San Ignacio School

Third year, section “D “

Angelina Ayzanoa Nº4

Coraline
by Angelina Ayznaoa

We all know about the movie “Coraline and the secret door” but only a few of us
know that the story is based on a book by the same name. The book has and incredible
storyline which combined horror and fantasy in a way that makes the story fascinating
for the readers. A long with well written characters that makes you feel more exciting
about what next is happening in the book.

As I said in the previous paragraph, the book is incredible for the simple reason
that its plot is fantastic. It’s a story that in the 2000s was something new and fresh,
something out of the ordinary, who would believe that a children's story would be so
complex and terrifying? We can see that, although the book is rated for young people, it
touches on very serious and important issues, such as the lack of attention of parents
towards their children. We see how Coraline's parents ignore her, because of their jobs,
making her feel less important. This is a problem that we can see in the day-to-day of
many people, the neglect of parents towards their children can cause irreversible damage.
And as we can see in the book, that was the reason for all the disaster that was going to
happen later in the story.

And since we're talking about how the book visualizes today's issues, we need to
talk about the horror genre in this book. We can see those moments of horror when
Coraline and the other mother talk after she comes back or when Coraline finally realizes
that her parents were kidnapped. All these scenes have something in common and that is
that they leave a feeling of discomfort towards the reader; obviously this is caused by the
horror genre.

I think now is the perfect moment to talk about the greatest cause of horror in the
story, and this is the "other mother" or beldam as they call her in the book. She is the
villain, and they show her as a character who uses vulnerable children, manipulating
them with material things so that they will stay with her forever. This technique is seen a
lot today and is called grooming, although they are a little different, they have the same
base and that is to manipulate and create a type of relationship with their victims and then
get something from them. It's amazing that what we had talked about in the beginning
can be included here and that's the way that beldam was able to manipulate these children
was because they were vulnerable and she knew that their parents didn't pay attention to
them, so she used that and tried to win their affection, which she was able to achieve.

But the only character who never got carried away by all this was Coraline. From
the first moment it was seen that she was a strong girl who was not afraid to say what she
thought. Beldam tried to manipulate her, but Coraline never let her, from the beginning
she realized that something was wrong in that world. Her character is so well written for
the simple reason that we see how she develops over the course of the story. Although I
said that she is a mentally strong person, we see how fear consumes her at some point in
the book, but she uses that to turn terror into courage, which makes her character very
realistic. I have always liked this character since I saw the movie but when I read the
book, I could identify a lot with her. And it's not something to brag about but I feel that I
can say that she and I have the same attitude, I feel like I am mentally strong as her. I
remember that my family always compared me with her, so I think that is one of the
reasons why I feel so identified with her character.

Thanks to all the above I can say that those are some of the reasons why I think
Coraline is the best book for me. Each problem is very well structured, and you manage
to sympathize with the characters. All I can say is that: In the end, this book is an
incredible representation on why you should pay attention to your children's life.
Title: Coraline

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Thesis statement: We all know about the movie “Coraline and the secret door” 

2. General Information about the topic:  information on why I think Coraline is the best
book based on different areas like ¿is it an interesting book? ¿What is the best genre that
the book has? ¿How amusing are the characters?

3. Ideas:

      a) Is an interesting book

      b) The horror genre in the book
      c) Coraline

II. BODY

1. Idea #1 Is an interesting book

                  a) The story is catchy and amusing
                  b) How we can connect the story with real life
                  
2. Idea #2 The horror genre in the book 
                  a) The other mother (the main antagonist)
                  b) How the book represents horror
                  
3. Idea #3 Coraline 
                 a) She's a really well written character 
                 b) She reminds me about myself
                 

III. CONCLUSION

1. Summary / Paraphrase of the topic

- Horror - Written style (story and characters) - Parenting – Grooming

2. Final Statement (the sentence that will end the essay)

-In the end, this book is an incredible representation on why you should pay attention to
your children's life-