The first volume of a trilogy collectively entitled His Dark Materials, this fantasy novel introduces Lyra Belacqua, a girl on the threshold of adolescence. Lyra lives in Oxford under the careless supervision of scholars associated with Lord Asriel. Readers familiar with John Milton’s great work Paradise Lost will pause over that name, recognizing it. The association is apt, because Asriel is mounting a war against Heaven, and Pullman is retelling Milton’s story with unexpected twists.
The most arresting feature of Lyra’s world is the presence of daemons. These daemons constitute external manifestations of the soul, and they take the form of talking animals. The daemons of children are shapeshifters, becoming whatever best reflects a child’s emotional state at any given moment. Lyra’s daemon, Pantalaimon, is in this stage. During adolescence, the daemon “settles,” assuming its permanent form. This image of a talking, intelligent, caring pet of many forms is a compelling and original device. The connection between daemons and humans becomes the driving force of the plot as Lyra and Pan are drawn into their amazing adventures.
Lyra has a gift for lying—her name is no accident—that is a crucial aspect of Pullman’s story; it will draw her into trouble, and sometimes save her life, but her challenge is to rise above it and to embrace truth. Before leaving Oxford, she receives a very different gift from the Master. This small object is the golden compass of the title, but it does not indicate direction in space. It is an alethiometer—a truth meter. In an ironic pairing, the skilled liar also proves herself to be exceptionally sensitive to the manipulation of this instrument. Only gradually does she learn its subtleties, and as the power of truth grows in her, she finally sees the hollow emptiness that lying brings into the world.
But Lyra is also being pursued. The Magisterium is at work, seeking to retain the absolute power it possesses by obstructing Lord Asriel, capturing Lyra, and eliminating Dust (a kind of elemental life force) from the universe. At Bolvanger, Lyra learns a horrifying truth, discovering the experiments conducted on children and their daemons to make them immune to original sin. Her own experiences there are harrowing before she escapes to travel farther north to Asriel, only to discover that he, too, is conducting horrible experiments. He intends to blast open the borders of his world in order to carry his war to the Authority of all worlds, even though the consequences may be devastating to his own world.
Lyra’s adventures teach her hard lessons about appearances and reality, deception and truth, betrayal and trust. In The Golden Compass, she begins to leave childhood behind without any clear role model for adulthood. With only her own soul, Pantalaimon, to guide her, she embarks on a quest that fits the pattern of the hero archetype. She begins to find her own goodness, her own courage, and her own strength as she discovers how severe the tests of these characteristics can be. At the novel’s end, a new and unknown world lies before her on the other side of the Bridge to the Stars, just as, in every child’s life, the unknown realm of adulthood lies on the other side of adolescence. She has no choice but to cross into the unknown and be tested there.
Bibliography
Bird, Anne-Marie. “Dust, Daemons, and Soul States: Reading Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.” British Association of Lecturers in Children’s Literature Bulletin 7 (2000): 3–12.
Nikolajeva, Maria. “Children’s, Adult, Human . . .?” In Transcending Boundaries: Writing for a Dual Audience of Children and Adults. Edited by Sandra L. Beckett and Jack Zipes. New York: Garland, 1999, 63–80.
Categories: British Literature, Children's Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis
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