Golden Compass Essay

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For most everyone maturation is a process we must all undergo. For a girl at the young age of eleven, it seemed so far ahead in the future, but soon enough her mud throwing days were over. This was the life of Lyra Belacqua. Even though she didn’t get to have quality time with her family, having mud wars and making friendships with kitchen boys was the origin of Lyra’s childhood, that created the mischievous girl raised in Jordan Collage. The novel The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, tells of a young orphan girl that gets sent away with a female scholar named Mrs. Coulter to be taken care of instead of staying in a college filled with men. After she has been with Mrs. Coulter for some time Lyra realizes that her new caretaker has been …show more content…

The more time passed the more Lyra was being hunted by Mrs. Coulter and her minions. Lyra had to remain a secret while they found out about Mrs. Coulter’s plans with the children. Later they find out that Mrs. Coulter is researching kids because as they grow up something they call dust sticks to people which is also a symbol of sin or the opposite of innocence. As Mrs. Coulter describes, “Dust is something bad, something wrong, something evil and wicked” ( 282 Pullman). Before Lyra went on the mission she thought growing up was a bad thing and didn’t want to grow up herself. Now that Mrs. Coulter is making the process of growing up doesn’t happen by cutting souls, growing up doesn’t seem so dreadful. Lyra is being exposed to all those ideas but she knows now that the natural way of life is that way for a reason. What is the point of trying to correct sin by committing a sin in …show more content…

Iorek was looking for his armor that was stolen from him by the other bears that cast him out unjustly when he was the rightful leader of all the bears. However in pursuit of his special armor and his rightful place, he unknowingly helps Lyra sharpen her best skill, lying. At the Jordan College in which her childhood was, she always told amazing tales to the other children as well as plausible lies to get out of trouble. Lyra had an amazing talent of telling clever lies on the spur of the moment. As Lyra was helping Iorek she was caught by the king of bears that wanted to become human. Using this fact against him she managed to deceive him as it states, “I can become your daemon; but only if you defeat Iorek Byrnison in single combat”(339 Pullman). A daemon is the soul of a human that takes on the form of an animal and since bears are not human they do not have a physical form of their soul. Thus in having a daemon the bear would become human in the most physical and proper way. By telling Iofur, the bear king that she was a daemon, she was able to trick him in having a fair fight with Iorek. If Iorek wins then he will get his rightful place on the throne of the bears. This may have been the biggest, most clever yet risky lie Lyra has ever told. This was when she had really started to use her skills in such a way that it became a gateway to development and courage. This

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