Northern Lights or The Golden Compass 2 PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Northern Lights or The Golden Compass 2 PDF

Description

"‫القوةإالباهلل‬ ‫" ما شاءهللا‬ ‫التوفيقلصاحبته‬ ‫الدعاء و‬ ‫نسألهللا‬

)‫أم محمد اليافعي (زكاة العلم‬ Children Literature

Northern Lights or The Golden Compass ' NL' = Northern Lights Introduction: NL is an example of what has been termed ' crossover fiction' ‫والمصادر‬ ‫عمل خيالي متعدد العناصر‬ and it has been extremely popular with adults and children alike. It is hard to classify the novel as being aimed at any one specific age group because both children and adults have enjoyed it. One reason why it has been so popular is that it does not assume that children readers are necessarily less skilled or less perspective than adult readers. It is a mix of fantasy and realism, and science and theology (the nature of God and religious beliefs). Pullman draws his inspiration from a number of sources, such as the biblical story of the 'Fall most notably William Blake and John Milton, from whose poem Paradise Lost he takes the title of his trilogy ‫(ثالثية‬Northern Lights/ The Subtle Knife/ and The Amber Spyglass). He says that all these books have come out of the background of his own reading and from things he has seen, or done, or thought about. The novel the chapters ' NL' are divided into three parts: 1- Part one :( 1-10): In this part Lyra saves her father from the poison, she is curious about Dust and decides travelling to NL, she knows about Gobblers who kidnap children. She escapes from her mother Mrs. Coulter after being her personal assistant for a short time. The gypsies save her from her mother's men, and then they suggest for a cooperation of witches and bear Iorek to join them and fight Gobblers (the kidnappers). Lyra realizes that Asriel and Coulter are her real parents. She decides to save Roger and her father, and during her journey she starts to learn how to use the alethiometer. 2- Part two :(11-17) Every single day she learns a new information and gains experience. She knows about witches and how they live, she discovers that daemon settles on a permanent ‫ على أساس دائم‬shape when a person becomes older and mature. She helps Iorek the bear in finding his armor by using the alethiometer. She knows that bears don’t have daemons but they have armors and they can't be tricked by humans. She finds Tony the kid whom has been kidnapped from Oxford and separated from his daemon, she tries to save him but he dies. She is been kidnapped again and sent to the 'experimental station' where her mother Mrs. Coulter does the cutting procedures on children. Lyra finds Roger and other children; she releases the cutting daemons and frees the children. She escapes with Roger and continues her journey in the balloon to the north.

1

3- Part three: (18-23) Lyra helps Iorek to restore his authority of being a king again through fighting the other bear. She also finds her father but she is shocked by his cold reaction. She tells him the whole story and he clarifies her everything about Dust, the Church and the mysterious universe. Unfortunately she is betrayed by her own father. Lord Asriel uses Roger as a method to cross the bridge to the other universe using the energy that resulting from the Dust through separation process. Roger dies and Lyra decides to follow her father to find the Dust and stop what he intends to do. Recommendation: Please read the PowerPoint of this subject and never mess the lecture because this novel requires deep understanding. Also you can read the analyzing of NL in the websites, which are useful for more better understanding, such as : www.Sparknotes.com , www.Shmoop.com , or www.enotes.com .

Questions: 1- Do you think "Northern Lights" is a book primarily intended for children or for adults? (it can – it cannot) You choose 2- How does Pullman represent the relationship between adults and children? Specifically parents and their children? (normal- ordering and obeying) 3- Is ' NL' a conservative novel? Yes , sort of (adult-children relationship) 4- 'NL' involves ideologies against religion and they are related to Milton ideas about ' Dust' and 'Paradise Lost', discuss. (Dust : religion= punishment and shame/ Pullman = positive energy) 5- What is the central aspect of Pullman's work? (Refusing the Christian's aspects about knowledge and creation) 6- Critical essays: 1- How is Pullman influenced by Blake and Milton? 2- The concept of Dust to Pullman and Church 3- Is Pullman a dangerous writer? How? Obedience and disobedience. 1-‘Northern Lights’ includes several themes that do not suit children, such as encouraging children to challenge and rebel against authorities; such as their parents, and church, it has messages that attack religion and God. It includes adult themes, such as betrayal, death and violence. It also includes symbols that children may not understand, such as daemon, dust, golden compass and aurora. On another hand, it can be considered as a children’s book because the protagonist is a child who encounter obstacles bravely. A child identifies himself with Lyra and as usual he or she is inspired and empowered by Lyra’s characteristic. Children learn how to be creative, alert, courageous and curious like her. The novel includes adventure, and it is full of fantasy and magic such as witches and talking animals. 2-Pullman represents the relationship between adults and children in a negative way. In the novel, adults are sort of danger to children. They force children to obey their orders all the time or they will be punished. They kidnap children and make them suffering by separating daemons 2

