“We keep our memories longer than our names”: Name, Memory and IdentityFormation in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the identity-formation of Neil Gaiman’s eponymousheroine in his coming-of-age novella Coraline. By examining both the mental processesby which memory is formed as well as the various different classifications of memory,
it is possible to understand, to an extent, the ways in which memory helps in theformation of identity and character. Through an analysis of the events that transpire inCoraline’s life and her interaction with the other characters, this paper thus seeks to
chart not only how Coraline’s memories are formed but also how her memories cometo play an integral role, in turn, in the formation of her sense of identity and selfhood.Coraline’s growth as an adolescent thus becomes characteristic of the genre of youngadult literature as a whole in which themes of identity and character-formation are notonly relevant but also intrinsic since it relates to both adolescents and young adults
alike.