How Sally Finds Her Voice And Independence in “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

One leap of faith, and lots of sewing after Halloween can make a difference.

The Nightmare Before Christmas has wonderful nuance about character growth, and finding what you need rather than what you want when struggling with burnout. While Jack is the obvious case of someone who pursues what he wants without thinking of the consequences, another character has a similar journey: Sally.

For this article, I’m not going with the spinoff material because I haven’t seen them. All this analysis comes from the movie, and charting Sally’s character arc. She is a great character, and lots of fun to uncover.

What Do We Know About Sally?

Dr. Finklestein created Sally, a ragdoll version of the classic Frankenstein’s monster. She serves as a surrogate daughter and servant, since the doctor expects Sally to stay at the house all the time and cook his meals. Yet the line blurs, as Dr. Finkelstein later makes a companion that looks more like a wife than a daughter. A deleted scene had Dr. Finkelstein reveal that he…