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Categorisation, Liminality and Transformation in Constructing the Monster in Neil Gaiman’S the Graveyard Book

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Categorisation, Liminality and Transformation in Constructing the Monster in Neil Gaiman’S the Graveyard Book Categorisation, Liminality and Transformation in Constructing the Monster in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book Jutta Turunen University of Tampere School of Language, Translation and Literature Studies English Philology Master’s Thesis April 2015 Tampereen yliopisto Kieli-, käännös- ja kirjallisuustieteiden yksikkö Englantilainen filologia TURUNEN, JUTTA: Categorisation, Liminality and Transformation in Constructing the Monster in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book Pro gradu -tutkielma, 96 sivua + lähdeluettelo 5 sivua huhtikuu 2015 Tutkielmassani tarkastelen hirviön rakentumista kolmen ulottuvuuden varaan Neil Gaimanin lastenkirjassa The Graveyard Book (2008). Pyrin osoittamaan, että hirviön tunnistaminen teoksessa vaatii sen tarkastelua epävakaana hahmona eikä niinkään esimerkiksi päähenkilön pelkoon samastumista. Nämä epävakauden ulottuvuudet ovat epäonnistunut kategorisointi, liminaalisuus ja liike sekä muodonmuutos. Teoriaosuudessa käyn läpi, kuinka nämä hirviön ulottuvuudet murentavat keskiöksi kutsuttua tilaa, joka ympäröi hahmon tarkastelijaa. Tutkielmani kannalta on myös merkittävää, että hirviö käsitteenä on niin monimuotoinen ja vaikeasti kuvailtava, että sen määrittäminen muuttumattomien tekijöiden kautta on joko harhaanjohtavaa tai liian rajoittavaa. Näin ollen nimenomaan hahmon muuntautuminen ja epävakaus ovat sen määritteleviä tekijöitä. Pohjateos kuvaa lapsipäähenkilöä, joka perheensä murhan jälkeen päätyy kummitusten ja muiden kauhugenren perinteisten hirviöiden kasvattamaksi. Päähenkilö kohtaa elävien maailmassa uhkia kuten väkivaltaisen salaseuran, ahneen pikkurikollisen ja koulukiusaajia. Koska kirjan tapahtumia tarkastellaan päähenkilön näkökulmasta, joka on lapsuudessaan tottunut kuolleisiin, vampyyreihin ja ihmissusiin, hirviöt eivät muodostu niinkään sen kautta, mitä päähenkilö osaa pelätä. Hypoteesini onkin, että teoksessa hirviöt pitävät sisällään jonkin tai kaikki esittämistäni kolmesta ulottuvuudesta ja että jokaista kolmea ulottuvuutta käytetään verrattain yhtä paljon teoksessa. Teosta tarkastellessa nousee silti esiin, että kategorisointi sekä sen vaillinaisuus, ristiriitaisuus ja epäonnistuminen määrittävät hirviötä eniten, ja että liminaalisuus ja liike sekä muodonmuutos ovat pienempiä tekijöitä, joiden pohjalle hirviö rakentuu. Hypoteesi toteutuu siltä osin, että kaikissa tarkasteltavissa hahmoissa on havaittavissa kaikkia näitä kolmea ulottuvuutta. Kolme epävakauden ulottuvuutta esiintyvät hyvin eri tavoin tarkasteltavissa hahmoissa. Gaimanin kirjan voidaan todeta keskustelevan hahmon epävakaudesta, mutta etenkin kategorisoinnin ongelmallisuudesta. avainsanat: hirviö, kategorisointi, liminaalisuus, muodonmuutos, Neil Gaiman Table of Contents 1.Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Premises and Aim of Thesis ....................................................................................................... 5 2 The Monster .................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Significance of the Monster ..................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Monsters in Children’s Literature and Fairy Tales .................................................................. 15 2.3 Ontology of the Monster .......................................................................................................... 21 2.3.1 Monsters and Categorisation ............................................................................................. 22 2.3.2 Monsters and Liminality .................................................................................................... 26 2.3.3 Monster and Transformation ............................................................................................. 32 3. Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Nobody Owens ......................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Silas .......................................................................................................................................... 47 3.3 The Man Jack and Jacks of All Trades..................................................................................... 53 3.4. Miss Lupescu and the Large Grey Dog ................................................................................... 63 3.5 The Ghouls ............................................................................................................................... 72 3.6 The Indigo Man and the Sleer .................................................................................................. 79 3.7 Liza Hempstock ........................................................................................................................ 85 4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 92 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................................... 97 1 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Horror as a genre is an interface where the monster character is most often met. Arguably, the monster can even be considered to be a significant part of the genre’s foundation, because it functions as the catalyst for the emotion that defines the genre. After all, Holly Lynn Baumgartner and Roger Davis note that the character “provokes an intense, immediate, if not categorical, response: revulsion, fear, terror” (2008, 1). However, in order to be petrified in the face of such a danger, the danger must be recognised. What, then, directs this process of recognition; what are the characteristics that reveal who or what a monster is? The genre contains a vast number of different creatures from mutated animals to armies of the undead. In the face of art and media representation that borrows from older fiction, combines it with modern stories and constantly produces new creatures to be afraid of, it might be necessary to discard the practice of taxonomy that relies solely on observing the features of the monster. Instead, the observations of such a character should extend to include the relation it has with the person who reacts to it. Understandably, the creatures that go bump in the night are widely integrated in the art forms directed at children and youth. Perhaps Harry Potter, a teenage wizard and a world-wide popular literary phenomenon, is not what could be called an epitome of everything that monstrosity presumes, but the Wizarding World contains the potential to produce and retain horrible creatures. Some of them are inherently malicious, dangerous or alien, such as the happiness-eating Dementors or the mythological basilisk, but arguably the worst yet are the likes of the Death-eaters or Voldemort himself – ordinary witches and wizards gone mad with hunger for power or with the fear of death. This book series that sold millions undoubtedly profited quite substantially from employing certain classical nemeses and inhuman miscreants in its narration. Just as Harry Potter and the reinvention of witches proves, the monsters of old are not necessarily the savage brutes they were in past literature. In addition to the villains and adversaries 2 and the things to be afraid of, children’s literature of the 20th and the 21st century has also adopted a motley crew of monsters to provide its readers with altogether new roles, like the hero, the underdog and the comic relief. Twilight saga popularised vampires as harmless pseudo-vegetarian champions and glittering first-lovers, creating a new demand in the business for supernatural romance and adventure genre for youth. Another example, for a much younger audience, is Sesame Street that introduced Cookie Monster, a monster advocating healthy eating habits, and Count von Count, a math enthusiast, that both are as far as possible from their original role models. The list is quite extensive, but it seems that we are without doubt brought up with the idea of a being that lies beyond or, perhaps, in between humans and animals. In relation to various instances of popular culture mentioned earlier, it must be, nonetheless, said that neither “popular” nor “monster” entail something that is only for the purposes of entertainment or the thrills and thus completely void of morality or teachings. Marina Warner, for example, calls this sudden fascination for monstrous things “a monster mania” that “has obviously been fostered by commercial interests” (1998, 15). Albeit a current favourite mode in youth and children’s literature, horror and monster stories highlight a variety of problems that affect its target group. The advantage they bring to commercial quarters is just as coincidental as commercialisation of any popular subject. Most often than not, the monster stories for children might emphasise the triumph of love over hate, or friendship and social interaction over isolation and loneliness, but sometimes they also, covertly or openly, bring to light the problematic representations of minorities or generate allusions to our own
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