Coraline

by

Neil Gaiman

Food and Drink Symbol Analysis

Food and Drink Symbol Icon

Coraline Jones has a difficult relationship to food. Her father is an amateur chef who is always cooking fancy concoctions—which Coraline condescendingly refers to as “recipes”—and urging Coraline to try new dishes and new foods. Coraline ignores her father’s advice and subsists largely on microwave pizzas, frozen bread and jarred jam, and the occasional apple. Coraline’s hesitancy to try new foods symbolizes her petulance about having been moved to a new place and forced to do new things by her parents, who she feels don’t understand her. Food is, in Coraline’s view, a symbol of being misunderstood, unappreciated, and condescended to by the adults in her life. In the other mother’s realm, however, Coraline’s relationship to food mutates and morphs. The other mother and the other father prepare food for Coraline—but it’s food she’s excited to eat because it’s simple and delicious. Coraline’s other parents appear not to be foisting anything upon her—but in reality, they’re simply buttering her up and pampering her in an attempt to get her to stay in their twisted, dangerous realm forever. Once Coraline catches wise to the other mother’s evil, she begins avoiding the food the other mother serves as best she can—though she can’t resist a cheese omelet the other mother makes for her, she stops herself from drinking the hot chocolate the other mother brews, perhaps afraid of its power over her. Food is still a symbol of being misunderstood and condescended to—but in a very different way than it is in the “real” world. Ultimately, when Coraline rescues her parents and returns home, she finds herself eating even her father’s zaniest “recipes” with hunger and zeal. Coraline has learned that prepared food is an expression of love—when it’s prepared in the right way by the right people with the right intentions—and she wants to show her parents how much she appreciates them, and how much she has come to realize that they do, after all, appreciate her.

Food and Drink Quotes in Coraline

The Coraline quotes below all refer to the symbol of Food and Drink. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age and Finding Oneself Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Coraline?” the woman said. “Is that you?”

And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons.

“Lunchtime, Coraline,” said the woman.

“Who are you?” asked Coraline.

“I’m your other mother,” said the woman. “Go and tell your other father that lunch is ready,” She opened the door of the oven. Suddenly Coraline realized how hungry she was. It smelled wonderful.

Related Characters: Coraline Jones (speaker), The Other Mother (speaker), The Other Father
Related Symbols: Buttons, Food and Drink
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“Why does she want me?” Coraline asked the cat. “Why does she want me to stay here with her?”

“She wants something to love, I think,” said the cat. “Something that isn’t her. She might want something to eat as well. It’s hard to tell with creatures like that.”

Related Characters: Coraline Jones (speaker), The Cat (speaker), The Other Mother
Related Symbols: Food and Drink
Page Number: 63
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

The cat dropped the rat between its two front paws. “There are those,” it said with a sigh, in tones as smooth as oiled silk, “who have suggested that the tendency of a cat to play with its prey is a merciful one—after all, it per­mits the occasional funny little running snack to escape, from time to time. How often does your dinner get to escape?”

Related Characters: The Cat (speaker), Coraline Jones, The Other Mother
Related Symbols: Food and Drink
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Coraline LitChart as a printable PDF.
Coraline PDF

Food and Drink Symbol Timeline in Coraline

The timeline below shows where the symbol Food and Drink appears in Coraline. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Parents and Children Theme Icon
That night for dinner, Coraline’s father makes one of his gourmet “recipes”—a fancy stew which Coraline snubs in favor... (full context)
Chapter 3
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
...that there are no groceries for lunch. Coraline’s mother heads back out to shop for food. (full context)
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
...mother serves a huge roasted chicken with delicious sides. Coraline eats hungrily. As Coraline shovels food into her mouth, her other parents explain that they’ve been waiting for her for a... (full context)
Chapter 5
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
...She is surprised to find that her mother still isn’t home. Coraline makes herself some toast using frozen bread and waits for her parents to return from their errands—but even as... (full context)
Coming of Age and Finding Oneself Theme Icon
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
...go back to sleep. Instead, Coraline dons slippers and a robe, fills her pockets with apples, and lights up a candle when her flashlight refuses to work. Dressed and prepared, Coraline... (full context)
Coming of Age and Finding Oneself Theme Icon
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
...insists Coraline has already found her parents. The other father offers to make Coraline a midnight snack . Determined to be brave, Coraline says that she doesn’t need a snack and pulls... (full context)
Chapter 8
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
...children in the closet—the other mother, though, plays dumb, and starts cooking Coraline a lavish breakfast. She insists that she loves Coraline and that ghosts aren’t real. Coraline says she knows... (full context)
Coming of Age and Finding Oneself Theme Icon
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
Fear and Bravery Theme Icon
The other mother sets Coraline’s breakfast down on the kitchen table and asks what kind of game Coraline would like to... (full context)
Chapter 12
Coming of Age and Finding Oneself Theme Icon
Parents and Children Theme Icon
Home and the Familiar Theme Icon
...on the nice furniture in the drawing room. Coraline apologizes. Her mother tells her that dinner is in fifteen minutes—she seems to have no recollection of being trapped in the other... (full context)