From ENGL 208/AMST 210: American Popular and Mass Cultures
Disney vs. Grimm
Panic at the Cinema
Video Games and Film
Viral Media Check
And don't miss Steve Bosco's post on his decision to re-score the "star gate" sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 2001.
From ENGL 427: Major Writers
Gary Aloisio on myth and Tolkien, Donaldson, and Pullman
Max Soule-Oneto on Pullman's His Dark Materials
Showing posts with label His Dark Materials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label His Dark Materials. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Pullman vs. Tolkien Post
In my comparison/contrast I decided to discuss my two favorite authors of this semester Philip Pullman and J.R.R. Tolkien.
In comparison these two authors are amazing writers who put painstakingly long hours into their works and included so much detail and description, although Tolkien definitely holds the record for including the most. Both authors have the wonderful style of writing that draws the reader into the world (s) that they have created and allows the reader to become a part of the story imagining every detail that is described almost perfectly. And at any point in time when the reader is not being actively pulled into the story, the characters and story are being described in such a way that they almost become alive in the reader's world. While these authors come from two very different backgrounds, they have two very similar writing styles in that aspect.
The contrast occurs like I said in the fact that these two men come from two very different backgrounds which greatly influenced what their series were about. Tolkien came from a Christian background and those Christian beliefs can be seen through various allegories in his series such as the theme of good vs. evil, the battle between those forces, the temptations that Frodo faces, etc. Meanwhile, while Pullman's Christian influence when he was a child turned him against Christianity and led him to a strong Atheistic view as an adult. However his views that are conveyed in his series rely more on the fact that he believed that no religious or non-religious being or agency should hold a significant amount of power or dominance over other people. He had been forced as a child to attend church and follow those beliefs, thus the themes of free will and a dominant church come into his series as the main topics.
Both these authors used their backgrounds and styles of writing to develop wonderful works of literature and even though Pullman's still causes controversy today, they both can be held in high esteem in the relms of fantasy.
In comparison these two authors are amazing writers who put painstakingly long hours into their works and included so much detail and description, although Tolkien definitely holds the record for including the most. Both authors have the wonderful style of writing that draws the reader into the world (s) that they have created and allows the reader to become a part of the story imagining every detail that is described almost perfectly. And at any point in time when the reader is not being actively pulled into the story, the characters and story are being described in such a way that they almost become alive in the reader's world. While these authors come from two very different backgrounds, they have two very similar writing styles in that aspect.
The contrast occurs like I said in the fact that these two men come from two very different backgrounds which greatly influenced what their series were about. Tolkien came from a Christian background and those Christian beliefs can be seen through various allegories in his series such as the theme of good vs. evil, the battle between those forces, the temptations that Frodo faces, etc. Meanwhile, while Pullman's Christian influence when he was a child turned him against Christianity and led him to a strong Atheistic view as an adult. However his views that are conveyed in his series rely more on the fact that he believed that no religious or non-religious being or agency should hold a significant amount of power or dominance over other people. He had been forced as a child to attend church and follow those beliefs, thus the themes of free will and a dominant church come into his series as the main topics.
Both these authors used their backgrounds and styles of writing to develop wonderful works of literature and even though Pullman's still causes controversy today, they both can be held in high esteem in the relms of fantasy.
Pullman Post
I have to say despite all the so-called religious controversy that Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials brings about, I love the series and his writing style.
Philip Pullman has an amazing way of writing for any age range and drawing that reader into the series so that they pick a favorite character and relate to that character throughout the entire story while still maintaining favor of many of the other characters. Yes, maybe he could have paced the second and third books in the series a little bit better but I found all of the series to be an enjoyable reading experience and it's even better to listen to on audio CD. His writing style not only draws you into the story but also makes the story and characters come alive.
The series itself has wonderful aspects. I find the controversy of religion to be one of the best things about the series. Not only was I able to write my final project off of that controversy, but I also greatly enjoyed debating with the class and myself over what the real meaning of Pullman's work is. Another aspect of the series that I loved was how the main character was a girl, most often the hero is a boy and this made the story a little bit more relateable, although I still like Urek and Lee Scoresby the best. Lastly, I found the plot and journey that takes place in the story so intriguing that it became more of a choice reading than an assigned reading because I found myself getting more and more drawn into the world Pullman had created.
