Found this reference to the Trilogy
Ed Vulliamy in New YorkSunday August 26, 2001The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,542616,00.html
Published last autumn, The Amber Spyglass is the final book in the trilogy. His Dark Materials , which takes its name from Milton's Paradise Lost and also deals with Creation and the fall of man.
It has been described as the most dense and provocative of the three novels: in its 550 pages Pullman contrasts innocence and experience, good and evil. He redefines Mary as a fallen woman and Eve as the redeemer of men, and presents God as an ordinary angel before killing him. The plot is full of fairytale inventions, with witches, armoured bears, tiny spies who travel on dragonflies, and a 'subtle knife' which can be used to cut windows into parallel worlds.
His sales in America are more than just a literary phenomenon. They are a counter-cultural force. 'My experience of America is that it is a pretty conformist country, and that pressure on young people to go to some kind of church, often a fundamentalist one, can be formi dable,' said Pullman. [ ...]
Pullman says: 'Blake once wrote of Milton that he was a "true poet, and of the Devil's party, without knowing it". I am of the Devil's party, and I know it.'
Friday, November 2, 2007
The Amber Spyglass synopsis and excerpts
Will and Lyra both start out in tough spots in The Amber Spyglass. Lyra has been snatched and spirited away to a cave by her mother. To keep the willful girl from running away, Mrs. Coulter keeps her in a drug-induced sleep. Meanwhile, Will is under the care of two male angels, Baruch and Balthamos. These angels are rebel angels, who encourage Will to bring his subtle knife, a.k.a. the “god-destroyer,” to Lord Asriel for use in his quest to kill the Authority. Baruch and Balthamos are also homosexuals, and Will is touched by their passion for each other. Metatron, theAuthority’s regent and the strongest of all the angels on the side of the Church, attacks Will and his two companions. They escape, and Baruch flies off to visit LordAsriel and inform him that Balthamos and Will are attempting to free Lyra from Mrs. Coulter’s clutches. Baruch is again attacked by agents of the Authority, however, and dies just after delivering his message. Though Balthamos is devastated by the loss of his love, he continues on with Will. But they are not the only ones looking for Lyra. The Church has learned of the witches’ prophecy that Lyra will be the new Eve. In response, theMagisterium’s Consistorial Court of Discipline dispatches a priest named Father Gomez to kill the girl in order to prevent another fall from grace. Father Gomez is chosen to be Lyra’s killer because he has prepared himself by doing “preemptive penance.”49 (According to the book, one can obtain forgiveness for a future sin, through selfflagellation and other such mortifications, and then commit that sin while remaining in a state of grace.) He takes off after Mary Malone, believing the doctor will lead him to the girl.
Will rescues Lyra from the cave as agents of the Church fight with Lord Asriel’s supporters. The two venture down to the world of the dead, which is “a place of nothing.”50 They free the dead souls into another world, where the spirits float up and dissolve into nature.
Mrs. Coulter is captured by Lord Asriel’s army, but escapes and heads to the Church’s Consistorial Court of Discipline. The priests promptly arrest her for hiding Lyra instead of turning the girl over to the Church. Mrs. Coulter, who has had a change of heart about the Church and has come to grow fond of her daughter, accuses the priests of having lecherous sexual obsessions. AsMrs. Coulter sleeps, a priest creeps into her room and steals the patch of Lyra’s hair that she wears in a locket around her neck. The priests use the hair to create a bomb that will destroy Lyra, but it fails to kill her. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are reunited, and they know they are now on the same side—the side that is against God. Mrs. Coulter successfully lures Metatron into following her by using her powers of seduction. (It is the angel’s great regret that he can no longer enjoy a physical body.) Coulter and Asriel tumble off a cliff, and bring Metatron down with them.
Will and Lyra stumble upon God himself. He is not an imposing force, however. Rather, he is encased in crystal and being terrorized by ghoulish beings called cliffghasts. He is “so old and he was terrified, crying like a baby and cowering away into the lowest corner…Demented and powerless, the aged being could only weep and mumble in fear and pain and misery.”51 The children release God from the case, and he dissolves into the air like the dead. Father Gomez, who had been stalking Lyra, is killed by Balthamos.
