Gothic Rites of Passage in Neil Gaiman’s Coming-of-Age Fiction

Gothic literature explores psychological instability and cultural fears. An examination of the history of the genre clearly illuminates the ways it operates to reflect societal fears that cannot be dealt with directly and in a straightforward manner. It helps ease the cultural transition from a state of denial to a state of acceptance towards the complications of reality and the anxieties that we must endure both as individuals and as a community in order to see the world around us more clearly. While in the past Gothic was a genre that was considered mainly suitable for adults, a cursory look at the children’s section of any bookstore reveals that gothic fiction for children is in popular demand. The present paper analyzes Neil Gaiman’s gothic novella, Coraline, through the lens of psychoanalytical interpretations of stages of maturity in an individual, in order to examine the gothic world of Coraline and the lessons it is attempting to impart to its readers.

Keywords:

Gothic , Fear , Anxiety , Children , Neil Gaiman , Coraline