Once again, this series was much better than the movie because of the amount of detail and description that was included.
Pullman's series was probably my most favorite series out of the entire semester.
Philip Pullman has an amazing way of writing for any age range and drawing that reader into the series so that they pick a favorite character and relate to that character throughout the entire story while still maintaining favor of many of the other characters. Yes, maybe he could have paced the second and third books in the series a little bit better but I found all of the series to be an enjoyable reading experience and it's even better to listen to on audio CD. His writing style not only draws you into the story but also makes the story and characters come alive.
The series itself has wonderful aspects. I find the controversy of religion to be one of the best things about the series. Not only was I able to write my final project off of that controversy, but I also greatly enjoyed debating with the class and myself over what the real meaning of Pullman's work is. Another aspect of the series that I loved was how the main character was a girl, most often the hero is a boy and this made the story a little bit more relateable, although I still like Urek and Lee Scoresby the best. Lastly, I found the plot and journey that takes place in the story so intriguing that it became more of a choice reading than an assigned reading because I found myself getting more and more drawn into the world Pullman had created.
Once again, this series was much better than the movie because of the amount of detail and description that was included.
Pullman's series was probably my most favorite series out of the entire semester.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
On Magic
At the beginning of the semester, the Major Authors course studying Tolkien, Donaldson, and Pullman did a little survey in which we asked each other, “What makes a fantasy book?” Many people talked about different races, such as elves and orcs; fantastic creatures, like dragons and wargs; or a group (or fellowship) trying to save the world. One thing that everybody agreed on was that a fantasy book or series has got to have magic. What is interesting is how the three series we have read each have a different outlook on magic.
The Thomas Covenant series mostly takes place in a world that is “leaking” magic. The society was once chest deep in magic, or “lore.” When the main chunk of the story takes place, people have mostly forgotten or lost their magical abilities. Thomas Covenant, who is supposed to be the bearer of a magical ring, doesn’t even know how to use it for most of the series. This trilogy sees magic as being an ancient, mystical, and deadly force that only a handful of people are able to wield.
In His Dark Materials, magic is a religious phenomenon. Almost everything that happens that is “magical” is explained using Dust. A person’s daemon, which we would consider to be some sort of magic (a shape-shifting pet) is actually an outer reflection of the person’s identity and/or soul. But the people in this world also are in awe of the witches, which they regard as magical because of their ability to fly and perform spells, though one which, Serafina Pekkala, explains that her invisibility spell is little more than a psychological trick.
I think one of the coolest outlooks on magic comes from The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbits and Men can’t wield magic, but Elves and the wizards can. These wizards are like the traditional wizards most people are familiar with: They have flashy magic, beards, robes, staves, etc. The Elves, however, are completely different. The Elves have magic so ingrained in their lives that they hardly even acknowledge it’s existence. The Elves have rope, but to other races, it’s magical rope that never breaks, is extremely fine, and can burn the skin of servants of the Enemy (Sauron). The only reason the places the Elves live are beautiful is because of their magic and the magic of the rings they acquired, but they pay no mind to it. When the Fellowship passes through Galadriel’s forested nation, they are in awe of it’s beauty and splendor, and it seems like the Elves take it for granted. I’m not saying this is necessarily bad, but I think it’s cool how it’s just no big deal to them, and it’s so deep in their bones and society that they don’t need all the flash and bang lightshow like the characters in, say, Harry Potter.
These three series represent only a few magical points of view that fantasy writers use. Some are more traditional, like these series tend to be; some, like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, but magic in a modern setting. I’d like to think that our class was right about magic being a key part of all fantasy books. Whether magic lies in a ring, a wand, or in blood, wherever you find fantasy, magic will surely follow.
