She is presented to the world as a freak of nature, an oddity meant to ignite the fascination of gawking audiences.

Her father just wanted confirmation that she had died or disappeared. In the early 1900's Coney Island was a place to escape to from the summer heat of Manhattan, where houses of ill repute and saloons lined the streets. Living people with oddities performed and came and went throughout the years, Coralie never allowed to speak to them.

With her fame diminishing, she, too, began to feel like a nobody, even though this would mean a chance at a normal life that she had never before experienced. In the early 1900's Coney Island was a place to escape to from the summer heat of Manhattan, where houses of ill repute and saloons lined the streets. The Museum of Extraordinary Things itself, as well as the many other freak show performances on Coney Island, serves as a powerful symbol of the hypocrisy and wretchedness that defines many of the more well-to-do people of New York. This Study Guide consists of approximately 49 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Museum of Extraordinary Things.

He discovered that the hermit kept a wolf tied up outside his shack.

They joined forces and broke into the museum. Racetracks, carousels and roller coasters and Dreamland - a park full of animals from all over the world and the Museum of Extraordinary Things drew crowds throughout the summer. If the Professor could create a 'mermaid', he just knew it would put him back on top. it quickly started to spread throughout the streets. Coralie is a girl who loves nothing more than to quietly read a novel from her father’s library or have a conversation with the housekeeper, Maureen. But it was no use. The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis Alice Hoffman This Study Guide consists of approximately 49 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Museum of Extraordinary Things. In reality, however, Coralie is ashamed of her webbed fingers. Eddie hated the way they slaved everyday for mere pennies.

He quickly captures the intense curiosity—and fear—of the crowds. They hoped to have children. Coralie went for on her swim up the river when she had to stop to fight the current. The museum was starting to lose money.

She ran to get her father.

Being devote Jews, they found housing in a Jewish community in Brooklyn and a job in a factory sewing. One evening her father sent a doctor to examine her to check to see if she was still a virgin after he thought she had met a man and had relations. Coralie Sardie is one of the two central characters/protagonists in the novel. Eddie felt that they had abandoned his mother when they left Ukraine, even though she was dead. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The Museum of Extraordinary Things study guide and get instant access to the following:. By all accounts, Mr. Morris is the most well-read man who works for Coralie’s father, and perhaps one of the most intelligent men in the city. Eddie Cohen also undergoes an identity crisis midway through the narrative. The Museum of Extraordinary Things Alice Hoffman, 2014 Scribner 384 pp. This is evident, for example, in the many potential “suitors” who offer Coralie’s father large sums of money to sleep with her.

She hardly spoke of it. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. He told her she was old enough to understand. No, the man assured him. Electricity was just being installed and the city lite up like a giant circus. The freakish persona that she adopts for the purpose of her and her father’s livelihood conflicts with the inner recognition of her ordinariness. She swam everyday. Not being real happy at this job, Eddie befriended a photographer who taught him that its not what you see with the naked eye but with the lens that matters. HIs dog was going crazy barking at something. In the second section of Chapter 6 – May 1911 – Eddie went fishing in his usual spot along the banks of the Hudson River. Coralie Sardie, a young woman with a birth defect that gives her hands a fish-like appearance, is forced to work in her father’s “Museum of Extraordinary Things” as an attraction. The next night a huge fire broke out in the Dreamland Park. She walked up the shore a short distance and tripped over a bundle in the weeds. The inhuman, monstrous appearance of the individuals who sell themselves to the public is reflected by the similarly monstrous nature of the spectators who pay money to see them. He discovered a shack belonging to the hermit he spoke with in Chapter 2. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Museum of Extraordinary Things. She was so excited to have her father focus on her even if it was only for a moment. The hermit revealed that he saw two women coming out of the Hudson. When they returned, the girls lips weren't sewn shut anymore. This Study Guide consists of approximately 49 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - He thoroughly enjoys reading any literature he can get his hands on, can recite the poetry of Shakespeare by heart, and often quotes fragments from Poe or Whitman when engaging in gentle colloquy. She had been born with webbing in between each finger. Throughout the story, the reader is introduced to a number of characters who, because of the extreme circumstances they are confronted with, are forced to adopt personas that do not correlate with the inner understandings they have of themselves. While swimming one afternoon she got pulled by the tide farther away then usual and ended up on the shore - almost in front of Eddie.

When the public loses interest in the human mermaid exhibit, Coralie experiences an existential crisis.

And wrote a note to Eddie saying she didn't want to see him anymore. Eddie tracked down a friend of the missing girl, Hannah Weiss, who is identified only as “R”. Her father, The Professor, though no one really knew if he was a 'true' professor, made sure she ate fish everyday so she might mirror the abilities of the fish. Meanwhile, Eddie and his father had arrived in America having fled from Russia after their village was burned to the ground and his mother killed. She and Eddie were happily married. In the first section of Chapter 6 – The Birdman – Eddie recalled his childhood escape from Ukraine with his father and their early years together in New York. She knew her father was making money from her doing this and she hated it.

After seeing his father try to kill himself one day, Eddie decided to leave home and make a better living. By this time, Coralie was eighteen and had grown curious of the outside world and started 'straying' farther from her father and his museum. She was in love. So he started his own investigation. When his father seemingly tries to drown himself after losing his job at a textile factory, Eddie decides to cast off his Orthodox Jewish heritage and abandon the only family he has ever known. The Professor was getting scared. She found Eddie and told him about the girl. No one would befriend his freaks and his daughter would not be with a man. He had been sent by Eddie's father. At first, he becomes a hired snitch of sorts for a local degenerate, Hochman, although he grows to despise this aspect of his life.

Her father always made sure she wore her gloves whenever she was out in public, to hide her deformity. No food. Coralie decided it was time to sneak into the Professors workroom. Racetracks, carousels and roller coasters and Dreamland - a park full of animals from all over the world and the Museum of Extraordinary Things drew crowds throughout the summer. She Eddie and the night watch man worked into the night to sneak the body out of the workshop and return it to the family. As a museum attraction, Coralie was something of significance in a society full of forgotten people.