Omens, portents, visions |
A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. |
· Coraline dreamed of black shapes that slid from place to place, avoiding the light, until they were all gathered together under the moon. Little black shapes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth. The narrator state: “They started to sing: ‘We are small but we are many… We are many, we are small…We were here before you rose... We will be here when you fall.’ Their voices were high and whispery and slightly whiny.” (p.8 to p.9) This dream would create an atmosphere of panic and apprehensiveness, for the red eyes and the sharp teeth of the creatures seemed to convey that the creatures were evil, and that there were possibilities of them harming Coraline. The fact that the creatures’ song implied that they were small, but that they watched over Coraline before she rose and when she fell, seemed to infuse into the atmosphere of the story immense anxiety, and seemed to cause Coraline, as well as readers to become frantic with nausea.
· In p.12 of the novel, the crazy old man from upstairs gives Coraline a “message” from his mice” “The message is this. Don’t go through the door.” Consequently, he proves that his mice get things right rather than wrong by saying: “They are funny, the mice. They get things wrong. They got your name wrong, you know. They kept saying Coraline. Not Caroline. Not Caroline at all.”, which seems to startle readers, since mice do not talk or give portents of such sort. This omen seems to generate an atmosphere of fear and unpredictability, for Coraline did not seem to know what the old man was talking about, although his omen was quite unpleasant.
Coraline is struck by another signal once again on her visit to Misses Spink and Forcible’s residence, during which the two retired actresses take turns in the examination of the black tea leaves in the bottom of Coraline’s tea cup, and then warn her that she was in “terrible danger” (p.14). This further intensifies the feeling of an impending occurrence of misfortune.
The reader is guided by both of these happenings to be believe that Coraline is to be harmed by an event that is to soon take place in the plot, and not only pities her state, but is also at a state of unease, and seems to feel quite nervous, as a result of the unpredictability of the statements made by the old man upstairs, as well as Misses Spink and Forcible.
· In p.12 of the novel, the crazy old man from upstairs gives Coraline a “message” from his mice” “The message is this. Don’t go through the door.” Consequently, he proves that his mice get things right rather than wrong by saying: “They are funny, the mice. They get things wrong. They got your name wrong, you know. They kept saying Coraline. Not Caroline. Not Caroline at all.”, which seems to startle readers, since mice do not talk or give portents of such sort. This omen seems to generate an atmosphere of fear and unpredictability, for Coraline did not seem to know what the old man was talking about, although his omen was quite unpleasant.
Coraline is struck by another signal once again on her visit to Misses Spink and Forcible’s residence, during which the two retired actresses take turns in the examination of the black tea leaves in the bottom of Coraline’s tea cup, and then warn her that she was in “terrible danger” (p.14). This further intensifies the feeling of an impending occurrence of misfortune.
The reader is guided by both of these happenings to be believe that Coraline is to be harmed by an event that is to soon take place in the plot, and not only pities her state, but is also at a state of unease, and seems to feel quite nervous, as a result of the unpredictability of the statements made by the old man upstairs, as well as Misses Spink and Forcible.