outgoing, though Coraline considers her to be rather boring. • Charlie Jones – Coraline's father works at his house on the computer which he spends most of his time on his job. He cares about Coraline very much and is kind, gentlemanly, brave, and helpful. But, like her mother, she finds him rather boring. • The Cat – A black cat from Coraline's world. The cat acts as a mentor to Coraline and guides her through her journey. He claims to have no name, explaining that cats do not need names to tell each other apart. Unlike many of the characters in the novel, he does not have an "other world" counterpart, saying that unlike other creatures in the world, cats can "keep themselves together". He moves freely from one world to the next, although he can talk in the Other Mother's world. He is very sarcastic and helpful towards Coraline and defiant of the Other Mother, but seems to tremble at the thought of being stuck in the Other Mother's world. • The Other Mother/The Beldam – The creature that created much of the 'Other' world and the main villain of the novel. She looks a little like Coraline's real mother but taller and thinner, with long black hair that seems to move by itself, black button eyes, paper-white skin, and extremely long, twitchy fingers with long dark red nails, and teeth as sharp as knives. She cannot create, but only copy, twist and change things from the real world when constructing her version of it. She collects children, with whom she quickly becomes bored or frustrated, and imprisons them behind a magical mirror, slowly sucking the life from them. She is referred to several times as "the beldam", a Middle English word meaning "Grandmother," "Ugly Old Woman," or "Hag". The word may have its origin in poet John Keats' 19th century ballad, La Belle Dame sans Merci, which has a story line that Coraline seems to parallel. [4]. • The Other Father – A creation of the Other Mother, who was used to try to help trick Coraline into staying in the Other Mother's world. Like her real father he has a study and sits there during the day and will not talk to Coraline for long. He does not work however, he merely occupies the study as he is not permitted to talk to Coraline by himself. He is much more fun than Coraline's real father and always tries to be cheerful and fun in front of Coraline. In reality the Other Father is sad and nervous. The Other Mother ends up punishing him for revealing too much to Coraline by transforming him into a grub-like creature. • Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible – A pair of retired actresses, who live in the flat under Coraline's. They own many ageing Scotties, such as Hamish, Angus and Jock, and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as actresses. They recognize the danger Coraline is in after reading her fortune through tea leaves and give her a stone with a hole in it to help protect her. In the other world they are young, pretty, and perform unendingly in front of many different dogs, who, in the Other World, behave like humans, such as talking and eating chocolate, which can kill dogs in real life. • Mr. Bobinsky – A retired circus performer living in the flat above Coraline's; he is commonly referred to as the Crazy Old Man Upstairs. Over the course of the book he claims to be training mice to perform in a mouse circus, and often brings Coraline messages from the mice, though at first Coraline doubts he even has mice to train, and she does not listen to what the man says was supposed to come from the mice. His counterpart in the Other World trains rats, and is in fact made of rats. • The Three Ghost Children – A trio of children who were previously victims of the other mother, two girls and one boy. The boy is described as having a dirty face and red trousers. One of the girls has two butterfly wings, blond hair, and a silver circlet, the other has a brown bonnet and brown dress. They were trapped by the Other Mother at different times before Coraline, and reside in the dark space behind the mirror. After having their souls restored, they go to the afterlife, but the last Coraline sees of them, is in a dream where she picnics with them. Here, she sees their true appearances and they thank her for freeing them from the Other Mother. It is also shown that the winged girl eats flowers as food. MUSICAL NUMBERS 1. Overture - Other Father; Mr Bobo; Cat; Mother; Father; 2. A New House - Coraline; Cat 3. Am Miss Spink (And I Am Miss Forcible) - Mother; Father 4. A Mouse Circus - Coraline; Mr Bobo;Ensemble 5. Mum And Dad - Coraline; Father;Mother
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