Growing up in an Extraordinary World: My essay for English 304

Growing up in an Extraordinary World
Puberty happens during a person’s transformation from childhood to adulthood. This transformation is possible through the increasing function of the brain which affects the growth of the body. Puberty occurs in many stages, and at different times for each individual. Lewis Carroll and Phillip Pullman’s female heroes Lyra and Alice have to deal with the unfamiliar and often uncomfortable process of puberty. Both girls do so with more freewill than the average adolescent. Both characters are ultimately forced to ponder their identity and self while confronting the changing world around them in extraordinary circumstances.
Both Carroll and Pullman show the difficulties of growing up but add a new dimension by showing a surreal world which is only possible in fantasy. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Carroll depicts a strange world of wonder that Alice enters and travels through during her journey from childhood to adulthood; from innocence to experience. Everything is very curious to Alice. She goes through her wonderland meeting many interesting creatures without questioning their origin or their means of existence. In Pullman’s Dark Materials he presents Lyra, who begins as an innocent girl who is protected by scholars at Jordon College in Oxford. However, Lyra quickly realizes the complexities of the world around her, and goes through adolescence unlike other girls her age.
Alice is portrayed by Carroll as a logical, dauntless, and curious girl who refuses to read a book without pictures. Although her adventures happen in a dream, Alice’s vivid imagination is what spurs her outrageous thoughts in her unconscious state. Throughout her adventures, Alice fails to leave a stone unturned. She is in a constant hunt for strange company; anything to keep her curious mind sharp and satisfied. Alice does not segregate or judge, but simply accepts anyone or anything that comes across her path. She never knows in which direction to go, which thrusts her into a constant whirlwind of ambiguity. We find Alice’s unstable idea of herself quite evident when she finds the Caterpillar’s question of her identity difficult to answer; after continually growing smaller and taller due to her pill consumption.
To contend with Alice, Lyra Belacqua is portrayed as a wiry, ruthless, and fearless girl that has been raised as an orphan at Jordan College. She does not let her orphan-status affect her happiness. She spends hours running around the neighborhood playing with children of a lower class without the slightest disdain. One day she eavesdrop on a complex conversation involving dust that soon affects those living around her, and has no choice but to act. She is sent into a whirlwind of events that she must participate in, in order to survive. Lyra goes through many trials and seems to manage every difficult situation she receives triumphantly.
One trait Lyra and Alice share is their ability to put complete trust in the people or beings they come in contact with. As both stories progress and the girls go through more experiences however, they learn to be more cautious of the company they keep. Lyra happily goes to live with Marisa Coulter, who turns out to be a conniving woman who wants power at any cost. Lyra takes this experience, learns from her trusting ignorance, and goes on to meet many noble creatures along her journey that help her succeed. Alice uses sincerity with the Queens she meets, but soon realizes that some Queens are cruel, and being polite will not get her anywhere in the wonderland of her dreams. She becomes aware of her blind trust and goes on to conform, ultimately becoming a Queen by playing by the rules of the adult world.
Ultimately, what sets Lyra apart from Alice is her amazing ability to manipulate the adults around her. Initially, the adult figures in Lyra's life do not give her any credit as she begins her journey to the North. Alice avoids the Queen of Hearts chopping off her head, but that is the extent of her control of the adults in her world. As Pullman’s Dark Materials develops, the adults that come in contact with Lyra grow to protect her, fight alongside her, and ultimately respect her. Lyra is slow in understanding the reason for her tasks that continually put her life in danger. Eventually Lyra becomes successful in using the tools and company she has been given to her benefit as well as theirs. Lyra reappoints the polar bear king to his throne and shows her cruel mother how to love. She gives Mary Malone the strength to stand up for herself and make new scientific discoveries and frees millions of ghosts from the Land of the Dead.
One experience that stands out in Pullman’s Dark Materials is love. Although Alice loves her cat Dinah and Lyra loves her daemon Pantalaimon, Lyra falls in love with a boy named William Parry. Throughout the story Lyra continually builds a bond with Will. Their relationship begins in strictly work-related terms; to save the world. Lyra is loud and ruthless while Will is quiet and strong. Lyra and Will build a trust and are willing to risk their lives for one another. After the heroes have completed their faithful mission together they recognize and embrace their love for one another openly and relentlessly. A few days after their indescribable discovery they are forced to part. Lyra has to make the ultimate sacrifice which is losing her first love in order to preserve safely in the world for the rest of time.
Lyra and Alice deal with the unfamiliar and uncomfortable process of puberty under extraordinary circumstances. In the end of Alice’s story she becomes a Queen while Lyra saves the world. Both girls realize that they have accomplished quite a bit in their childhood. Whether the events happen in reality or in dreams, both girls must cope with the next stage in their lives that is adulthood. Lyra and Alice go through many stages in their detailed journeys and learn a lot about themselves. Their adventures turn Lyra and Alice into young women who apprehensively have new experiences to look forward to, while looking back on their fond memories of the childhood that all adults are forced to leave behind.