from them for the sake of get ridding the Dust. Even parents are selfish and cruel and we don’t feel the love or the parental interest. The relationship between Lyra's parents presents the theme of ambivalence. There is no sign of love or parental passion between Lyra and her parents. Each one of her parents tries to demonstrate Lyra to serve his or her needs and never thinks her as a daughter whom needs love and attention. The college, by contrast, has provided love and care determined in a rough and ready way by Lyra's needs, a setting in which she can grow up to be herself. For example, Asriel asks her to spy for him, and later he betrays her by talking her friend ‘Roger ‘ and detaching him from his own daemon using the power of the Dust to enter the other universe. Also her mother Mrs. Coulter tries to control Lyra's life and treats her as a pet more than as daughter by giving her orders continuously and threatens her if she doesn’t obey. 3-'Northern Lights' presents ideas of the world and adult-child relationships and their role in the society. It seems to be a conservative society where children must bow to adult authority and follow their destiny rather than change it. Kristine Moruzi has claimed that Pullman fails to offer any new ideas of the world and the roles of children. There is several incidents show how conservative the novel is. Lyra's father doesn't want her to go to the north because it is dangerous and as a father his job is to protect her. For example, Asriel keeps giving orders to Lyra and most of the time she obeys him, such as spying for him, stopping asking questions, going to her room after he has told her several times and threatened her. The novel reflects the normal relationship between an adult and a child. The adult is a superior and a child is an inferior. The father is responsible of protecting his family and supporting them financially like Asriel when forbids Lyra from travelling with him to the North because it is very dangerous, he also gives her few golden coins before leaving to spend them on herself. Also her mother Mrs. Coulter, she takes Lyra and teaches her how to dress well and to put makes and act as a proper young lady. The First Critical essay (Introduction by Heather Montgomery): Pullman draws his inspiration from a number of sources, most notably William Blake and John Milton, from whose poem ‘The Paradise Lost’. His sources are related to Christian beliefs and Church ideologies about the original sin and the falling of Adam and Eve. In his novel, he presents his own ideology about the church and attack what priests used to do in the name of God. To Pullman, Eve was not the cause of sin, but the source of knowledge and awareness. When she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, she became the mother of humanity and introduced Dust into the worlds. If she hadn’t eaten the fruit, humans would have remained forever in a childlike ignorance in the Garden of Eden. Because of the power of the Church, there is another interpretation of events. In traditional church reading ‘falling’ is a prototype ‫نموذج‬ ‫ أولى‬of disobedience and divine punishment. They have twisted Eve’s story to serve their own plans. They call knowledge ‘sin’ and try to prevent people from learning more or becoming more experienced. They think Dust is evil and contrive ways ‫يدبر طريقة‬to keep people away from it. In the novel; Lyra is the new Eve whom must full again in order to restore respect for knowledge. She must also pass from childhood to womanhood in order to restore Dust, which has been leaking out the world. She is like Adam and Eve when they had their first sexual experience after eating the fruit of knowledge and leaving innocence behind. Lyra also passes 3

