Unhomely Domestic Spaces in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

Abstract

This chapter explores the unhomely spaces presented in Neil Gaiman's Coraline (2002) through the Freudian lens of the uncanny, focusing specifically on Coraline's disposition as she navigates this dangerous territory and the maternal obsession presented by the other mother. I argue that the domestic spaces within the text create an unsafe environment for Coraline (both physically and psychologically) and that these spaces enhance the Jones’ complex and nuanced familial relationship. In essence, Coraline's understanding of her relationship with her parents is in flux throughout the novella; constantly ebbing and flowing between frustration and acceptance. I explore her psychological experience of the uncanny landscapes and her parent-doppelgängers through a formulation I call eccentric aesthetic. My formulation of eccentric aesthetic signals the embodiment of the uncanny and a sense of peculiarity within the structure of the domestic image and spatiality. Furthermore, this chapter deconstructs the abject other mother through the visceral images of the internal bodily experience; the allusions to the secretion of breast milk and/or bodily fluids, the liminal space between worlds as a womb-like space, and the re-birth of Coraline through an intra-uterine setting. Overall, by using the uncanny as a framework for discussion, this chapter discusses Coraline's perception of family (and selfhood) as she navigates what is real and what is (m)other.