Father Gomez and The Ancient Mariner

Throughout His Dark Materials there is quite evidently an environmental undertone. The subtle knife had been used carelessly, opening many windows which caused dusk to leak out of some worlds in to others, thus destroying the balance of nature. In The Amber Spyglass Father Gomez is on the hunt for Lyra Belacqua. He enters the world of the mulefa and discovers huge white birds. He takes out his shotgun and shoots one of the birds without thinking twice. This action reminds me of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, when a boat sailing the high seas is cursed after a mariner shoots an innocent albatross who has been following the boat for a number of days without reason. I have provided an excerpt of the long poem which shows the seen of senseless murder, and ultimately, man's unwarranted abuse of nature.

"And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen :
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around :
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound !

At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came ;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit ;
The helmsman steered us through !

And a good south wind sprung up behind ;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo !

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine ;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

`God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--
Why look'st thou so ?'--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.

PART II

The Sun now rose upon the right :
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo !

And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe :
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch ! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow !

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist :
Then all averred, I had killed the bird
That brought the fog and mist.
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free ;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be ;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea !
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion ;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean."
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge

After this excerpt the the Albatross begins to be avenged through a number of events that that makes the Mariner realize his woes but in vain, because his actions have already been done and there is no turning back.

Interpretations of Dark Materials characters

After looking at a number of images of different characters from Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials, I came across quite an ecclectic mix. From characters in the movie, to a fan's illustration of Lyra, to two fans that decided to impersonate the characters themselves, enjoy!

Nicole Kidman plays Marisa Coulter in The Golden Compass movie. She is a stunning woman and I believe she is a good person for the role.

In The Golden Compass, the movie, Daniel Craig plays the role of Lord Asriel. Craig is well known in his roles in the recent James Bond movies.


A Sketch of Lyra that I partiularly enjoy:


LORD ASRIEL, LYRA, and PAN:

My Daemon, a butterfly

According to Quizilla.com my Daemon would be a: BUTTERFLY - Your daemon may be a butterfly. It is ironic that the butterfly traditionally represents the psyche, yet it is one of the least emotive physical forms that your daemon can take. It is very hard to tell what a butterfly is feeling, and perhaps that is why you feel so comfortable with this form. You have many, many friends and a beautiful soul, but you don't like to reveal what your innermost feelings are. You aren't afraid to be yourself - you are vibrant and colourful. But at the same time, you don't like to wear your heart on your sleeve.

Asriels proclamation

"Few as we are," he went on, "and short-lived as we are, and weak-sighted as we are-in comparison with them, we're still stronger. They envy us, Ogunwe! That's what fuels their hatred, I'm sure of it. They long to have our precious bodies, so solid and powerful, so well-adapted to the good earth! And if we drive at them with force and determination, we can sweep aside those infinite numbers as you can sweep your hand thorugh mist. They have no more power that that!" -Asriel, (The Amber Spyglass 823)

Lord Asriel has been fighting to protect dust from the Authority and his Regent, Metatron thorughout "His Dark Materials." I found this quote to stand out because Asriel knows what it means to be human and how the amount of power one possesses is not what should be respected and cherished. What is most important and sought-after but being alive and enjoying life on earth. After Asriel's praise of life and being human, he realizes that Lyra must have a chance to experience life like he has, and becomes a martyr so save the human race.