Coraline: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Coraline Jones and her parents have just moved into a new flat in a very old house. The large manor has been divided up into several individual flats—on the ground floor, below Coraline and her parents, live Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two aging former actresses who own a large number of Highland terriers. Above Coraline lives a crazy old man with a mustache who has told Coraline that he is in the process of training a circus of mice. All of Coraline’s eccentric new neighbors call her “Caroline,” even as she repeatedly reminds them they’re saying her name wrong. Coraline is frequently bored, and so she passes the time by visiting her bizarre neighbors or exploring the grounds. 

Outside the large house is a big garden and an old tennis court which has fallen into disrepair. Coraline has also discovered a large, deep well covered by wooden boards in a meadow on the property—Miss Spink and Miss Forcible have told her the well is dangerous and urged her to stay away from it. One afternoon, Coraline discovers a “haughty” black cat playing near the tennis courts. Though she tries to approach the cat and play with it, it runs away.

One afternoon, Coraline is forbidden from exploring when a heavy rain begins to fall. Her mother and father tell her she must stay inside, and Coraline is cross with her parents for getting in the way of her exploring. She tries playing with her toys and channel-surfing on the TV, entertaining herself briefly with a nature program about protective coloration—a phenomenon in which animals, birds, and insects disguise themselves to avoid predators.

Bored with the television, Coraline goes into her father’s office to talk to him. She asks him if she can go outside—he asks what her mother has told her, and Coraline admits that her mother has forbidden her from going exploring. Her father suggests she explore the flat, and gives her a list of scavenger-hunt-type activities to do around the house. Her father tells her that she can even explore the drawing room, where the family keeps all their expensive furniture and china.

While exploring the drawing room, Coraline realizes that a large wooden door in the wall of it is locked. When Coraline asks her mother where the door goes, her mother retrieves a key ring from the top of a cupboard, selects a large old rusty black key, and opens the door. The door opens onto a brick wall, and Coraline’s mother explains that when the house was turned into separate flats, different rooms were bricked off from one another. Coraline asks what’s on the other side of the brick wall, and her mother tells her there’s one empty flat in the house that’s still for sale. Coraline’s mother leaves the drawing room. Coraline calls after her, asking her to lock the door—Coraline’s mother calls back that there’s no sense in locking it since it doesn’t go anywhere.

That night for dinner, Coraline’s father makes one of his gourmet “recipes”—a fancy stew which Coraline snubs in favor of a microwaveable pizza. Coraline’s father begs her to try the dish, but she turns her nose up and refuses.

That night, as she is falling asleep, Coraline hears a strange noise. She gets out of bed to investigate—in the hall, she sees a strange spider-like object scuttle quickly out of sight into the drawing room. Coraline follows it and watches as it quickly hurries towards the door on the far side of the room. Coraline, scared and nervous, turns the light on—she sees that the large old door is now cracked open.

Coraline returns to bed and has unpleasant dreams of a chorus of rats singing an ominous song: “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.”