think.
Works
Cited
Gaiman, Neil, and Dave McKean.
Coraline. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Print.
Pearson, Carol, and Hugh Marr. What Story Are You Living. 2003.
Reprint. Gainesville:
Center for Applications of Psychological Type,
Inc, 2009. Print.
"The 12 Common
Archetypes." The 12 Common Archetypes. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html>.
No comments:
Post a Comment