The Thomas Covenant series mostly takes place in a world that is “leaking” magic. The society was once chest deep in magic, or “lore.” When the main chunk of the story takes place, people have mostly forgotten or lost their magical abilities. Thomas Covenant, who is supposed to be the bearer of a magical ring, doesn’t even know how to use it for most of the series. This trilogy sees magic as being an ancient, mystical, and deadly force that only a handful of people are able to wield.
In His Dark Materials, magic is a religious phenomenon. Almost everything that happens that is “magical” is explained using Dust. A person’s daemon, which we would consider to be some sort of magic (a shape-shifting pet) is actually an outer reflection of the person’s identity and/or soul. But the people in this world also are in awe of the witches, which they regard as magical because of their ability to fly and perform spells, though one which, Serafina Pekkala, explains that her invisibility spell is little more than a psychological trick.
I think one of the coolest outlooks on magic comes from The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbits and Men can’t wield magic, but Elves and the wizards can. These wizards are like the traditional wizards most people are familiar with: They have flashy magic, beards, robes, staves, etc. The Elves, however, are completely different. The Elves have magic so ingrained in their lives that they hardly even acknowledge it’s existence. The Elves have rope, but to other races, it’s magical rope that never breaks, is extremely fine, and can burn the skin of servants of the Enemy (Sauron). The only reason the places the Elves live are beautiful is because of their magic and the magic of the rings they acquired, but they pay no mind to it. When the Fellowship passes through Galadriel’s forested nation, they are in awe of it’s beauty and splendor, and it seems like the Elves take it for granted. I’m not saying this is necessarily bad, but I think it’s cool how it’s just no big deal to them, and it’s so deep in their bones and society that they don’t need all the flash and bang lightshow like the characters in, say, Harry Potter.
These three series represent only a few magical points of view that fantasy writers use. Some are more traditional, like these series tend to be; some, like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, but magic in a modern setting. I’d like to think that our class was right about magic being a key part of all fantasy books. Whether magic lies in a ring, a wand, or in blood, wherever you find fantasy, magic will surely follow.
Pullman and Milton: A Deeper Look
So, we all know that Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is inspired heavily by Milton’s Paradise Lost, but I have a feeling that most people in our class (myself included) have not read Milton’s work and probably have little to no idea what it’s about.
Out of curiosity, and possible preparation for my research paper, I’ve been looking up deeper connections between Pullman and Milton’s works, further than just “two books where god is killed”. So far, I’m finding some pretty interesting things.
Pullman once stated himself that the aim of his work was to create Paradise Lost in three parts for adolescents. The quote that begins Golden Compass is from Milton’s work and what Pullman’s series is titled after. The actual instrument, the golden compass or alethiometer, is also mentioned by Milton:
Then staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand
He took the golden Compasses, prepar'd
In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things
In Paradise Lost, Milton proposes a unique view on the creation of the world, and Pullman builds off of his theory. Many ideas of the world’s creation include “Chaos”—a term from Ancient Greece referring to an initial state of universe, a darkness or abyss. In mythology, Chaos is the void from which everything in existence appeared. Milton asserted that Chaos did not create God, but rather that God first created Chaos from himself and then created the world from a portion of Chaos. This theory suggests that only some of Chaos was used in the making of our world, leaving enough left over to create the existence of many more worlds. Pullman may have been following Milton’s more mythological theory in his use of multiple worlds, rather than the scientific theory we discussed in class.
Pullman’s creation of daemons as a duel nature may also be a loose mimic of Milton. Milton believed that man has two opposite natures fighting within him—reason and desire. In HDM, Lyra represents desire while Pan represents reason. Milton believed that reason was the more powerful of these two natures, and thus in the end of HDM Lyra chooses reason over desire when she leaves will forever, despite having fallen in love with him.
Finally, I would like to comment on Satan within both PL and HDM. Milton represented Satan in his work as an epic hero, yet there is no concrete character ‘Satan’ in HDM. Both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter could represent him—Lord Asriel is a strong ‘hero’ waging war on God, and Mrs. Coulter forces Lyra into drug induced sleep forcing her to dream, as Satan did to Eve in Milton’s tale.
