Analysis of Neil Gaiman Novels - Research Paper Example

Use of Monsters in the Neil Gaiman novels Neil Richard Gaiman has ed a lot of novels, short fiction books, comicbooks, audio theatre and films and graphic novels. Some of his most famous books are, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and, The Graveyard book. Neil has previously won both the Carnegie medals and the Newbery for the same work. Some of his most notable works are: The Sandman comic series, the novels, Stardust, American Gods, and Fragile Things, among others. In 2013, the British National Awards voted the novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, as the book of the year. The book The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of the Neil’s bestselling fantasy books. The book begins with a funeral taking place and ends with death. Neil Gaiman uses stories to keep the dark at bay. He also believes that the stories that are most effective are the ones with plenty of darkness within them. He effectively uses this throughout the novel. The narrator in this novel remains unnamed, he returns to Sussex to bury his relative, who is also unidentified. At one time while driving to visit the house he once lived in, he finds a lot of changes that one might only expect to occur after passage of many years. However, one thing that has not changed is a red-brick farmhouse that was once inhabited by Lettie Hempstock, his childhood friend. The book blends children’ and adults’ world and also blends reality and magic. The writer creates a dream universe which is made up of a ghost world characterized by lurking monsters and shadows. This world is seen through the eyes of a seven year old hero, Sussex and the afterlife, monstrous and magical, mundane and supernatural, a father-son conflict later and the clash of gods (Neil, 2013). He introduces another character who commits suicide in a car after been overcome by guilt of gambling away a lot of savings. The narrator then meets Lettie, a strange, self-confident country girl. The writer brings in a theme of association between money with death. Lettie and her family are creatures who only exist outside of time so as to prevent destruction caused by malevolence like the one of the suicide. This theme becomes clearer as Lettie introduces the narrator to duck pond, which she calls an ocean and in it floats a fish that has choked to death. Mystery starts to come in when the narrator one morning wakes up and mysteriously finds a shilling stuck in his throat. He immediately thinks the ghost of the opal miner has attacked him and he runs to the Hempstocks’ for help. Lettie then guides the narrator into another realm where the sky is described as been “dull orange of a warning light” and plants looking “as if they had been beaten from gun-metal”. Here, they meet a gargantuan, which a ragged monster that purports that it is there to give human beings happiness by giving them whatever they want, and this is principally money. They also encounter the monster in the fields in "some kind of tent, as high as a country church, made of grey and pink canvas that flapped in the gusts of storm wind… a lopsided canvas structure aged by weather and ripped by time." A struggle ensues and the narrator has to let go of Lottie’s hand and a worm is placed by the monster into the foot of the narrator. The boy later removes the worm but it’s not fully removed. The malevolence stays and later assumes a human form by the name Ursula Monkton. This is how the monster manages to gain a toehold into the real world of the book setting. It then from henceforth manifests itself in the form of Ursula Monkton, as an attractive, young housekeeper who is hired by the family of the narrator. The monster then starts to work her way into the narrator’s father. Gaiman artfully evokes a moralistic and pragmatic mindset of a seven-year-old as the narrator secretly spies on Ursula and his father in an adulterous tryst. The youngster is not captivated by the situation as he notes: “I was not sure what I was looking at. My father had Ursula Monkton pressed up against the side of the big fireplace in the far wall. He had his back to me. She did too, her hands pressed against the huge high mantelpiece.” The narrator seems quite frightened though he has been frightened the whole of his life; he even sleeps with the door to his room open and the lights on. The fear used in the book has been characterized by defenselessness, for instance, the father kicks the bathroom’s door down, fills the bathtub with cold water and throws in his disobedient boy inside while Ursula observes them. In this novel, Gaiman uses monsters for adults to explore lost innocence, and immorality that youngsters can have. He narrates a fairly tales that are populated by unidentified creatures. He bases this novel on flashback of events of his eighth year. The monsters evoke feelings of safety and warmth and comfort (Hempstock) while in the same capacity, evoking feelings of deep anxiety and terror. The fantasy used also makes the readers feel like it’s a real life story. The monsters are both supernatural (Ursula Monkton) and human (his father, the opal miner). It gives the writers work an emotional pull to the audience. Garman taps into the fears of childhood to deliver his story. In this way, children as well as adults reading the book are pulled back by the fear and stay attached to the story. The story is characterized by losses-loss of childhood, loss of loved ones, and loss of familiar things. Monsters have also been used throughout Gaiman’s other books. For instance, in his book, The Graveyard Book, which is a fantasy novel for children was set