The war over, and God and his agents gone, Lord Asriel’s followers can now settle down to building the Republic of Heaven on Earth. Dr. Mary Malone’s job, however, still is not done. She is able to play the serpent by telling Lyra and Will about the joy she experienced when she quit being a nun to pursue a relationship with a man, and the pleasure—both physical and mental—that accompanied her decision. Dr. Malone opens the children’s eyes to erotic love, and they soon confess their feelings for each other. Lyra and Will kiss, and in doing so, they become consciousof the pleasures of the body.
Though the children are blissful for a short time, they soon learn that they cannot live for long in worlds other than their own, and every path between worlds but one will have to be closed. If the doors remain open, too much Dust will escape and several worlds will be ruined. Will and Lyra know they could keep the window between their two worlds open and periodically visit each other. However, they selflessly opt to leave open a window in the world of the dead so that departed souls can always find their freedom.
The children part from each other, resolving to live good lives full of hard work so they can help build the Republic of Heaven in their own worlds.
Selected quotes:
_ Dr. Mary Malone: “I used to be a nun, you see. I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”52
_ Mrs. Coulter, to a priest, after she leaves the Church: “Well, where is God…if he’s alive? And why doesn’t he speak anymore… Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk? And if that is his condition, wouldn’t it be the most merciful thing, the truest proof of our love for God, to seek him out and give him the gift of death?”53
_ Ogunwe, an ally of Lord Asriel: “I am a king, but it’s my proudest task to join Lord Asriel in setting up a world where there are no kingdoms at all. No kings, no bishops, no priests. The Kingdom of Heaven has been known by that name since the Authority first set himself above the rest of the angels. And we want no part of it. This world is different. We intend to be free citizens of the Republic of Heaven.”54
_ Balthamos, a rebel angel: “The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty— those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves—the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself.”55
_ Serafina: “I met an angel: a female angel…She told me many things…She said that all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity. She and the rebel angels, the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed.”56
_ FatherMacPhail, president of the Magisterium’s Consistorial Court of Discipline, discussing Lyra: “Still just a child, I think. This Eve, who is going to be tempted and who, if precedent is any guide, will fall, and whose fall will involve us all in ruin. Gentlemen… I propose to send a man to find her and kill her before she can be tempted.”57
_ Dr. Mary Malone, on what she thought about good and evil when she was a nun: “I knew what I should think: it was whatever the Church taught me to think…So I never had to think about them for myself at all.”58
_ Mrs. Coulter on why she did not turn Lyra over to the Church: “If you thought for one moment that I would release my daughter into the care—the care!—of a body of men with a feverish obsession with sexuality, men with dirty fingernails, reeking of ancient sweat, men whose furtive imaginations would crawl over her body like cockroaches—if you thought I would expose my child to that, my Lord President, you are more stupid than you take me for.”59
49 Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass, p. 64.
50 Ibid., p. 286.
51 Ibid., p. 366.
52 Ibid., p. 393.
53 Ibid., p. 293-294.
54 Ibid., p. 188.
55 Ibid., p. 28.
56 Ibid., p. 429.
57 Ibid., p. 64.
58 Ibid., p. 398.
59 Ibid., p. 292.
Will rescues Lyra from the cave as agents of the Church fight with Lord Asriel’s supporters. The two venture down to the world of the dead, which is “a place of nothing.”50 They free the dead souls into another world, where the spirits float up and dissolve into nature.
Mrs. Coulter is captured by Lord Asriel’s army, but escapes and heads to the Church’s Consistorial Court of Discipline. The priests promptly arrest her for hiding Lyra instead of turning the girl over to the Church. Mrs. Coulter, who has had a change of heart about the Church and has come to grow fond of her daughter, accuses the priests of having lecherous sexual obsessions. AsMrs. Coulter sleeps, a priest creeps into her room and steals the patch of Lyra’s hair that she wears in a locket around her neck. The priests use the hair to create a bomb that will destroy Lyra, but it fails to kill her. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are reunited, and they know they are now on the same side—the side that is against God. Mrs. Coulter successfully lures Metatron into following her by using her powers of seduction. (It is the angel’s great regret that he can no longer enjoy a physical body.) Coulter and Asriel tumble off a cliff, and bring Metatron down with them.
Will and Lyra stumble upon God himself. He is not an imposing force, however. Rather, he is encased in crystal and being terrorized by ghoulish beings called cliffghasts. He is “so old and he was terrified, crying like a baby and cowering away into the lowest corner…Demented and powerless, the aged being could only weep and mumble in fear and pain and misery.”51 The children release God from the case, and he dissolves into the air like the dead. Father Gomez, who had been stalking Lyra, is killed by Balthamos.
