Yesterday after posting I began ransacking my apartment to try and find one of the books on the list to start reading. I wanted to begin right away! It didn't take me very long to stumble across The Golden Compass.
The Golden Compass is part of a triology by Philip Pullman called His Dark Materials. I've never read any of the books but I do remember the controversy when it came out as a movie. People said it was written as an anti-religious book--an opposite to CS. Lewis's Narnia series. I never watched the movie--not because I was worried about the "hidden meaning" but because I was busy and didn't watch very movies at the time. Didn't think about it again until yesterday.
Having finished the book, I can say that I don't feel like it's an "evil" book. Sure, the bad guys are an organization in the church--sometimes even the church itself, but you can read accurate historical fictions where the same happened. The whole church system is set up different than it is in real life anyway. I still am trying to wrap my head around it. There only seems to be one church instead of lots of churches and the church runs everything in Europe--almost like it was before the reformation. Also, the church seems more of a analogy for human thought--belief systems etc. than to stand for an actual church.
The other part that might seem "evil" is the fact that the souls of all the humans are split--they have their own body and then they have their daemon--a creature that is literally connected to them. It's part of their soul. It can't be very far from them. If the daemon dies, the person will die and vice versa. Children's daemons can be any animal. An adult's daemon only has one form. They are called familiars at one point. Not really evil. Just fantasy and word choice. Oh, and there are witches. But well, Harry Potter and hundreds of other books we let our children read would also be "evil" if that's where we draw the line.
Moving beyond the controversy, I think the story line is compelling. The main character, Lyra, is likable. I won't complain that the hero is a little girl. She's young, smart, and a story teller. Everything she hears comes out of her mouth very different than when she heard it--unless she's talking to an adult. Then she'll tell the truth. Most of the time. She makes mistakes and tries to fix her mistakes. She's human--a normal little girl who does amazing things. As a kid, I probably would have wanted to be like her. Hey, in some ways I still do!
I found the beginning of the book hard to follow because of the terminology. I felt like instead of using "normal" words, Pullman had to have a new word for almost everything. Anbaric current or power is electricity. It took me a long time to figure that out. A gyptian is pretty much a gypsy. Close, but not quite the same. Countries and peoples are also used differently. I'm not sure exactly when the book is supposed to be taking place, but Zepplins and aeroships (etc) are common. Between those and the fact the "church" and government system is set up differently made my brain have a hard time focusing. Most people could probably breeze by it, but because I'm very analytical, it was hard for me. I wanted to be able to understand it all! It's only in the beginning of the book that it really bugged me anyway.
The story line makes up for it. By the middle of the book I breezed by the words and figured out what some of them meant. As the book continued I got pulled more and more into the story line. I didn't get into it as much as I do some books, but I was definitely pulled in. I was so enthralled in it I read the last 100 pages or so straight without a break.
I believe the biggest theme in the book is people fear what they don't understand. I believe the church is used as an analogy to basic human beliefs. If something doesn't fit into the belief paradigm, it must be bad or evil. Using a church makes people's beliefs contrast more with their fears. I think people have locked onto the church vs. the truth aspect in the book ignoring the greater moral: our paradigms vs. the unknown. The church, representing human paradigms, gets in the way of Lyra and others trying to find the truth behind Dust--the unknown. Only a child, someone not set into their belief pattern, could open their eyes enough to see the unknown can bring great goodness.
In real life, we can see examples throughout history and even in modern times of us doing the same. Whites held onto their paradigms of racism because of their fear of change--their fear of other races. Women weren't allowed to vote in America until the 1900's because men were afraid of what they would do in the political realm. Rock and Roll music was considered "horrible" because it was hard and loud. The bible was only in Latin until Martin Luther translated it because the church was afraid the day to day people couldn't understand it--or would understand it differently. People were afraid the affects Harry Potter would have on children because it talked about... (oh no!) witches and wizards.
So maybe using the church as the belief system was the cause of the controversy or maybe it was something else. My opinion is that the book is good, wholesome entertainment. If your worried about it, read it with your child. Or read it before they do so you can discuss it with them. In no way would I forbid it though--that would kind of play into the "fear what you don't understand" theme.
End result? I enjoyed this book. I have 2 more books to finish before I finish His Dark Materials, but I expect I will enjoy them too.
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