When you think of a hero, what do you picture? Do you have an image of a muscular man in a spandex suit with a cape, fighting crime with his trusty sidekick? Well, that is what I always pictured. However, the hero in the book is Coraline; she is a scrawny ten year old girl with a black sarcastic cat as her helper and sidekick.”Coraline” by Neil Gaiman is a story that includes a definite hero’s journey with all elements, such as the call to adventure, departure, initiation and return. The story helps us understand the archetypal guest, and gives us a look into our own hero’s journey.
To begin with, Joseph Campbell was the first to breakdown and give names to the elements of the hero’s journey. However, the hero’s journey is an ageless story that has been around since the beginning of time. The hero’s story has been told and retold in different cultures and in countless ways. The hero’s journey started first with drawings and oral storytelling, and eventually modified and incorporated into books, films and even was adapted into “over the top” amusement parks, such as Disneyworld and Universal Studio theme parks, where the mythic elements of the hero’s journey surround you in 3-D.
Furthermore, you may ask why should we care about the hero’s journey. Monomyth does not always mean a falsehood. The hero quest is a very real representation of reality. “The Hero’s Journey,” is a pattern of birth, death, and rebirth or in other words departure, initiation and return. The elements in “The Hero Jouney” define the process and the purpose of our lives; it is your life story, your neighbors’s and even your mother’s. The story starts at birth and continues with many elements of the Hero’s quest. Such as, sometimes in our lives we are not sure which path to take or we are in the “belly of the whale” especially when we are experiencing stress, conflict with ourselves or with others. Sometimes we are the hero and other times we may be the helper in another person’s life. Many times in our life, the hero's journey reset to the beginning, and as a result we are given second chances in our journey of life (rebirth). However, in the end we all die and for those who believe, we are reincarnated (rebirth) which makes the hero's journey continue...
In addition, through literature the universal story of “The Hero Journey” lives on for us and for the next generations. For example, the monomythic stories connects us not only to those we know directly but also to all those throughout history, because we can relate to similar experiences and the power of “The Hero Journey”
One of the first elements that I have identified in “Coraline” is the call to adventure. For example, coraline is faced with the situation of her parents being kidnapped by the “other mother”. The words “help me” (53)
from her trapped parents was the call and the beginning to her hero’s journey.
Moreover, in her departure, she also had the supernatural aid of the small stone with a hole. The stone came with advice from Miss Spink, she said “and be very, very careful, and don’t wear green in your dressing room (20, 21), so, Coraline took the stone and she wandered what does miss Spink mean by “danger”.
Secondly, the Initiation, 2nd movement is the descent and crossing of the threshold. Coraline enters a portal between her flat and the other world, one of the threshold guardians is the brick wall behind the locked door, but magically the wall disappears so Coraline can enter the dark version of reality, there she meets her “other mother” which is a woman as the temptress. For instance, the other mother tempts her to stay forever; she promises coraline, that she will never be bored and will never have to eat “recipe” food. Also, coraline would have all the delicious food, colorful clothes and magical toys that she could ever wish for. However, Coraline is tough minded and not a fool. So, she gathers her courage and continues to move forward on her quest.
Additionally, Coraline has to overcome the road of trail before she can continue on her hero’s journey. For example, she offers the “button eyed” mother a challenge, “an exploring game, a finding things game” (92). The gamble was her love in exchange for her real parents and the three lost souls of the children. The other mother agrees on the game.
However, the “beldam” does not play fair. For instance, she conjured up a sand storm ,dog-bats, jelly-like creatures and of course a dough faced, “grublike”(111) thing with button eyes that whispered “coralline”. All the evil things try to stop Coraline in her quest.
Lastly, Coraline overcame the obstacles, she received the ultimate boon, and she saved the three souls and her real parents and crossed the threshold for her final return. In addition, she also became the master of two worlds when she tricked the other mother’s spider-like hand into the old well which gave her the freedom to live. Most importantly, she received the well deserved attention and love from her parents. Also, Mr. Bobo had a new found respect for her, he told her that the mice said “all is good, they say that you are a savoir” (160). He even called her by her real name.
That night Coraline drifted off to sleep while being serenaded by little circus mice playing sweet music. Her hero’s journey is complete.
As a final point, we all have “The Hero’s Journey”, we might have our inner demons to fight and sometimes dreams are hard to follow. But if you look inside yourself, you will found the strength to carry on and overcome the fears of the unknown. The real hero is you, and only you can complete your personal hero’s journey.Coraline did!