The most interesting thing I found in my light research on the similarities between these two works is that Milton wrote his work intending to test readers’ faith in God. He wrote Satan as an epic hero as a ‘trap’ for his readers to fall into—he was not purposely inserting his own anti-religion opinions into his book as Pullman did, but rather trying to strengthen and make aware of religion by challenging it.
--Molly G.
Out of curiosity, and possible preparation for my research paper, I’ve been looking up deeper connections between Pullman and Milton’s works, further than just “two books where god is killed”. So far, I’m finding some pretty interesting things.
Pullman once stated himself that the aim of his work was to create Paradise Lost in three parts for adolescents. The quote that begins Golden Compass is from Milton’s work and what Pullman’s series is titled after. The actual instrument, the golden compass or alethiometer, is also mentioned by Milton:
Then staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand
He took the golden Compasses, prepar'd
In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things
In Paradise Lost, Milton proposes a unique view on the creation of the world, and Pullman builds off of his theory. Many ideas of the world’s creation include “Chaos”—a term from Ancient Greece referring to an initial state of universe, a darkness or abyss. In mythology, Chaos is the void from which everything in existence appeared. Milton asserted that Chaos did not create God, but rather that God first created Chaos from himself and then created the world from a portion of Chaos. This theory suggests that only some of Chaos was used in the making of our world, leaving enough left over to create the existence of many more worlds. Pullman may have been following Milton’s more mythological theory in his use of multiple worlds, rather than the scientific theory we discussed in class.
Pullman’s creation of daemons as a duel nature may also be a loose mimic of Milton. Milton believed that man has two opposite natures fighting within him—reason and desire. In HDM, Lyra represents desire while Pan represents reason. Milton believed that reason was the more powerful of these two natures, and thus in the end of HDM Lyra chooses reason over desire when she leaves will forever, despite having fallen in love with him.
Finally, I would like to comment on Satan within both PL and HDM. Milton represented Satan in his work as an epic hero, yet there is no concrete character ‘Satan’ in HDM. Both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter could represent him—Lord Asriel is a strong ‘hero’ waging war on God, and Mrs. Coulter forces Lyra into drug induced sleep forcing her to dream, as Satan did to Eve in Milton’s tale.
The most interesting thing I found in my light research on the similarities between these two works is that Milton wrote his work intending to test readers’ faith in God. He wrote Satan as an epic hero as a ‘trap’ for his readers to fall into—he was not purposely inserting his own anti-religion opinions into his book as Pullman did, but rather trying to strengthen and make aware of religion by challenging it.
--Molly G.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tolkien and Pullman: Major Authors of the Anti-Climax
Stories are always written to have an ending no matter how long it takes to get there, whether it be a trilogy or a massive series. No matter how long the narrative the reader is always waiting for that ultimate climax and is reading to have closure at some point. As a comparative blog for Major Authors, I'd like to compare the endings to the two trilogies from the (in my opinion) two major authors in this class: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Both of these trilogies seem to end on an seemingly anti-climax that should have ended a chapter or two earlier.
The last couple chapters in The Return of the King revolve around the Hobbits saying their goodbyes to their multi-racial friends and heading back to the Shire. As they return to the Shire we get an extended chapter that feels more like a short story as an afterthought to make the final book longer than it should have been. The Hobbits are forced to get the remainder of Sauraman's henchmen out of their land so that the Shire can be rebuilt back to their comfort zone. This isn't necessarily a bad chapter, but it takes away from the finality of the destruction of the Ring and the restoration of Middle-Earth. It seems as though Tolkien couldn't stand the thought of a short (compared to the previous two novels) final book and needed to tack on a light-hearted ending that forces the reader to return to the Shire one last time.
As I've stated in the discussion forum, I believe this final chapter seems to be more of a companion piece that could have been a separate short story released after the trilogy was published. It does not seem to serve a purpose other than to drag the reader through an anti-climatic ending when we have already had at least two different endings that suffice to end the trilogy on a high and optimistic note. We get closure when the Hobbits leave Rivendell and we also get it when the other main characters say farewell. The Shire saving chapter is nice and it fits with the world, but not the tone of the rest of the novel.