from childhood to adulthood after learning about her and body where body is a source of beauty and strength not a sinful or dirty. While Lyra is the new Eve, Lord Asriel is not only a heroic figure but also the gentlemanly devil that plans to overthrow‫ اإلطاحة‬God and establish a republic of heaven. He is arrogant, complicated and unlikable. In Milton's Paradise Lost, Satan tempts Eve with the fruit from the tree of knowledge. In Pullman's trilogy (‫)القصص الثالثية‬, Lord Asriel's compelling slides of Dust ‫الشرائح‬ ‫ مقنعة من الغبار‬and the aurora ‫الشفق‬borealis ‫القطب الشمالي‬convince Lyra to go on her quest for knowledge. H. Montgomery suggests that Pullman criticizes the religion that uses its power to kill, torture, hang, burn people and force them to obey and do things they don't like in the name of God . This kind of religion he hates and rejects. To Church and Christian’s beliefs, sin is presented as Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit and fall to earth. The reason of falling was basically because Eve's disobedience. Church has accused Pullman of being a dangerous writer because he evokes children to rebel against authorities and follow their own desires. When teenagers read the novel and influence by Pullman's ideas, they will start to question about what they have learned as certainty beliefs. They may change their religious beliefs and adapt others according to their ' free thinking ' and desire. Milton believes that mind and body are one thing while Blake suggests that body is the extension of soul. Both of them encourage disobedience, freedom and rebellion. Pullman uses these theories about the interconnectedness of body and soul. He presents the daemons in his novel as the external soul of a human being. Somehow it stands of the individual's inner self, his desire and emotion. Dust is the linker between daemon and individual. Without daemon, the person loses his soul; he loses the passion of life and dies slowly.

The second critical: Dust as a metaphor by Anne- Marie Bird: The term, Dust, is highly ambiguous. It might refer to knowledge, the core of creation and humanity, the original sin, something good or something bad. It has different interpretations and it used as a metaphor of different themes or concepts. To Church it is something bad and dangerous, it is the origin sin. On another hand, to Pullman it is something positive because it is a powerful energy to evolve and grow. Dust is used as a metaphor for different concepts. It can be something good or something bad. According to Anne-Marie Bird ' Dust' is an extremely adaptable concept, offering many different meanings. To the God of Genesis‫ سفر التكوين‬, Dust contains mankind’s origins. People are made if dust and after the death they return to it. It is also described as a new kind of elementary particle‫ الجسيمات األولية‬of the universe creation where everything is created basically from dust. But from Church’s perspective it functions as metaphor for an ‘original sin’ because it is related to the desire and knowledge. For the Church it is negative because this experience is connected with guilt, shame, and sin. For example, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of knowledge they suddenly realized their nakedness then they were punished by moving to earth. Dust symbolizes the awakening of sexual awareness and coming down from spirit to matter. Therefore, the Church in the novel tries to 4

control children and supports Mrs. Coulter to find way to remain the innocence of children, and limit their knowledge and experience in order to control them and to ensure their obedience. To Pullman it is positive because it. He suggests that Dust contains the entire universe, and it includes the numerous terms involved .It is the actual physical ‘stuff’ that holds the universe together. He presents the Dust as some kind of powerful energy that connects and activates both mind and body; it is the energy of internal awakening that initiates child's development toward adulthood and a vital to human existence. In term of distinctions, from a religious perspective, Dust has the dualities of light and dark, spirit and matter, and good and evil. The fundamental belief being that the spirit is ‘good’ and matter is ‘evil’. However, the distinction between good and evil, or spirit and matter, is notably a feature of traditional Christianity. Body and soul are completely interrelated. In the novel, humans and daemons are one being linked by an invisible powerful bond. Daemons have the ability to change their shapes until children grow and gain experience. During this growing, children attract Dust. When they become adults; daemons lose the power to change and assume one shape. The process of transition to experience is represented in two ways: negative because it individual may rebel or reject superiors' or authorities' orders and that could lead to bad circumstances. On another hand, it can be positive because it is a process of transition from childhood to adulthood and a way of thinking otherwise and freedom.

