47 pages • 1 hour read
Philip PullmanThe Golden Compass
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Risks of the Quest
Lyra’s curiosity and spirit of adventure propel much of the plot: She transitions easily from wandering the streets of Oxford to pushing to go north to see the Aurora. Her eagerness to explore, spurred on by her naivete, causes her to ignore the inherent risks that her adventures pose for herself and others.
Pullman clarifies in the opening scene, with the near poisoning of Lord Asriel, that the novel’s environment is dangerous and politically charged, despite the protagonist’s childlike innocence and curiosity. The risks of this particular quest are dire for such a young protagonist. Lyra faces her own death as well as the death of her loved ones. Lyra’s safety is threatened repeatedly throughout the novel: She is kidnapped, attacked, threatened, assaulted, imprisoned, and almost severed from Pan.
The nature of the antagonists in the novel also contributes to the mounting risks of the quest. Soon after the poisoning scene with Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter’s golden monkey lunges at Pan and grabs his ear “as if he intended to tear it off. Not angrily, either, but with a cold curious force that was horrifying to see and even worse to feel” (86). Up until this point, Lyra has experienced relative personal safety, but this moment and her observations of the monkey’s coldness indicate that Lyra’s foes are practical and unemotional; they will harm out of necessity, and the life and pain of others are only means to an end. That the antagonists in the novel fail to value living beings increases the risk of Lyra’s quest and builds tension, foreshadowing the death of Lyra’s close friend at the hands of these cold antagonists.
As it becomes apparent that Mrs. Coulter has been killing children, Pullman builds to the revelation that Lord Asriel, too, has a reckless disregard for life, and the risks that are on the line—and that Lyra ultimately loses—are the life of her good friend, Roger, and the possibility of a healthy relationship with either of her parents.
The new world that Lyra decides to enter presents unknown risks: Once the bridge to the stars forms and the city in the sky is visible, questions arise about where this bridge leads, what it means to cross it, how far it goes, whether a person can come back, what the ethical costs are of forming such a bridge, and the dangers of having a portal between worlds. These questions ultimately affect both worlds and the people in them. Despite losing Roger, Lyra and Pan decide to continue their journey into the new world, in part to make his death count for something, but also to save future children from such cruelty and to preserve the Dust. As such, the risks of the journey are worth it when in the pursuit of truth and justice. This latter point signals a change in Lyra. She’s no longer seeking adventure for the sake of her own curiosity, but for a higher cause.
Clear Perception and Truth in Children
Lyra often sees through the motivations and manipulations of adults, whether she is conscious of that fact or not. For example, when Lyra meets Mrs. Coulter, she has no reason to believe she is anything other than wonderful. This woman spoils her, combs her hair gently, takes her shopping, brings her to important meetings, and promises to take her on an adventure north She even addresses Lyra’s concerns about Roger, which other adults have brushed off. Despite all this evidence that Mrs. Coulter is seemingly wonderful, Lyra has the instinct to hide “the alethiometer under the pillow, just in case” (80). Lyra often relies on her instincts when judging adults.
Another instance where Lyra correctly trusts her intuition is when she encounters a strange man in the streets after running away from Mrs. Coulter’s cocktail party. He asks her, “Where are you going, all alone like this?” to which she replies “Going to meet my father…he’s a murderer…Goodnight. I can see my father coming now. He looks a bit angry” (100). This stranger’s nefarious intent is immediately clear to Lyra, even though he just bought her a treat. She is quick to identify the threat and react to it in a way that moves her and Pan out of danger by making up a ridiculous story about her father being a murderer. Ironically, it turns out that she is correct about Lord Asriel. The only time her perception gets clouded, like initially with Lord Asriel, is because she cannot see past her own hurt and feelings to anticipate others’ motives and deeply consider the feelings of others.
While Lyra’s special connection to her alethiometer may make her seem like the main conduit of truth, she in is the company of other children who also see past adults’ lies and clearly perceive the truth. Roger recognizes the evil in Lord Asriel even before he has any idea why. He tells Lyra he does not like the way Lord Asriel looks at him “like a wolf” (321), and he turns out to be justified in these feelings; soon after, Lord Asriel kidnaps him, separates him from his dæmon, and murders Roger and his dæmon for his experiment.
Similarly, when Lyra is taken captive in Bolvangar, the other girls there immediately know she was drugged and have an inherent fear of Mrs. Coulter, despite how nice she can act sometimes. There is a sense that children can see through the adults’ lies to the truth, and their perception allows them to sometimes outwit the adults, while discerning which adults truly seek to help and protect the children.
The Nature of a Soul
Religious undertones settle into the story early on with rumors of the Oblation Board and whispered stories about the Dust that fascinates scholars. Further into the novel, these undertones grow into a major theme that not only examines, critiques, and mirrors institutionalized religion, but also underpins the major theme of The Nature of a Soul.
This theme is best encapsulated by the presence of dæmons and the theological questions posed around their nature, their relation to humans, and their connection to the Dust. To Lyra and many others in this world, it is evident that dæmons are inherently connected to humans as though part of themselves, like a soul. However, people like Mrs. Coulter see dæmons as a trapping of negative qualities and a gatherer of Dust, which she and others who share her beliefs view as original sin. The armored bears also have a concept of souls that is separate from humans, like Iorek with his armor.
The differences in perspectives on the nature of souls are sometimes relatively benign, like witches who separate themselves from their dæmons but ultimately are still strongly bonded to them. Other times, these various takes are perilous. Mrs. Coulter’s belief that children should be separated from their dæmons before the dæmons settle results in her dogmatic quest to perform intercision and learn more about the nature of Dust. She does not regard dæmons as souls, and in her ruthless pursuit of knowledge, she leaves both the children and dæmons half-alive without that connection to each other. Mrs. Coulter also can be apart from her dæmon like the witches but not because of her power or special bond with her golden monkey. She appears able to endure the pain because she does not want to have a dæmon in the first place—she resists an essential part of herself in the name of purity.
Like Mrs. Coulter, Iofur also perverts the bear’s idea of the nature of a soul. By rejecting the cultural belief that his armor is his soul, and instead pursuing a dæmon like humans, he too denies an essential part of himself. Denying his true self is both dangerous and corrupting, as it turns him evil and ultimately leads to his defeat on the battlefield. Ironically, everyone has a similar goal—to preserve the soul. But their methods and beliefs on the nature of a soul vary so much that almost every party is at odds with one another.
Related Titles
By Philip Pullman
