Comparing Coraline And Peter Pan

Kayle Muller
ENG 482
Sommers
10/8/13

Coraline and Peter Pan What is the role of a child and their innocence? This is a topic that can be discussed thoroughly and quite in depth with many people. The element of a child’s innocence plays an extremely important role in their life for not only the reason of staying a “child” but also refraining them from growing up too fast when it is not necessary. The innocence of a child is precious, malleable, and cannot always be retrieved once it is lost. Sometimes a child is forced to become an adult, from various external influences through experiences in their life, which can quickly result in the child losing their innocence. As we see in Coraline, a young girl is forced to temporarily lose her
innocence because of the sudden disappearance of her parents and also the agreement that she has made with her “other” mother. While in Peter Pan, he chooses to never let go of his child innocence because he does not want to face the reality of growing up and the responsibilities that becoming an adult. The innocence of a child plays a crucial role in ones life; we see the problem within Coraline and Peter Pan whether it is being desperately being held on to or it is being lost and forced into adulthood thoughts and responsibility. The meaning of holding onto ones childhood innocence can be described as remaining in a childlike state for as long as the person can hold on for.
An example of someone holding on to his or her childhood innocence would be the character, Peter Pan. In the story, Peter and Wendy or Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, Peter is desperately trying to hold onto his childhood innocence because he does not want to grow up and face the struggles and responsibilities of growing up into an adult. While Peter is trying to remain a child in all aspects of his life, Coraline is facing struggles that are completely opposite. As we see in Coraline, from very early in the book she was forced to somewhat entertain herself while her parents used their time to work and do things that they did not want Coraline to bother them with. With having to entertain herself all of the time she began to explore and ended up finding a new “world” that will turn out to be extremely bad for Coraline as time goes on. The moment when her parents completely disappear into the “other” world Coraline is faced with the reality of taking care of herself. Once she reaches this point, she has temporarily lost her childhood
innocence. The story of Coraline by Neil Gaiman is a story about how a young girl, Coraline, must utilize her imagination and create entertainment for herself. While she was playing and exploring she found a new world that was a replica of her current life but very different at the same time. This new world brought on a huge wave of troubles that Coraline would have to face. Coraline is a very rambunctious and curious character, so when she is put into a situation she goes in with complete force and curiosity. When Coraline was faced with the disappearance of her parents, she was unfortunately faced with the job of taking care of herself and facing the realities of growing up. “She opened her money box and walked down to the supermarket. She bought two large bottles of limeade, a chocolate cake, and a new bag of apples, and went back home and ate them for dinner” (Gaiman 51). With being such a young age and having to completely take care of her proved to be difficult for Coraline but she somehow managed to do so even though she was so young. If Coraline would not have gone and found her parents then there may have been the risk that her childhood innocence would have been lost forever. In the world today, we see more children having to grow up before their time and having to face the realities that only adults should be focused on at that time. As one can see, Coraline, must face these realities but only temporarily. The story of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is a story about a young boy who refuses to grow up and face the responsibilities of an adult. To remain young, he lives in Neverland, which is a magical place that allows him to stay young forever. He brings the Darling children out to Neverland for an adventure and ends up with the two Darling boys going along with him and the lost boys while Wendy stays behind and holds on to the mother-like role. Eventually, Wendy offers for Peter to come back home with her, her brothers, and the lost boys so that they can all be adopted and taken care of, but Peter Pan declines the offer because he does not want to have to grow up and be responsible like the other children will have to be. Peter Pan as a person is not always focused on just remaining a child and responsibility free; he is also a very determined and focused young man. He is always set out and ready for anything that may happen with his opponent Captain Hook and interacting with not only Tinkerbell but also Tiger Lily. “There is a saying in the Neverland that,every time you breathe, a grown-up dies” (Barrie). The fact that not only Peter Pan but, the other inhabitants of Neverland believe that while one is breathing and happy in Neverland there is an adult in the real world that is dying. This idea that adults die everytime a breath is taken in Neverland makes the idea of going into the real world very scary because death would be approaching rather than having the comfort of living as a child forever. The element of child innocence can mean many different things when it comes to all of the different people of the world. Being “robbed” of ones child innocence can mean many things such as, growing old before it is a completely necessary time and losing ones imagination. When a child has lost their innocence it almost seems as though they have lost a bit of themselves and are now forced to focus on everyday responsibilities rather than playing, being silly, and just being a child in general. At times the idea of being “robbed” of their childhood innocence is not always the case. Some children choose to think more adult like and may even be more interested in adult topics that make the innocence of the child decrease at an even faster rate. In many cases, the situations that children must face should not be a reality for them until they are older. The issue of childhood innocence is present in both the books Coraline and Peter Pan but instead of being similar they are opposite. “After a while she started yawning. Then she undressed, brushed her teeth, and put herself to bed” (Gaiman 50). While Coraline is facing the temporary loss of her childhood innocence and being forced to care for herself, Peter Pan is doing all that he can to stay a child rather than having to face any sort of adult-like responsibilities. To get a better understanding of the problems that these two characters had to face one must look at specifically the time in which the two books were written. While the two books are both pertaining to child innocence, the different time periods in which they were written show two very different versions of a child and how they live in that day’s society. Peter Pan was written in a novel version in 1911 while there was also a play version in 1904. During this time, the main two things that children had to focus on were that of school and work. The families relied heavily on the income that the children made when they worked because each family supported themselves. Many children started working from as early as they were able to do intense physical activity. If Peter Pan would have gone back to the real world there is a large chance that he would have had to put himself out into the working force so that he could help provide for not only himself and his family. While children in 1911 were expected to work and provide for their families, the children of today have very different priorities. Coraline was written in the year 2002, which was somewhat of a complete opposite than the priorities of those who lived in 1911. The priorities of the children of the year 2002 have almost nothing to do with finding work, they are more focused on their schoolwork, hanging out with friends, and just overall having fun. “‘I really don’t mind what you do,” said Coralines mother, “as long as you don’t make a mess”’ (Gaiman 6). Coralines mother shows that as long as she is not being bothered and a mess is not being made, then she does not care what Coraline does to entertain herself. The time once the children of 2002 generally get a job is when their parents influence them to; but the reasons for getting a job are completely different than before. The children of 2002 get jobs so they can buy things that they may not need and are able to go out and do entertaining activities. As one takes a closer look at how the element of childhood innocence differs within the two stories one would see that with a difference there is usually a slight comparison as well.
While both characters innocence is either temporarily taken away or desperately being held on to, they both have a different world that they have “escaped” to. Peter Pan has a world that promotes his childhood innocence and keeps whomever lives there the age in which they enter it. This type of world is exactly the correct recipe for remaining a child in all aspects of ones life. “There was no brick wall on the other side of the door: only darkness” (Gaiman 58). While Peter Pan had a world that kept him in his childhood state and was welcoming, Coraline had to go into a world that forced her to lose her childhood innocence and had a creepy vibe. The fact that she had to take care of herself before and after she had entered back into the other world showed how quickly her child innocence could be taken away. She may have thought that this new world was going to be a place where she could come and not have any worries which ended up being the complete
opposite.