How does Gaiman create a frightening atmosphere in the novel? Essay

Gaiman creates a frightening atmosphere in the novel by using different techniques. In chapter one Coraline’s new home is described in a horror way and is introduced in this quotation: â€Å"It was a very old house†¦Ã¢â‚¬  using the phrase â€Å"old house† often refers to horror films because the adjective â€Å"old† describes the house to have: ghost, cobwebs, peeled painting, sickly green weeds and to be neglected. Gaiman approaches the cat as strange and curious because it says: â€Å"†¦haughty black cat, which would sit on walls and tree stumps and watch her.† The cat is black which symbolises as a witch’s cat because it’s black, which makes the cat seem creepy. Also the cat is vain and proud because it says â€Å"haughty†. Describing the cat in this way makes you feel intimated. The quotation â€Å"who would sit on walls and tree stumps and watch her† feels like something is going to happen to her and the cat do esn’t want to miss any action because it says â€Å"†¦watch her.† Gaiman uses the technique personification in this quotation: â€Å"The cat shrugged†¦Ã¢â‚¬  to cause the scene to be creepy because cats don’t have shoulders and the cat is acting like a human, so this makes it: scary, strange and different. Also in chapter four he mentions Miss Spink and Miss Forcible being very horrifying in the quote â€Å"†¦thin, and pale, and quite pretty and had black-button eyes.† This quotation has a lot of adjectives including thin and pale which give a very ghostly image for them because pale is very white and so you look like a ghost and you have no soul. Gaiman has put Miss Spink and Miss Forcible with â€Å"black-button eyes† because it traps your eyes from showing any emotions and without that you do not have: a soul, character or personality. Gaiman then describes Coraline’s emotions in a different way that makes the atmosphere more frightening. The quotation says â€Å"She became certain that there was somethin g in the dark behind her: something very old and very slow. Her heart beat so hard and so loudly she was scared it would burst out of her chest.† Neil Gaiman is describing emotions without naming them: here, he shows us how scared Coraline is by describing the thumping of her heart because he writes â€Å"her heart beat so hard and so loudly† this means she was very terrified which then makes us feel that way. In chapter five Neil Gaiman describes the silence of Coraline’s flat which makes the reader feel very frightened. The quotation is â€Å"There was no other sound in the empty flat.† This quotation is frightening because it says there is â€Å"no other sound† and it is â€Å"empty†, which is the scariest thing because silence has an energy to it like no other source; therefore silence in a home can be quite disturbing and comfortable when alone. Gaiman then uses a technique, personification to make the scene: bizarre, abnormal and aberrant in the quotation â€Å"†¦the door was looking back at her.† This is a personification because doors can not look back! So this is strange and creepy and is used to emphasize unusual and vivid images or give inanimate objects feelings in order to show emotion. Gaiman uses another technique called alliteration to draw attention to the particular adjective and increase the itchiness it gives to you. The alliteration is in the quotation â€Å"A spider scuttled over the back of her hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  When the adjective â€Å"scuttled† is used next to the noun â€Å"spider† it automatically gives you the quivers and shakes. Also in chapter 7 Gaiman uses old fashion English language to make the atmosphere seem like time has gone by so fast which make the ghost old. The quotation that the ghosts speak in old fashioned language is: â€Å"Art thou – art thou alive?† â€Å"Thou† is not used in today’s century which makes it an old fashioned word. Using this type of language makes the ghost old and that they have been trapped in the mirror by the mother whom they call â€Å"beldam† to describe her which means witch. A few sentences after that quotation he uses a technique called five senses; this is a techniques which describes something uses touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight. He uses one of senses called touch to give you a better image of the scene in the quotation: â€Å"She felt a cold hand touch her face†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gaiman uses the sense touch to describe her face.