The Amber Spyglass could have done without a few things, namely the last ten or so pages. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel have already killed the main bad guy about a hundred pages or more before this ending, which really takes away any chance of an ultimate climax, but seeing Will and Mary almost forcibly become friends and roommates, along with Lyra deciding to go to boarding school was not the most epic of endings. Perhaps the best way to end it would be the closing of the window, the destruction of the knife and Lyra sitting in the garden. No dinner scene, no Will and Mary becoming chummy, but a serene and somewhat open ended ending. We don't need a clear sense of what Lyra's future or Will and Mary's future holds, because Pullman is already going to apparently do that with future sequels.
Not knowing the future of a charter or characters always lets the reader do their own imagining of it, and it is much more satisfying than an anti-climatic and force-fed ending.
The last couple chapters in The Return of the King revolve around the Hobbits saying their goodbyes to their multi-racial friends and heading back to the Shire. As they return to the Shire we get an extended chapter that feels more like a short story as an afterthought to make the final book longer than it should have been. The Hobbits are forced to get the remainder of Sauraman's henchmen out of their land so that the Shire can be rebuilt back to their comfort zone. This isn't necessarily a bad chapter, but it takes away from the finality of the destruction of the Ring and the restoration of Middle-Earth. It seems as though Tolkien couldn't stand the thought of a short (compared to the previous two novels) final book and needed to tack on a light-hearted ending that forces the reader to return to the Shire one last time.
As I've stated in the discussion forum, I believe this final chapter seems to be more of a companion piece that could have been a separate short story released after the trilogy was published. It does not seem to serve a purpose other than to drag the reader through an anti-climatic ending when we have already had at least two different endings that suffice to end the trilogy on a high and optimistic note. We get closure when the Hobbits leave Rivendell and we also get it when the other main characters say farewell. The Shire saving chapter is nice and it fits with the world, but not the tone of the rest of the novel.
The Amber Spyglass could have done without a few things, namely the last ten or so pages. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel have already killed the main bad guy about a hundred pages or more before this ending, which really takes away any chance of an ultimate climax, but seeing Will and Mary almost forcibly become friends and roommates, along with Lyra deciding to go to boarding school was not the most epic of endings. Perhaps the best way to end it would be the closing of the window, the destruction of the knife and Lyra sitting in the garden. No dinner scene, no Will and Mary becoming chummy, but a serene and somewhat open ended ending. We don't need a clear sense of what Lyra's future or Will and Mary's future holds, because Pullman is already going to apparently do that with future sequels.
Not knowing the future of a charter or characters always lets the reader do their own imagining of it, and it is much more satisfying than an anti-climatic and force-fed ending.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Parenting and His Dark Materials
Since discussion during my group's went a little longer I was unable to really say much of my points on the theme of parenting in His Dark Materials, so I'm going to do so in this blog.
I'd like to start this blog out with a quote from Navigating the Golden Compass: religion, science and damonology in His Dark Materials by Glenn Yeffeth, which is the same quote I started out with in class.
"The construction of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter subverts the ideology of the benevolent parent common to the children's fantasy tradition and at the same time embodies His Dark Materials' key arguments: that adults are not perfect, that there is no reason to believe that they will always act more correctly or make better choices than children will, and that therefore the adult social hegemony can be a dangerously unfair structure."
This quote pretty much sums up the parental theme of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The two parents of Lyra are not perfect, and in fact are probably the most flawed characters of the trilogy.
The theme of parenting in the trilogy seems to be prevalent throughout. Lyra and Will both have parental issues that keep them going and also hinder their progress.
Starting with Lyra:
She begins the tale seemingly without parents. The college scholars take care of her but do not guide her like a parent would. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel both show very little care for her.
Mrs. Coulter is the evil figure throughout the first 2/3 of the trilogy and Lyra wants nothing to do with her after finding out who she truly is. In the second book we see more of her as a strictly evil character pursuing Lyra with almost a hatred for the girl. We only see her love and devotion to the girl in The Amber Spyglass as she takes care of Lyra in the cave.