The war over, and God and his agents gone, Lord Asriel’s followers can now settle down to building the Republic of Heaven on Earth. Dr. Mary Malone’s job, however, still is not done. She is able to play the serpent by telling Lyra and Will about the joy she experienced when she quit being a nun to pursue a relationship with a man, and the pleasure—both physical and mental—that accompanied her decision. Dr. Malone opens the children’s eyes to erotic love, and they soon confess their feelings for each other. Lyra and Will kiss, and in doing so, they become consciousof the pleasures of the body.
Though the children are blissful for a short time, they soon learn that they cannot live for long in worlds other than their own, and every path between worlds but one will have to be closed. If the doors remain open, too much Dust will escape and several worlds will be ruined. Will and Lyra know they could keep the window between their two worlds open and periodically visit each other. However, they selflessly opt to leave open a window in the world of the dead so that departed souls can always find their freedom.
The children part from each other, resolving to live good lives full of hard work so they can help build the Republic of Heaven in their own worlds.
Selected quotes:
_ Dr. Mary Malone: “I used to be a nun, you see. I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”52
_ Mrs. Coulter, to a priest, after she leaves the Church: “Well, where is God…if he’s alive? And why doesn’t he speak anymore… Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk? And if that is his condition, wouldn’t it be the most merciful thing, the truest proof of our love for God, to seek him out and give him the gift of death?”53
_ Ogunwe, an ally of Lord Asriel: “I am a king, but it’s my proudest task to join Lord Asriel in setting up a world where there are no kingdoms at all. No kings, no bishops, no priests. The Kingdom of Heaven has been known by that name since the Authority first set himself above the rest of the angels. And we want no part of it. This world is different. We intend to be free citizens of the Republic of Heaven.”54
_ Balthamos, a rebel angel: “The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty— those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves—the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself.”55
_ Serafina: “I met an angel: a female angel…She told me many things…She said that all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity. She and the rebel angels, the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed.”56
_ FatherMacPhail, president of the Magisterium’s Consistorial Court of Discipline, discussing Lyra: “Still just a child, I think. This Eve, who is going to be tempted and who, if precedent is any guide, will fall, and whose fall will involve us all in ruin. Gentlemen… I propose to send a man to find her and kill her before she can be tempted.”57
_ Dr. Mary Malone, on what she thought about good and evil when she was a nun: “I knew what I should think: it was whatever the Church taught me to think…So I never had to think about them for myself at all.”58
_ Mrs. Coulter on why she did not turn Lyra over to the Church: “If you thought for one moment that I would release my daughter into the care—the care!—of a body of men with a feverish obsession with sexuality, men with dirty fingernails, reeking of ancient sweat, men whose furtive imaginations would crawl over her body like cockroaches—if you thought I would expose my child to that, my Lord President, you are more stupid than you take me for.”59
49 Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass, p. 64.
50 Ibid., p. 286.
51 Ibid., p. 366.
52 Ibid., p. 393.
53 Ibid., p. 293-294.
54 Ibid., p. 188.
55 Ibid., p. 28.
56 Ibid., p. 429.
57 Ibid., p. 64.
58 Ibid., p. 398.
59 Ibid., p. 292.
The Subtle Knife Synopsis and Exerpts
The Subtle Knife begins in the present-day Oxford of our own world. Will Parry, a boy with a mentally ill mother, is on the run from a group of violent and mysterious men looking for a suitcase full of letters written by his father, an explorer who disappeared years ago. After stashing his mother with a kindly teacher, Will discovers a window into another world and stumbles through it. In this new world, he meets Lyra.
While Will wants to find out what happened to his father, Lyra is determined to learn all she can about Dust. Lyra decides to go into the Oxford of Will’s world, where she locates a physicist who can educate her about Dust. Dr. Mary Malone, a former Catholic nun, has been researching Dust and found that it is matter with consciousness. She has built a computer to communicate with this mysterious matter, and decides that Lyra is really speaking with Dust through her alethiometer. With her computer, Dr. Malone learns that Dust is actually a group of rebel angels who have interceded in human affairs in the past due to a motive of “vengeance.” Further, Dust instructs her to follow Will and Lyra and “play the serpent.”42
According to a prophecy foretold by witches, Lyra is particularly susceptible to being tempted by a serpent. They believe Lyra is a second Eve, destined to be the new mother of all through her disobedience. Additionally, the witches learn that Lord Asriel is planning a war against God, and they want to be on his side—not only does the Church perform inhumane experiments on children, it also tortures and burns witches.
