I think what you are talking about though, is the difference between children and adults. As children, we are often bored, always looking for adventure, but somewhere during the adventure we learn that home is really great, and that as children we need that kind of comfort and protection.

As adults, we often get bogged down in our everyday lives. We may hate and be bored by what we are doing everyday, but we don't really seek out the adventure, we are scared to step out of the comfort and protection. But if something pushes us off that path, we might hate it initially, but we find that it fits us, it is what we were dreaming of since being children, it is what we need to be fulfilled, even if it is scary.

On a side note, believe me though, that even when you tumble off the road of comfort to find a new adventure, the new adventure often becomes comfortable all too quickly. It is too often our natures to make everything fit what is comfortable.

Jeremy

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"Come over here to where When lingers." Jig of Life -- Kate Bush

What can I say, I couldn't put it down. Yes, this is the first book I've read by Neil Gaiman. I didn't know about Neil till a few weeks ago. Thank goodness for the internet! Coraline was wonderful reading, the more I read the more I got caught up in it. As a kid, I remember reading under the covers with a flashlight, Coraline made me feel that way again. I loved it!
Today I start reading Smoke and Mirrors.
Thank you Neil.

Jeremy, that is interesting. Very worthy to think about, I think.
I am actually pretty pissed of with the "there's no place like home" thing, and always was a kid, though. Of course, I never traveled to a paralel world or dimension...

I don't have Alice very fresh in my mind right now (even though I read it a million times) but, does she actually want to go home? And I didn't read the Oz book, does Dorothy want to go home as well as she does in the film?
Alice, howeer, if I have to believe my reading guide (), actually goes into the world of adults, and not into a fantasy land. Afte rseeing it's not worth much and full of looonie,s she goes back to being a child Not that I agree 100% with that, but it's funny to see it that way.

(Not trying to make any point, just thinking aloud)

the similarities are really interesting miyazaki always tells his story through young girls, that's his style. but to be honest, when i saw the topic the first thing that i thought was the sharp differences just to think about the mood..coraline gives the creeps, but after i was spirited away i couldn't stop smiling.

isn't there a point of view that there's only like 7 original stories in the world?
maybe young bored girls taken away to wild fantasy worlds and coming back better equipped for the future is one of them...
alice's down to earth pragmatism is very similar to wendy(darlings in peter pan)'s.
i think its in a game of you where it says that little girls wanna be someone else, like belong to a royal family whereas little boys wanna be super versions of themselves and impress their friends and family..
*ramble ramble ramble...it is christmas after all**

quote:

Originally posted by cloverheart:
Jeremy, that is interesting. Very worthy to think about, I think.
I am actually pretty pissed of with the "there's no place like home" thing, and always was a kid, though. Of course, I never traveled to a paralel world or dimension...

I don't have Alice very fresh in my mind right now (even though I read it a million times) but, does she actually want to go home? And I didn't read the Oz book, does Dorothy want to go home as well as she does in the film?
Alice, howeer, if I have to believe my reading guide (), actually goes into the world of adults, and not into a fantasy land. Afte rseeing it's not worth much and full of looonie,s she goes back to being a child Not that I agree 100% with that, but it's funny to see it that way.

(Not trying to make any point, just thinking aloud)

I know this post is 3 1/2 years old, but I just had to comment on Clover's questions.

Yes, Dorothy does want to go home in the book, but she isn't whiny about it the way Judy Garland played her in the movie. The funny part about the book is that Baum states in his introduction that the story doesn't have a moral, and look how it all ends! Dorothy realizes that "There's no place like home." If that's not a moral, then I don't know what is.

As for Alice, because she's so curious about the White Rabbit and follows him down the rabbit hole, she doesn't think about how she wants to go home, just how strange everyone and everything is. Perhaps that's where the idea comes from, that she enters the world of adults. The things adults do are so often perplexing to children.

The difference between Alice and Dorothy is that Dorothy was carried away to Oz by the tornado; she didn't actually choose to go. Therefore, she wanted to go back home. Alice made the decision on her own to follow the Rabbit into Wonderland. She consciously chose adventure. Also keep in mind that she chose adventure again in Through the Looking-Glass. Alice is a much bolder character and isn't concerned about finding her way home.