Lord Asirel starts off as a strong parental figure but quickly becomes another villain to Lyra after killing Roger. At the beginning of the third book he tells Mrs. Coulter that he doesn't care for Lyra at all. In the end we see them both sacrafice themselves not only for victory but to save Lyra from death.
They both have significant roles in her journey. They are both the reason why Lyra started on her journey and ended up where she did in the end. Her detest for them made her a stronger character.
Moving on to Will:
Will has learned to grow up fast and become a leader because of his sick mother and the lack of a father figure. He is a natural caretaker, which we see during his journey with Lyra and as he defends his mother against the men.
His father left Will when he was very young, much like Lyra's parents did to her. The absense of a parental figure in Will's life has made him a strong person both emotionally and physically. We see his strong emotional side when he thinks of his mother and breaks the subtle knife. He also brings this out during the end of the Amber Spyglass with his confession of love toward Lyra.
The parental theme seems to be a moving force for Will as it is for Lyra. He discovers another world because he killed a man to protect his mother and goes on his journey to find his father. He then continues his journey because of his father's words before being killed.
As the quote said, parents are not perfect and His Dark Materials shows that point to the extreme.
I'd like to start this blog out with a quote from Navigating the Golden Compass: religion, science and damonology in His Dark Materials by Glenn Yeffeth, which is the same quote I started out with in class.
"The construction of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter subverts the ideology of the benevolent parent common to the children's fantasy tradition and at the same time embodies His Dark Materials' key arguments: that adults are not perfect, that there is no reason to believe that they will always act more correctly or make better choices than children will, and that therefore the adult social hegemony can be a dangerously unfair structure."
This quote pretty much sums up the parental theme of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The two parents of Lyra are not perfect, and in fact are probably the most flawed characters of the trilogy.
The theme of parenting in the trilogy seems to be prevalent throughout. Lyra and Will both have parental issues that keep them going and also hinder their progress.
Starting with Lyra:
She begins the tale seemingly without parents. The college scholars take care of her but do not guide her like a parent would. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel both show very little care for her.
Mrs. Coulter is the evil figure throughout the first 2/3 of the trilogy and Lyra wants nothing to do with her after finding out who she truly is. In the second book we see more of her as a strictly evil character pursuing Lyra with almost a hatred for the girl. We only see her love and devotion to the girl in The Amber Spyglass as she takes care of Lyra in the cave.
Lord Asirel starts off as a strong parental figure but quickly becomes another villain to Lyra after killing Roger. At the beginning of the third book he tells Mrs. Coulter that he doesn't care for Lyra at all. In the end we see them both sacrafice themselves not only for victory but to save Lyra from death.
They both have significant roles in her journey. They are both the reason why Lyra started on her journey and ended up where she did in the end. Her detest for them made her a stronger character.
Moving on to Will:
Will has learned to grow up fast and become a leader because of his sick mother and the lack of a father figure. He is a natural caretaker, which we see during his journey with Lyra and as he defends his mother against the men.
His father left Will when he was very young, much like Lyra's parents did to her. The absense of a parental figure in Will's life has made him a strong person both emotionally and physically. We see his strong emotional side when he thinks of his mother and breaks the subtle knife. He also brings this out during the end of the Amber Spyglass with his confession of love toward Lyra.
The parental theme seems to be a moving force for Will as it is for Lyra. He discovers another world because he killed a man to protect his mother and goes on his journey to find his father. He then continues his journey because of his father's words before being killed.
As the quote said, parents are not perfect and His Dark Materials shows that point to the extreme.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
His Dark Materials Shines a New Light on Things
Growing up Christian and being sent to church and Sunday school every Sunday because it made the grandparents happy left me with a little resentment towards organized religion. I was baptized when I was baby and do not remember it, however when it came time for me to be confirmed and admit my life to one God and one religion, I really had to think about this. I was about to sign my life away to a belief that has yet to be proven or even fully answered. I was faced with a choice that I had to make, one that I could not make lightly either. I had lots of questions that needed answering before I could accept that this was the right thing to do. I never became confirmed because I was never answered with any response that I felt was a legitimate reason for things or for belief, if there was no answer this was the response I received “that is why they call it faith, you don’t question it, you just believe.”