Meanwhile, Will has fought for possession of a powerful knife that is capable of cutting through the air and making doorways into other worlds. After obtaining this “subtle knife,” Will meets his long-lost father, John Parry, who spent many years living as a shaman in Lyra’s world. However, the happy reunion is quickly spoiled when a spurned witch murders John. Will returns to the camp he and Lyra have set up, only to find that Lyra has disappeared, leaving her alethiometer behind. Two angels are waiting to meet Will.
Selected quotes:
_ Mrs. Coulter, speaking from her position of authority with the Church’s General Oblation Board, in an attempt to extract information: “Oh, there is more suffering to come.We have a thousand years of experience in this Church of ours. We can draw out your suffering endlessly. Tell us about the child.”43
_ Serafina Pekkala, a witch: “They say the Magisterium is assembling the greatest army ever known…and there are unpleasant rumors about some of the soldiers…I’ve heard about…cutting children’s dæmons away, the most evil work I’ve ever heard of.”44
_ Ruda Skadi, a witch: “In every world, the agents of the Authority are sacrificing children to their cruel god!”45
_ A servant, speaking about his master, Lord Asriel: “Well, Lord Asriel has never found hisself at ease with the doctrines of the Church, so to speak. I’ve seen a spasm of disgust cross his face when they talk of the sacraments, and atonement, and redemption, and suchlike. It’s death among our people, Serafina Pekkala, to challenge the Church, but Lord Asriel’s been nursing a rebellion in his heart for as long as I’ve served him, that’s one thing I do know.”
Serafina: “A rebellion against the Church?”
Servant: “Partly, aye. There was a time when he thought of making it an issue of force, but he turned away from that…it’s my belief that he turned away from a rebellion against the Church not because the Church was too strong, but because it was too weak to be worth fighting…I think he’s waging a higher war than that. I think he’s aiming a rebellion against the highest power of all. He’s gone a-searching for the dwelling place of the Authority Himself, and he’s a-going to destroy Him.”46
_ Will’s father, speaking to Will: “There is a war coming, boy. The greatest war there ever was. Something like it happened before, and this time the right side must win. We’ve had nothing but lies and propaganda and cruelty and deceit for all the thousands of years of human history. It’s time we started again, but properly this time.”47
*_ A witch, to her fellow witches: “Let me tell you what is happening and who it is that we must fight. For there is a war coming. I don’t know who will join with us, but I know whom we must fight. It is the Magisterium, the Church. For all its history…it’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them, it cuts them out…I have traveled in the south lands. There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too…not in the same way, but just as horribly. They cut their sexual organs, yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan’t feel. That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other.”48
42Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife, p. 221.
43Ibid., p. 34.
44Ibid., p. 37.
45Ibid., p. 243.
46Ibid., pp. 40-41.
47Ibid., pp. 282-283.
48Ibid., pp. 44-45.
from The Golden Compass Unmasked by The Catholic League
While Will wants to find out what happened to his father, Lyra is determined to learn all she can about Dust. Lyra decides to go into the Oxford of Will’s world, where she locates a physicist who can educate her about Dust. Dr. Mary Malone, a former Catholic nun, has been researching Dust and found that it is matter with consciousness. She has built a computer to communicate with this mysterious matter, and decides that Lyra is really speaking with Dust through her alethiometer. With her computer, Dr. Malone learns that Dust is actually a group of rebel angels who have interceded in human affairs in the past due to a motive of “vengeance.” Further, Dust instructs her to follow Will and Lyra and “play the serpent.”42
According to a prophecy foretold by witches, Lyra is particularly susceptible to being tempted by a serpent. They believe Lyra is a second Eve, destined to be the new mother of all through her disobedience. Additionally, the witches learn that Lord Asriel is planning a war against God, and they want to be on his side—not only does the Church perform inhumane experiments on children, it also tortures and burns witches.
Meanwhile, Will has fought for possession of a powerful knife that is capable of cutting through the air and making doorways into other worlds. After obtaining this “subtle knife,” Will meets his long-lost father, John Parry, who spent many years living as a shaman in Lyra’s world. However, the happy reunion is quickly spoiled when a spurned witch murders John. Will returns to the camp he and Lyra have set up, only to find that Lyra has disappeared, leaving her alethiometer behind. Two angels are waiting to meet Will.
