Jacobson 1

Kennedy Jacobson
Professor Lewis
English 115
11 December 2015
A Dark Mothers Dissociative Personality
Our mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people weve ever metMarguerite
Duras. In Neil Gaimans gothic childrens book, Coraline, the smart and adventurous main
character, Coraline, discovers an alternate version of her world through a mysterious little door
in her new home. Despite this other world appearing much more interesting than her own world,
there is another version of her mother, Other Mother, who wants to keep Coraline in this other
world forever. In the novel, Other Mother did not first appear as an exact replica of Coralines
real mother, but as the story progressed, Other Mother started to show a few different sides of her
personality and the type of character she truly is. Even though she can be looked at as just
another villain in a childrens story, Other Mother has a grandeur, multi-characteristic personality
that gives the story Coraline a deeper, darker twist.
From the very beginning of the story, readers can pick up on little hints that point to
Other Mother as having a childish mindset and acting much like a child. In fact, she has a whole
side to her character and personality that is just that: a mere child. More than once she brings up
playing games and just playing with Coraline; she tells Coraline, Were ready to love you and
play with you and feed you (Gaiman 60). Even the cat in the story tells Coraline, her kind of
thing loves games and challenges (65). A childs main joy in their little life is all centered on

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many different types of games and being able to play them. Though Other Mother is only able to
play one game with Coralinewhich is actually a hunt for Coraline and a waiting game for
Other Mothershe still revels at the prospect of being able to play with Coraline. Other Mother,
though never really able to show us her playing skills, brings up playing quite a few times, much
like what a child does when they want to play a game and are not able to; she badgers and
berates the topic of playing, even if it is small and almost unnoticeable at first.
Even if the mention of playing games was minimal, the way Other Mother puts out her
thoughts and feelings gives her a very immature image that is of a child. When Coraline tells
Other Mother where she thinks her real parents are hidden, Other Mother proves to her that she is
wrong and, with the expression of delight on her face says, Youre wrong! You dont know
where your parents are, do you? They arent there (131). The way she expresses her feelings
towards being right is very immature and very similar to how a child brags about being right or
winning at a game. She has a very big Im right, youre wrong mentality that is seen in many
children who are still in the egocentrism (self-centered) phase in their development. Another
example of her childish expression is when she is talking to Coraline about the ghost children
and she says, Now, I think youre being silly, dearI love you. I will always love you. Nobody
sensible believes in ghosts anywaysthats because theyre all such liars. Smell the lovely
breakfast Im making for you (90). They way Other Mother jumped from one topic to the next
and brushed off what Coraline was saying was something a child would do when they are
rambling and trying to talk about a bunch of different things at once.
Even though Other Mother may not be a true-to-good mother, she still tries to portray
herself as what she believes a real mother is and tries to do things she believes a real mother

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would do. Other Mother seems to have a very normal and specific idea on what a mother
should be like. When Coraline comes back to the other world, Other Mother tells Coraline:
Now, I think you are a little overexcited, Coraline. Perhaps this afternoon we can do a
little embroidery together, or some watercolor. Then dinner, and then, if you have been
good, you may play with the rats a little before bed. And I shall read you a story and tuck
you in, and kiss you good night. (78).
The whole explanation of what Other Mother wants gives off a very cookie-cutter ideology on
what being a mother and a family is like. The very line I shall read you a story and tuck you in,
and kiss you good night is something a child would think of doing when they are playing the
mom in a game of house. In fact, when Other Mother brings up games to Coraline, she gives the
options of Hopscotch? Happy Families? Monopoly (77). The game Happy Families can be
Other Mothers version of playing house, except she wants to have a happy family; a perfect
family. In fact, on more than one occasion Other Mother talks to Coraline as if she is her child
who will allow her do things that a real mother would do for her child, such as making them
breakfast and giving her clothes and toys.
Maybe, perhaps, Other Mother is not a child; suppose she is not a young child
impersonating a mother. Other Mother has a darker, much creeper side that is subtly described in
the book but highly illustrated in the movie. The cat, while talking to Coraline, explains to her
that it believes Other Mother wants something to lovesomething that isnt her. She might
want something to eat as well. Its hard to tell with creatures like that (65). The cat itself subtly
explained to Coraline that Other Mother, much like a spider after catching something in its web,
wants to love her and possibly eat her. A spider takes great care in the prey it captures in its web

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right before it its new food. Even in the movie, we see the drawing room floor quickly transform
into a giant web, capturing the bug-like furniture in it, with Other Mother right in the middle,
trying to capture Coraline (Selick). In both the book and the movie, Other Mother became less
and less motherly; she starts to twist and change and becomes more and more dark and
predatorily creepy.
Even if the story portrays the Other Mother as a child or a spider, or even a frightening
monster, readers and viewers still have to remember one thing: Other Mother was created from
the basis of Coralines real mother. In the story, readers are never given a clear vision of
Coralines real mother; they can only assume based on what Coraline said about Other Mother.
When Coraline first sees Other Mother, she says that the woman she sees looked a little like
[her] mother (Gaiman 27), except she had very white skin, a much taller and thinner figure, and
the very obvious black button eyes. Other Mother was given plenty of descriptionfrom her
twisted hair to her long red nailsbut the real mother was barely given any description. And
sadly for Other Mother, even though she tries to look and act like Coralines real mother, she
does not meet the real qualities of the real motherof a good mother. Even though Coralines
real mother seems to be indifferent to Coralines wants and needs, she shows signs of a good
mother: loving, but also sets limits (Palkovich 184). Other Mother, though try as she might,
does not realize that she is actually depicts bad mother characteristics; she does not enforce the
boundaries that enable the child to experience him or herself as self-empowered (184).
Throughout Gaimans story and Selicks movie, readers and viewers are given evidence that
proves to them that Other Mother twists the thoughts of childrens minds into thinking they need
to depend on her to be happy and attended to.

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When comparing Other Mother and the real mother, even their work is different. While
the real mother is given an image of a workaholic on a computer, Other Mother is never shown
actually sitting down and working; but that does not mean she does not work. Explicitly, Other
Mother has a job; the job of creating an alternate version of childrens inattentive lives because
she believes they deserve to be with her. Implicitly however, Other Mother has the job of
pushing Coraline out of fully depending on her mother and going to a new level of
independence. Other Mothers characteristic traits, along with her malicious lies and
manipulation, all recall the archetypal witch or evil stepmother figure (183), which is very
fascinating since a witch or evil stepmother are put into stories to give the heroes and heroines an
unexpected push to becoming who they are meant to become. Other Mother has the unexpected
and almost undetectable job of helping Coraline reach new levels of herself and her
independence, even if she did not mean for that to become her job in the first place.
The very basis of Coraline was to give young children an adventurous and unique book
that would give them a familiar sense of fun and fantasy. The unexpected outcome however was
a psychological dissection of the entire story, especially the Other Mother. The very reason she
was created, though practically undetected, was to help Coraline; whether it was to help her
escape from her boring life, or to help her grow into the person she was supposed to become. The
Other Mothers personality attracted and allured not only Coraline, but also the readers of the
novel.

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Work Cited
Coraline. Dir. Henry Selick. Perf. Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher. Universal
Studios Home

Entertainment, 2009. DVD.

Gaiman, Neil, and Dave McKean. Coraline. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Print.
Palkovich, Einat Natalie. The Mother Of All Schemas: Creating Cognitive
Dissonance In

Childrens Fantast Literature Using The Mother Figure.

Childrens Literature In Education 46.2 (2015): 175-189. ERIC. Web. 14 Oct.

2015.