The Lovely Bones Literary Analysis

The content of literature comes in many forms. Various individuals believe that literature must portray reality in order to have an impact, however, others disagree. For instance, as once stated by English writer E.M. Forster, "A work of literature must provide more than factual accuracy or vivid physical reality... it must tell us more than we already know." The theory behind this quote is that works of literature do not necessarily have to completely exhibit only realistic and truthful subject matter in order to be meaningful. The truth behind these words are supported in the novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, and the novella Coraline by Neil Gaiman, both of which use details and formal features that reinforce the ideas vocalized …show more content…
Affected by Susie 's death, her father experiences extreme guilt over being unable to prevent her murder, her sister must take up a more 'motherly ' role to the siblings ' younger brother Buckley, and her mother eventually has an affair and later leaves the family. While Susie herself narrates the most of the novel from her own personal Heaven, many of the novel 's scenes are also set in Susie 's hometown in Pennsylvania. By using the supernatural setting of a layered individualized Heaven that Susie occasionally shares with others, Sebold allows the novel to tell a story of loss, grief, isolation and acceptance in a way that does not completely depict the …show more content…
Using the dark fantasy genre, the novella tells the tale of a young girl named Coraline Jones who feels dissatisfied with her life. After moving into an apartment in an old house with her workaholic parents, Coraline still finds herself, despite the weirdness of her new home and some of her even weirder neighbors, still very bored with her existence. One day, Coraline discovers a strange door within her apartment. Fascinated with the door, Coraline begs her mother to open the door and, eventually giving in, Coraline and her mother discover a brick wall behind the door. Disappointed with the events surrounding the door, Coraline visits her neighbors, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, who warn her of upcoming danger in her future. Likewise, while visiting her other neighbor, Mr. Bobo, Coraline is told his mice have a message for her: "Don 't go through the door". Unable to forget about the door despite the ominous warnings that foreshadow the darkness lying beyond the door, Coraline attempts to open the door again. This time she finds a portal to another world that, at first, gives the impression of being identical to her own. However, this a façade as Coraline soon learns that things are much more sinister than they