Selected quotes:
_ Mrs. Coulter, speaking from her position of authority with the Church’s General Oblation Board, in an attempt to extract information: “Oh, there is more suffering to come.We have a thousand years of experience in this Church of ours. We can draw out your suffering endlessly. Tell us about the child.”43
_ Serafina Pekkala, a witch: “They say the Magisterium is assembling the greatest army ever known…and there are unpleasant rumors about some of the soldiers…I’ve heard about…cutting children’s dæmons away, the most evil work I’ve ever heard of.”44
_ Ruda Skadi, a witch: “In every world, the agents of the Authority are sacrificing children to their cruel god!”45
_ A servant, speaking about his master, Lord Asriel: “Well, Lord Asriel has never found hisself at ease with the doctrines of the Church, so to speak. I’ve seen a spasm of disgust cross his face when they talk of the sacraments, and atonement, and redemption, and suchlike. It’s death among our people, Serafina Pekkala, to challenge the Church, but Lord Asriel’s been nursing a rebellion in his heart for as long as I’ve served him, that’s one thing I do know.”
Serafina: “A rebellion against the Church?”
Servant: “Partly, aye. There was a time when he thought of making it an issue of force, but he turned away from that…it’s my belief that he turned away from a rebellion against the Church not because the Church was too strong, but because it was too weak to be worth fighting…I think he’s waging a higher war than that. I think he’s aiming a rebellion against the highest power of all. He’s gone a-searching for the dwelling place of the Authority Himself, and he’s a-going to destroy Him.”46
_ Will’s father, speaking to Will: “There is a war coming, boy. The greatest war there ever was. Something like it happened before, and this time the right side must win. We’ve had nothing but lies and propaganda and cruelty and deceit for all the thousands of years of human history. It’s time we started again, but properly this time.”47
*_ A witch, to her fellow witches: “Let me tell you what is happening and who it is that we must fight. For there is a war coming. I don’t know who will join with us, but I know whom we must fight. It is the Magisterium, the Church. For all its history…it’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them, it cuts them out…I have traveled in the south lands. There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too…not in the same way, but just as horribly. They cut their sexual organs, yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan’t feel. That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other.”48
42Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife, p. 221.
43Ibid., p. 34.
44Ibid., p. 37.
45Ibid., p. 243.
46Ibid., pp. 40-41.
47Ibid., pp. 282-283.
48Ibid., pp. 44-45.
from The Golden Compass Unmasked by The Catholic League
The Golden Compass Synopsis and Excerpts
The Golden Compass, the first in the series, takes place in the world of Lyra Belacqua, a land that is similar to our own but with marked differences. (Lyra’s world has not caught up with the technology of our own, and “the feel is more Inquisition Spain than 19th century England.”)33 The Church, frequently called the Magisterium, is a Calvinized version of the Catholic Church. The power the Magisterium wields over Lyra’s world is explained early on: “Ever since Pope John Calvin had moved the seat of the Papacy to Geneva and set up the Consistorial Court of Discipline, the Church’s power over every aspect of life had been absolute. The Papacy itself had been abolished after Calvin’s death, and a tangle of courts, colleges, and councils, collectively known as the Magisterium, had grown up in its place.”34
Lyra, effectively an orphan, resides in Oxford’s Jordan College, and spends her days larking with her chums and getting into mischief. Children start to disappear, however, and Lyra and her friends suspect the kidnappers are a mysterious group called “the Gobblers.” The Gobblers, it turns out, are not just a figment of the fertile minds of children: the moniker comes from the initials of the General Oblation Board, a division of the Magisterium headed by a sinister beauty named Mrs. Marisa Coulter (later revealed to be Lyra’s mother).
The group is explained as follows: “Very old idea, as a matter of fact. In the MiddleAges, parents would give their children to the church to be monks or nuns. And the unfortunate brats were known as oblates. Means a sacrifice, an offering up, something of that sort. So the same idea was taken up when they were looking into the Dust business.”35 This “Dust business” drives the plot, and is a source of strife between Church authorities (the bad guys) who see the invisible substance as original sin and want to suppress it, and those scientists and rebels (the good guys, led by the enigmatic scientist Lord Asriel) who want to promote it.
