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The rats are a creepy, vaguely malevolent presence throughout Coraline who can seemingly traverse the barrier between the “real” world and the other mother’s world with ease. Shortly after moving into her new house, Coraline can hear them singing at night—their song is an ominous one, and its lyrics suggest that the rats are an eternal, immortal presence waiting for the “fall” of the real world, humanity, or both. While the rats’ history, intent, and purpose are never explained, they are clearly minions of the other mother—scouts, props, and soldiers all at once, the rats may be many individual animals or one single entity able to shift its shape. The rats are one of Coraline’s greatest, most sinister mysteries, and they add tremendously to the book’s horror elements.
The Rats Quotes in Coraline
The Coraline quotes below are all either spoken by The Rats or refer to The Rats. 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:
).
Chapter 1 Quotes
[Coraline] dreamed of black shapes that slid from place to place, avoiding the light, until they were all gathered together under the moon. Little black shapes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth.
They started to sing,
We are small but we are many
We are many we are small
We were here before you rose
We will be here when you fall.
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Explanation and Analysis:
This passage, taken from the end of the novel’s first chapter, shows Coraline perturbed by frightening dreams of singing rats during one of her first nights sleeping in her family’s new home. Coraline and her parents have just moved to a house in the country, a large manse bricked up into several individual flats, and Coraline is feeling apprehensive and uncertain about her new surroundings. Her vision of the rats, however, is not merely the anxiety dream of a nervous little girl—it’s a warning directly from the ancient presence that lurks in the house’s walls. The rats’ song suggests that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusant
Chapter 10 Quotes
Coraline sighed. “You really don’t understand, do you?” she said. “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?”
“I don’t understand,” said the whispery voice.
“Of course you don’t understand,” she said, raising the stone with the hole in it to her eye. “You’re just a bad copy she made of the crazy old man upstairs.”
“Not even that anymore,” said the dead, whispery voice.
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During an encounter with the other crazy old man upstairs—a frightening “copy” of the real crazy old man upstairs made entirely of rats stacked upon one another in the shape of a person—the other crazy old man, doing the other mother’s bidding, tries to get Coraline to stay in the other mother’s world. He entices her with the promise that she’ll be able to wear what she likes, eat what she likes, and do what she likes whenever she likes. As Coraline listens to the creature’s promises, however, she finds herself completely unentranced by them. Coraline thought that what she Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae
Chapter 13 Quotes
[Coraline] fancied she could hear sweet music on the night air: the kind of music that can only be played on the tiniest silver trombones and trumpets and bassoons, on piccolos and tubas so delicate and small that their keys could only be pressed by the tiny pink fingers of white mice.
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The novel ends on a happy and hopeful note as Coraline drifts off to sleep listening to the real or imagined sounds of the crazy old man upstairs’ mice circus practicing for their big debut. While the fearsome black rats who function as the other mother’s spies and minions once populated Coraline’s dreams, her nighttime “fancie[s]” now take the shape of Mr. Bobo’s sweet white mice. This represents the fact that Coraline has vanquished the evil that recently pervaded her house—but it also speaks to the strides she’s made in coming to call the house a home and her neighbors Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asper
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The Rats Character Timeline in Coraline
The timeline below shows where the character The Rats appears in Coraline. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Coraline returns to bed and has unpleasant dreams of a chorus of rats singing an ominous song: “We are small but we are many / We are many...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...the dishes and urge her go to her room and play with her toys—and the rats “from upstairs.”
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...bedroom are enchanted and move on their own. Coraline enjoys playing with them until a rat runs across the floor and under her bed. Unsettled, Coraline peeks under the bed and...
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The rats scamper towards the door. Coraline turns to look at where they’re running to and sees...
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Chapter 5
The other mother summons a rat to her side and orders it to retrieve the black key from the door in...
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Chapter 6
...says she’s dealing with a “vermin problem.” When Coraline asks if there’s trouble with the rats, the other father says that the cat is the problem. Coraline notices that her other...
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...been here a long time. The cat pounces suddenly and lands on a large black rat—it explains that all the rats in this world are the other mother’s spies. The cat...
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...wants to enjoy a nice, quiet evening together eating delicious food and playing with the rats. Coraline is perturbed by the other mother’s long white fingers, which flutter endlessly as she...
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Chapter 10
...of the stairs, Coraline opens the door and lets herself in. She immediately hears the rats singing their creepy, threatening song and can see their red eyes staring at her through...
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...into the room, however, the man falls apart—he is not a man after all, but rather hundreds of rats in the shape of a man. The rats scatter and flee, and...
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Coraline follows the rats out the front door and down the stairs, but at the bottom of the steps...
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Chapter 12
...door. Coraline tells whatever it is to leave her alone—she thinks it sounds like “a rat with an extra leg” as it hustles away. Coraline gets out of bed and opens...
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