currently reading coraline (SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1)

i'm only one chapter in but have watched the whole movie multiple times.

the first theme i noticed was a theme of misidentification with people not knowing coraline's real name. there were prominent parts of this chapter that lends into this theme, like the line "a rock that looked like a frog, and a toad that looked just like a rock" (looking back at it i'm wondering why gaiman chose to write "a toad that looked just like a rock" rather than a frog, as he'd already mentioned frog prior....).

there was also a mention of "a snakeskin (but no snake)" which i found interesting, like this place is clearly not a home for anything except those with the prickliest of skin (eg. "a hedgehog"). continuing on w the snake thing, there was a small theme of temptation as well with the pebbles and accorns pittering the well, like it's inviting her in which also reminded me of alice in wonderland with the rabbit. and. well. you know. the devil from the bible. the door was also slightly open, leading her to be curious.

the other mother seems to bank on coraline's curiosity, only showing up to invite her to the other world when coraline is noticably bored due to it being raining and therefore leading to her not being able to go outdoors. makes you wonder how long she's been watching... and the other mother must be ANCIENT from the description of the key and the fact that the house seems to have been there long enough that they had to turn it into flats.

coraline feels like a very lonely character. her mother doesn't care what she does as long as she isn't messy and her dad gives her a task to explore the house so that she'll leave her alone. her dad knows that she doesn't like "recipes" and yet still made one in the evening. even "the rain meant business". the whole world is kind of against her rn from her own perspective!

anyways i am going to research more into protective coloration which is mentioned in the book. from what i know, it seems to be smth along the lines of camoflauge. i think this also lends well to the theme of misidentification.

okay bye now