The Church kidnaps children because Dust isn’t attracted to children as much as it is to adults. The General Oblation Board exists to perform vile experiments on children, the cruelest being one where they sever the child’s soul, called a dæmon (pronounced “demon”), which lives outside the body in animal form. Though severing a person’s dæmon effectively turns him into a zombie, it is the Church’s idea that it is better to do this than let the children grow up and fall into sin. With the help of an alethiometer (a magic device that can answer questions truthfully), talking bears, witches and the gyptians (a nomadic group of sailors), Lyra is able to elude Mrs. Coulter and the other agents of the Church and free the kidnapped children. Lord Asriel (revealed to be Lyra’s father) has discovered that severing a child’s dæmon releases enough energy to actually create a break between worlds. He chooses a victim recently freed from the Church’s clutches and destroys the boy, opening a doorway into a parallel universe. Lyra erroneously believes that Lord Asriel is out to annihilate Dust, just like the Church, and follows him into the new world.
Selected quotes:
_ A gyptian leader, discussing the Church: “The Church in recent times, Lyra, it’s been getting more commanding. There’s councils for this and councils for that; there’s talk of reviving the Office of the Inquisition, God forbid.”36
_ Mrs. Coulter, speaking about Lord Asriel: “He’s pushed his heretical investigations to the point where it’s positively dangerous to let him live. At any rate, it seems that the Vatican Council has begun to debate the question of the sentence of death, and the probability is that it’ll be carried out.”37
_ Lord Asriel, telling Lyra about the Church and the discovery of Dust: “Now all discoveries of this sort, because they have a bearing on the doctrines of the Church, have to be announced through the Magisterium in Geneva. And this discovery of Rusakov’s was so unlikely and strange that the inspector from the Consistorial Court of Discipline suspected Rusakov of diabolic possession. He performed an exorcism in the laboratory, he interrogated Rusakov under the rules of the Inquisition, but finally they had to accept the fact that Rusakov wasn’t lying or deceiving them.”38
*_ Lord Asriel, discussing the General Oblation Board severing children’s dæmons: “There was a precedent. Something like it had happened before. Do you know what the word castration means? It means removing the sexual organs of a boy so that he never develops the characteristics of a man. A castrato keeps his high treble voice all his life, which is why the Church allowed it: so useful in Church music.”39
*_ Lord Asriel: “The General Oblation Board grew out of…the Church’s obsession with original sin.”40
*_ Lord Asriel, speaking gleefully of his plans: “This will mean the end of the Church, Marisa, the end of the Magisterium, the end of all those centuries of darkness!”41
33“Northern Lights (The Golden Compass) by Phillip Pullman,”
www.complete-review.com
34Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass, p. 27.
35Ibid., pp. 79-80.
36Ibid., p. 113.
37Ibid., p. 239.
38Ibid., p. 325.
39Ibid., p. 328.
40Ibid., p. 329.
41Ibid., p. 347.
Taken from The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked by the Catholic League
Lyra, effectively an orphan, resides in Oxford’s Jordan College, and spends her days larking with her chums and getting into mischief. Children start to disappear, however, and Lyra and her friends suspect the kidnappers are a mysterious group called “the Gobblers.” The Gobblers, it turns out, are not just a figment of the fertile minds of children: the moniker comes from the initials of the General Oblation Board, a division of the Magisterium headed by a sinister beauty named Mrs. Marisa Coulter (later revealed to be Lyra’s mother).
The group is explained as follows: “Very old idea, as a matter of fact. In the MiddleAges, parents would give their children to the church to be monks or nuns. And the unfortunate brats were known as oblates. Means a sacrifice, an offering up, something of that sort. So the same idea was taken up when they were looking into the Dust business.”35 This “Dust business” drives the plot, and is a source of strife between Church authorities (the bad guys) who see the invisible substance as original sin and want to suppress it, and those scientists and rebels (the good guys, led by the enigmatic scientist Lord Asriel) who want to promote it.
The Church kidnaps children because Dust isn’t attracted to children as much as it is to adults. The General Oblation Board exists to perform vile experiments on children, the cruelest being one where they sever the child’s soul, called a dæmon (pronounced “demon”), which lives outside the body in animal form. Though severing a person’s dæmon effectively turns him into a zombie, it is the Church’s idea that it is better to do this than let the children grow up and fall into sin. With the help of an alethiometer (a magic device that can answer questions truthfully), talking bears, witches and the gyptians (a nomadic group of sailors), Lyra is able to elude Mrs. Coulter and the other agents of the Church and free the kidnapped children. Lord Asriel (revealed to be Lyra’s father) has discovered that severing a child’s dæmon releases enough energy to actually create a break between worlds. He chooses a victim recently freed from the Church’s clutches and destroys the boy, opening a doorway into a parallel universe. Lyra erroneously believes that Lord Asriel is out to annihilate Dust, just like the Church, and follows him into the new world.