in a graveyard scene, an adopted boy referred to as Nobody Owens is raised after his family members are murdered. The book utilizes fear and terror throughout the storyline. It starts with murder where one of the characters referred to as ‘the man Jack’ murders all the family members of a certain family with an exception of a toddler who is upstairs. The toddler manages to crawl from the house and goes uphill to a certain graveyard uphill where the monsters find him. The monsters consider whether to keep the toddler until another character referred to as the Lady on the Grey (portrayed as the Angel of Death) decides that the toddler should be kept. The other monsters abide and the monster who first saw the baby (Mr. and Mrs. Owen) ultimately becomes the foster parents. They name the child Nobody Owens who is granted Freedom of the Graveyard. This allows the child to pass through any solid object when inside the graveyard. Silas (who is portrayed as a vampire) is given the duty of providing to the child whom he readily accepts. Silas convinces Jack that the toddler went the opposite direction, downhill, and thus looses trail of the child. The book’s storyline is about Nobody’s activities in and outside the graveyard as he grows up. He befriends a girl referred to as Scarlett Perkins. Nobody acquires supernatural qualities such as fading (becoming invisible), haunting (whereby he makes people terrified or feel uneasy) and dream-walking (going to another person’s dream and controlling it). Nobody’s teacher was also a monster called Mr. Pennyworth. The book captures its story line through monsters until later when Nobody disagrees with Silas and Scarlette ends up with her memoirs taken away. Silas convinces Scarlette and her mother to go back to Glasgow. Finally, the still young Bod loses the Freedom of the Graveyard and his ability to see other ghosts. The story comes to a conclusion with Silas giving Bod a passport and some money and leaves the graveyard where he had spent all his years and goes to start a whole new life (Neil, 2008). In another short story by Neil Gaiman, A Study in Emerald, the same use of monsters in his storyline is seen. The story begins with a yet to be named narrator, who is against the gods and men of Afghanistan. The narrator has previously been brutally tortured and one of his hands injured. This sets the scene for the stories to unfold later in the story. He meets and becomes friends with a man who possesses deductive skill and extra-ordinary insight. The stories that ensue occasionally reveal the monsters in the story. For example, at one point, there is a queen at the palace who is said to have defeated humanity 700 years ago and has ruled humanity since then along with other Great Old ones. The queen is usually consulted and is portrayed as one having the ability to heal; she healed the veteran’s shoulder with just a touch (Neil, 1999). Using monsters, Gaiman is able to bring realism of a particular situation. It is of great benefit to the writer’s work. Such allusiveness in the writers work has placed Gaiman as a strong and very popular author. Gaiman himself said that the reason he prefers to use comic instead of other forms of storytelling is because, this form of storytelling is relatively new and is a virgin territory. He also prefers this style while writing this book because, every adult has childhood memories and childhood fears. Basing his stories on this would enable the book to resonate well with both adults and children. Most of the adults find most of the section of the book similar to their situation, such as the part in the book where the narrator goes back to the place where he spent his childhood and finds a lot of changes than he had left. He also uses this style because; most of the children as they grow up prefer stories of fantasies rather than real stories. They find the stories more captivating than real world stories. They prefer myths because they may not be classified as adult stories nor can they be classified as children stories, but they are much more than that. Gaiman has well mastered the art of basing his stories on fantasies making his books some of the best sellers in the world. He also uses this style because children reading style is totally different from that of adults. Adults prefer the writer to take a particular concept and completely exhaust it in his elaboration. Children on the other hand are explorative (Chris, 2013). They prefer writings that explore a wide array of ideas. It is for these reasons that Gaiman style has been distinguished from many other artists in the world making win numerous awards. Works Cited Chris Hamann. Review: Neil Gaiman’s“The Ocean at the End of the Lane” • April 11,2013 University Press http://www.upressonline.com/2013/10/review-neil-gaimans-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane-is-a-dark-look-at-childrens-fantasy-told-for-adults/ Lofuto, Tina. "With The Ocean at the End of the Lane, fantasy master Neil Gaiman presents a mythical view of childhoods fears". Nashville Scene (2013). Neil Gaiman. Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. HarperCollins. (2006). Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere. Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd. (1996). Neil Gaiman. Stardust. Harper Teen publishers (1999). Neil Gaiman. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins Publishers. (2008). Neil Gaiman. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. William Morrow and Company (2013.) Percy, Benjamin, The New York Times; The Sunday Review; It All Floods Back; Interview Neil Gaiman’s ‘Ocean at the End of the Lane’, Published: June 27, 2013 Read More