The Golden Compass: Commentary

[redrose]

The word glamour is used a lot to describe Mrs. Coulter, who is Lyra's mother, as Lord Asriel is her father. (I can remember trying to figure out which one of them was good, but now I think perhaps neither of them were Good. Each was human.) I am reminded of the line from the Catholic baptismal rite, "Do you reject the glamor of evil?" which always struck me as a good question, because evil often seems so much more interesting than good. Interestingly, my copy of the Book of Common Prayer (Episcopalian, and I assume Anglican (which assumes Pullman was raised Anglican)) doesn't use that phrase.

Mrs. Coulter is introducing Lyra to glamorous femininity, which Lyra has never encountered before. It's the traditional sort of femininity of this world (for the rich), full of house-bound pleasures, appearance-focussed. Mrs. Coulter is much more than that, but this is what she's drawing Lyra to her with.

I wonder why the College had charge of Lyra? Both her parents were living, but neither would take her, perhaps because raising a child is too much work. I have a vague memory of them opposing each other; perhaps Lyra was raised by the College because neither would allow the other to have the raising of his/her offspring.

It's also sort of odd, because a lot of this book/ this series is about growing up, and becoming an adult, and this crap that Lyra is learning from Mrs. Coulter is not really growing up. We present this skills as growing up, but really it is being responsible for your actions, and being a mature person. (It's not even sex that makes a grown-up.)