The Golden Compass: Section 1, Chapter 4

[redrose]

So Lyra just met the woman with the golden monkey daemon, and they're having dinner with the Master of Jordan College. I am amused by Lyra's contempt of female Scholars; she doesn't realize that she is female, somehow, and that if she were to become a Scholar, she'd hold herself in contempt. Mrs. Coulter has been North herself. Lyra is fascinated by her.

After dinner, the Master tells Lyra that she will be leaving with Mrs. Coulter, because the College can't supply her with female guidance. In other words, the College can't teach her how to be a lady, how to be feminine, how to be a woman. The town women and the servants are not acceptable teachers. Now I know where Lyra gets her contempt for them from.

Before Lyra leaves the next morning, the Master gives her an beautiful object, an alethiometer. It's gold and crystal and symbolic, and he tells her to keep it a secret from Mrs. Coulter. Lyra is caught - this is the man who tried to kill her uncle telling her to keep a secret from someone he is entrusting her to.

Mrs. Coulter seduces Lyra with shopping, and nice sheets, and warm scented baths, and her exquisite femininity, all in the one day that is the end of the chapter


I'm going to put some more commentary in a separate entry, because it concerns things far in advance in this book, and in the other books.

Comments

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

What I like about Pullman's oeuvre is that nothing is plain and simple, good isn't GOOD (Lyra is a little liar, Will is a killer), yet the characters have to figure out what to do (and have the chance to give their best). What's astonishing is how many make the choice to be human.