I feel that Pullman, like myself, did not feel that this sort of response was a legitimate response to the questions that arise within organized religions such as the Christian faith. Perhaps the church is right and there is a God, perhaps he is a loving and virtuous God who has sacrificed the ultimate gift so that you and I will have a place in Heaven, or maybe he is that wrathful and full of vengeance as he is portrayed in the Old Testament. Perhaps the latter is true and the question that Pullman asks of whether we have been lied to since the dawn of man.
Perhaps there was extraordinary cataclysmic battle between good and evil at the beginning of the world, but who is to say that right a good side won. I once heard a quote from a history teacher that I had in High School: “History is written by the winner, not the loser.” Although I did not really think about it at the time, but this quote is true. Think about how the idea of Thanksgiving is taught in our schools; as happy time where we think about how our friends the “Indians” taught us about what friendship was and kindness, not even close. Now let’s look at what really happened; we came, we took, we raped, we murdered, we slaughtered, we purposefully infected, we relocated, and now we break treaties and try to implement taxes on these people. 
This misconstrued idea of history has been fed to us since day one because that is how it was recorded. Perhaps that is the same with the Christian religion. Maybe Pullman had thought the same thing and decided to express this idea that maybe God was the really the evil one and that Satan was the good one but he lost and so therefore history was misconstrued and recorded as a lie. I do not think that Pullman is necessarily bashing the Christian faith, but instead presenting a piece of fiction that brings to light new ideas about an ancient history. Maybe the real important thing is to make decisions for ourselves and not blindly following like a sheep.
The Child, Morality, and HDM
Morality and the justification for character's actions is something that most creative writing students learn within the first week of the introduction class. Every action the character has must be believable in the grand scheme of things. Whether the story is fantasy, science fiction, realism, magical realism, whatever the genre, the decisions the character makes must be justifiable in order for the piece to be believable. This is where the author really shines. He/she can write the story in such a way that those actions are not only justified but are within the character's characteristics.With children as main characters, the problem becomes complicated. Most of the time children haven't reached the point where they are able to see even the most basic consequences behind their actions, let alone those that are polysemous in nature. This applies not just to the main characters but to the readers who are most likely children readers, drawn to characters most like them. So a decision to steal food, for example, is seen as wrong but justified as being necessary for the survival of the character. Both the reader, who is of the same developmental mindset as the main character, and the child character are subject to the authors views on morality, which even in the most lay adults are much more highly developed than an adolescents'. Thus when the character and the adolescent reader encounters the consequences of the characters mistakes they learn his/her lesson and gain a sense of right and wrong.
Yet what happens when those consequences are not fully present? What happens if the consequences never catch up to the character? A sense of morality is never established in the character and a wrong sense of morality is instilled in the reader, believing that these actions have no consequences. Thus we arrive at Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. As much ridicule this series has been subject to, very rarely do we see any directed toward morality. Many believe that Lyra learns from her moral misgivings, and yes we see Lyra encounter the consequences of her lies toward the middle of The Amber Spyglass, a full 600 pages after her first lie.
For all of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife the reader watches Lyra weasel her way out of consequences and walk away none the wiser. She learns how to nurture through Will's missing fingers, how to be a "proper lady" through Coulter, and is told the direction to fulfill her quest through the Golden Compass. She literally grows up in front of our eyes throughout the series without even knowing that her lying, stealing, and hiding are not the right things to do. Yes she has moments of clarity, and boy do they last a long time (about 100 pages through Subtle Knife she is a submissive, comment-less blob with a compass), and yes she does hold the ultimate "truth teller" in her hands that gives her a sense of right and wrong. But these moments are rather lame and few. For all the fantastic writing of Pullman, I believe he guides and establishes reader's, especially those of adolescent mindset, into morally grey if not black territory.
While I could carry on with this post for another three or four days, here is where I will stop and submit to you to email me if you want to see my finished thought…
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