Third critical essay: Obedience and disobedience (Lewis versus Pullman)by Naomi Wood: If they asked in the exam about your opinion you should compare between your own point of view and Pullman's or Lewis if you disagree with him then write conclusion. Children's literature often focuses on obedience as a central issue because of its traditionally didactic role. The most important instance of disobedience in the Christian scripture ‫المقدس‬ ‫ الكتاب‬is Eve's decision to eat the fruit of tree of knowledge. Naomi Wood has an article about both C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman, which presents their different perspectives about the concept of obedience and disobedience. The conservative Lewis advocates obedience, and the progressive Pullman questions it. Lewis believes that we should consider Obedience the natural response to a superior. It is appreciated by authority figures, such as kings, generals, priests or parents. But often contested by‫ تعترض عليها‬the most vulnerable figures ‫الشخصيات الضعيفة‬, such as children. He says if children used to disobey adults or superiors and follow their own ideas and desires, they would distract their correctness and ideal behavior and might reject their social norms or religious beliefs and they might face serious troubles or punishments. He used the falling of Adam and Eve as an example to support his theory of disobedience, when they followed their desires, disobeyed God and ate the forbidden apple, they were punished. Pullman suggests that disobedience usually comes when the individual wants to think outside the box or otherwise. It can be a start of discovering and acquiring new experience and knowledge. It doesn't necessary associated with danger or mistake. Thinking otherwise evokes individual for justifying, exploring and self-developing. It is an expression of freedom and 5

maturity and it is a part of a person's growing up. Church establishes certain values and forces others to follow the instructions and obey to control them. If people stopped thinking and questioning or asking for justifications they would never evolve or develop. Lewis and Pullman use children's literature to convey their own ideologies about obedience and disobedience. They know that through story making, they are establishing new ways of creating the world. Both of them insist on the real implications ‫لثار الحقيقية‬฀‫ ا‬of their fantasy stories. Each author sends his own message through stories. Lewis supports the concept of obedience and following roles, while Pullman encourages the reader to think otherwise, to explore, to disobey and follow his desire and thought because it is a method growing, evolving and expressing emotion and having independent agency and free will.

Close Reading: Passage ( 28-29) : From: She woke up with a start when someone shook her shoulder. 'Quiet,' said her uncle……. To: Lyra compressed her lips and frowned hard at her uncle. He was pumping the air from the vacuum flask, and took no notice; it was as if he'd already forgotten her. Without a word, but with lips tight and narrowed eyes, the girl and her daemon left and went to bed. (The context) This passage is existed in the beginning of the novel. (Opening Statement) It is very important because it involves three major themes. (Thesis Statement) It involves the main characters of the novel and about their characters and presents the relationship between adults and children. It also gives us a clue about what will happen next. (you can choose only three or other ideas). The reader identifies the characteristic of Lyra through her dialogue with Lord Asriel. She is very clever, alert, conscious, brave and eager to learn and evolve. She keeps questioning Lord Asriel about the Dust. She insists going to the North with her father because she believes that she has the right to know. She tries to confess him to approve but he doesn't response to her desire. She looks as any child who tends to challenge adult and demands answers of his questions. A child usually owns the passion of discovering new things and most of the time he doesn't obey unless he finds justification that confess him, otherwise he may obey or pretend to obey like Lyra when she compressed her lips to avoid punishment from adults. Lord Asriel seems to be strict, curious, a conservative father and an arrogant. He is curious because he travels a lot to discover and learn. He acts like a protective father. He doesn't want her going to the north because it is very dangerous and risky. He wants to protect her therefor he insists keeping her in the safety church. He uses different methods to force her in staying home. He says ' Nothing to do with you', Do as you told, 'you're not coming' he even uses physical violence and threatens her. He is conservative because he is the one who gives order and his daughter should obey always. This passage represents the sort of relationship between adults and children's. The relation is lack of love and emotion. Lord Asriel continues giving orders to Lyra, and when she asks him for justification he keeps ordering and forcing her to obey without questioning. He treats her like a child despite the fact she has just his life. Although he tries to protect her from the dangerous 6

adventure he asks her to spy for him which it is more dangerous. This behavior reflects the bad relationship between adults and children. Adults should listen to children, cover them with love and care, and respect their ideas because they are brilliant. It is our duty to discover their intelligent and give them the space to express their feelings and share our curiosities. In 'Northern Lights 'we encounter the power of adults over children. Despite that fact that children are oppressed by adults and seem weak and powerless, they are like Lyra: alert, courage and clever. The whole book idea is illustrated in this passage. There is, a clash between adults and children because of the disconnection a...