Selected quotes:
_ A gyptian leader, discussing the Church: “The Church in recent times, Lyra, it’s been getting more commanding. There’s councils for this and councils for that; there’s talk of reviving the Office of the Inquisition, God forbid.”36
_ Mrs. Coulter, speaking about Lord Asriel: “He’s pushed his heretical investigations to the point where it’s positively dangerous to let him live. At any rate, it seems that the Vatican Council has begun to debate the question of the sentence of death, and the probability is that it’ll be carried out.”37
_ Lord Asriel, telling Lyra about the Church and the discovery of Dust: “Now all discoveries of this sort, because they have a bearing on the doctrines of the Church, have to be announced through the Magisterium in Geneva. And this discovery of Rusakov’s was so unlikely and strange that the inspector from the Consistorial Court of Discipline suspected Rusakov of diabolic possession. He performed an exorcism in the laboratory, he interrogated Rusakov under the rules of the Inquisition, but finally they had to accept the fact that Rusakov wasn’t lying or deceiving them.”38
*_ Lord Asriel, discussing the General Oblation Board severing children’s dæmons: “There was a precedent. Something like it had happened before. Do you know what the word castration means? It means removing the sexual organs of a boy so that he never develops the characteristics of a man. A castrato keeps his high treble voice all his life, which is why the Church allowed it: so useful in Church music.”39
*_ Lord Asriel: “The General Oblation Board grew out of…the Church’s obsession with original sin.”40
*_ Lord Asriel, speaking gleefully of his plans: “This will mean the end of the Church, Marisa, the end of the Magisterium, the end of all those centuries of darkness!”41
33“Northern Lights (The Golden Compass) by Phillip Pullman,”
www.complete-review.com
34Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass, p. 27.
35Ibid., pp. 79-80.
36Ibid., p. 113.
37Ibid., p. 239.
38Ibid., p. 325.
39Ibid., p. 328.
40Ibid., p. 329.
41Ibid., p. 347.
Taken from The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked by the Catholic League
Are His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman for children?
There is a series of books by Philip Pullman called His Dark Materials. The first of which, The Golden Compass, is being made into a movie due to be released this December.
The books have several topics which I am concerned about having our children read. The topics seem more appropriate for a much older age group. The book cover
· early sexuality, the 12 year olds have sexual relations in the 3rd book
· discuss the church involved in the castration of children (2nd book) and many other tourtures
· anti-religion, where as the Church organization is without a single good person. killing God in the 3rd book.
Many people think that it is all fine because it is just made up. I am not sure.
I do beleive that kids know the difference between this made-up church in a book and the one they may or may not attend in real life. But Pullman is using ALL Christian and specifically Catholic terminology for the bad guys. Much of this terminology has not even been heard by children –and in fact most adults- and now these words will hold in their minds a negative, if not evil, meaning. The parallels will be lost on most children. But later, they will hear these words in relation to any church and have an immediate bad feeling that that Church is “evil” just as in the book.
Here are just a few definitions that are “redefined” by Pullman as overbearing/oppressing/evil organizations or actions:
· ob·la·tion (O-blā'shən, ō-blā'-) The act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
· mag·is·te·ri·um (măj'ĭ-stîr'ē-əm) n. Roman Catholic Church. The authority to teach religious doctrine.
Not to mention the words doctrine, pope, bishops, cardnials, priests, nuns,.
A made-up fantasy story “makes up” the names. Think of the Star Wars bad guys: a political organization. They made up the names the Empire, storm troopers, the sith… They didn’t use GOP, Republican, elephants, conseratives… Why? This would anger people. Star Wars wasn’t a statement about a particular political organization, it was fictional. I contrast this with the Pullman books and his “fictional church”.
Imagine you were gay and the terminology in the book describing the evil organization was all taken from a gay rights organization. Imagine you were a democrat and the book terminology used was DFL, congress person, donkey and liberal. Imagine you were black and the evil organization portrayed in the book was the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.
I understand the the movie has removed most references to actual terminology of christian churches, but I am guessing that the movie will drive children to read the trilogy (a Christmas gift for the kids? I hope not).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)