Coraline
As humans, we sometimes view the world around us from different perspective. In this regard, our beliefs and interest ends up depending on a social and psychological path. Furthermore, this type of ideology has helped us to develop and also frame most of the human archetypes. Nonetheless, due to this trend, I am able to depict my primary inner being as a warrior archetype. Most of the special characteristics that I naturally possess are innovation, leadership, honesty and braveness. All of these qualities made me very unique compared to all other archetypes. In contrast, life has two sides to every story and that being said, some of the negatives of being a warrior archetype can be: impatience, aggressive, bold and overconfident. As a result, I can use some of these descriptions to affiliate myself to the lead character in the story, Coraline.
If I may go back to my childhood moments, I can reflect to some of what Coraline did especially at the age of nine. I know at least how she felt being all alone by herself most of the time. Despite the fact that we did not have exactly the same parental stories but they are somewhat similar. In addition, I remember times in my childhood when I was mostly left by myself and I became so bored which lead to strange discoveries. My parents were also separated and for the worst part, I had no brother or sister or even close friends. This reminds me of what Coraline went through herself being alone and why she asked herself, “What should I do?” (17). On the other hand, my best moments of the day were during school periods. I had a lot of friends to joggle around with though after school hours it was a different story, bored as hell! In all, I felt the worst when school sessions were over and holiday periods were back. Despite all being said, living in such a condition with barely cared for parent’s can leads to strange behaviors and childhood exploration (73).
Warriors are like explores, they always create or try to discover the unknown. Ultimately, Caroline discovered a lot of stuffs as most warrior archetypes will, whether young or old. In my own words, my personal description of a warrior is “unstable as an electron.” From a vantage point of view, we can adhere to the facts narrated in the story about Coraline, that she indeed explore and discover many things. She discovered: “the hot water tank ‘21 windows, 14 doors’ and a brown wooden door... that was locked” (8). During my childhood days, about her age, I use to go to closest lake or river in my community which was mostly forbidden for kids to do, just to look for a special marble stone called Kaykayray. The reason why this search for the devil’s stone was important to me was that, it has a mystical story behind it. In my tradition, it is believed that this kind of stone gives supernatural powers just as the talisma that was given to Caroline in the story. I wanted to prove the ancient myth if it was indeed true or false. Like Coraline, pursued all warnings at the door even though the message implied “don’t go through the door” (16) she insisted. Thus, this was due to the control of her inner warrior archetype.
Warriors are relentless in getting result. They are not afraid and will do what it takes to get the facts, whether through supernatural or by practical means. For instance, another character in Coraline’s story Miss Spink, once admired the enthusiasm and leadership drive in Coraline. As a result, she expressed her emotions by saying “What an extraordinary child” (156). It is important for anyone, whether old or young to display some amount of creativity especially when things seem unnatural or abnormal. Warriors never quit, instead they will sacrifice all it takes or even give their own life to save others. Coraline was more or less of that character in the story. However, she was inspired by her boredom to explore but she eventually ended up saving others by persuading the goddess which was a high stake risk (62). From a common point of view, we all know that most times things do not go as we wish but we at least try to manage by doing our best to prevail. Perhaps, this could be one reason why it is important to have a some leadership spirit in everyone. It is obvious that, most of what Coraline encountered in the story, she displayed a great amount of boldness and loyalty. She was relentless in achieving success even when victory seemed impossible. She was always prepared for the worst case scenario whether it is a “satisfying clunk” (26) or a “loud clunk” (58). From threshold to threshold a warrior can go without fear just to discover the unknown or a myth in as much as at the end they will “smile triumphantly” (26).
In addition, it all comes to one belief that the true side of every story survives. On a personal note, I can attest to several occasions where I thought to myself that the best way out was to sellout so to make things easy in a difficult situation. Well I think maybe it was the warrior spirit in me that kept me loyal just like Coraline in the story. She exercised honesty and maintained trustworthiness at the end of her odyssey. In spite of all the strange and deceiving acts and how things went in the story, even when the goddess proposed to put her in bondage yet, she turned the worst moment into a victorious outcome. Coraline did not get persuaded with the glamour and wealth she was offered to stay instead she rejected the bargain of her delusional mother by saying you are “sick and evil and weird” (78). In most cases, most people would have thought otherwise.
In conclusion, we can evaluate a true warrior archetype as indeed one who accomplishes the hero’s quest. I can connect myself in every aspect of my life as such. Thus, when a warrior discovers his or herself in a moment of departure they will definitely enter all the thresholds in their path. They will end up becoming masters of both worlds by refusing to be initiated because they always believe in fulfilling their promises (137).
