The Golden Compass Paper

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Kristin Lee Lee 1

Kerry Voigt

English 1103 Sec. 27

September 5, 2008

Golden Compass: The Old Testament

Philip Pullman’s book, His Dark Materials, has different ways of underlying

interpretation and criticism. There are many things that possibly imply that Book I is symbolic

of the Old Testament. For example the fact that there is no mention of Jesus Christ, or any

character that might symbolize him, implies they are living in the Jewish era before Christ. Lord

Asriel’s name is Jewish and the Gyptians also are identified in the Old Testament. I believe this

book is a representation of a new Bible that Pullman wants us to believe. Philip Pullman uses the

Old Testament to show that the God and church from the book is representative of government in

our society today.

The church, a symbol for God, uses a process called intercision. Every human has a

daemon which is a representation of their soul. The daemons change forms throughout their

lifetime until they settle on a shape which represents their owner. If the human is not happy with

their daemons form then they must learn to accept themselves because that is who they are as a

person. To try and eliminate Dust the church uses the process of intercision which separates the

human from their daemon, the same thing as separating a human from their soul. Just to imagine

that the church could actually strip a person of their identity says that the organization has too

much power. In our society today, Pullman is relating the church or God, to the government in

saying that it has too much power, and is stripping away our identity.

Dust in the Golden Compass is a form of dark matter invisible to the human eye which

can only be seen with special instruments like the one used by Lord Asriel. Adam and Eve in the



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Kerry Voigt


September 5, 2008

Old Testament were created by Dust. They were deceived and tempted by Satan to eat fruit from

the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which caused people to be born into original sin. Lord

Asriel explains this concept to Lyra when he says, “Remember, they were naked in the garden,

they were like children, their daemons took on any form they desired (326).” The author is

saying that before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they did not posses original sin. Dust is

associated with original sin by the Church which is why children do not possess Dust. Their

innocence about the world protects them from Dust where as adults have more knowledge and

understanding of the world to allow them to make choices and sin. Lord Asriel explains to Lyra

towards the end of the book what dust exactly is and that the Church has preached about it for

centuries but did not call is Dust.

At the end of the book Lyra realizes that Dust may not be a bad thing. During the book

Ms. Coulter, who is revealed to be Lyra’s mother, tricks kids into intercision. Lord Asriel, at the

end of the book, sacrifices Roger in order to make a bridge to another world. The church and

scientist are all behind the whole process of intercision. After Roger is killed Lyra says to Pan,

“We believed them, even though we could see that what they were doing was wicked and evil

and wrong... We thought Dust must be bad too...But what if it isn’t? (350)” The author shows

Lyra making a connection that if all of those people who were trying to destroy Dust were bad,

then it might actually be a good thing.

The idea of God and the church itself are not bad, but the scientist, the people in the

church, Lord Asriel, and Ms. Coulter are. If the church authority is related to our government



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Kerry Voigt


September 5, 2008

authority, then this could translate to the idea of government not being bad, but rather the

political parties. Government has so much control over our daily lives. Whereas our country was

originally founded on the idea of government being controlled by the people, it is not like that

anymore. It is controlled by currency and whoever has the most money from month to month.

The politicians could be related to the book as Ms. Coulter, Lord Asriel, scientist, and the people

of the church. We have political parties like republicans, democrats, and lobbyists, and maybe

Pullman is saying that it is time to get rid of big money politicians, assuming they are trying to

destroy a good thing which is government by the people and for the people. This would then lead

you to believe that maybe Pullman believes that we should have anarchy. The last line of the

book is, “So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked

toward the sun, and walked into the sky (351).” Pullman might want the reader to think that she

is going into another world where there is not government or if there is, it is actually good for the

people.

There are many things in the book that show symbolism to the Old Testament. For

example, the aurora could represent the Promise Land. The alethiometer is a representation of

universal truth even though it goes against divination. The most important connection though is

Noah’s ark. In the Bible, God is angry at the wickedness and violence in the world. He is

depicted as a powerful and all mighty figure. God decides to destroy his creation but instructs

Noah to build an ark. A flood rises and in the end Noah offers a sacrifice to God and enters into a

covenant. At the end of the book, Lord Asriel, who could be represented by Noah, sacrifices



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September 5, 2008

Roger in order to make a bridge to another world. The contrast between the two stories is that

Lord Asriel made the sacrifice for greed where Noah did not. Lord Asriel was eager to learn

more about dust for his own reasons forgetting he was ending a life. Since Lord Asriel is

classified with being bad, Pullman might be trying to support his idea that the government is

about money and is also greedy. The government is more interested in what is best for itself and

not what is best for the people.

If this book is representative of the Old Testament, it could be seen today as a bible that

Pullman wants us to believe. A new book that says government has too much power over its

people. He implies we should get rid of political parties and maybe turn to a form of anarchy. He

also shows that the government is greedy and controlled by currency. By writing this book,

Pullman stimulates the reader’s mind to think about government and the role it plays in our daily

lives.

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The Golden Compass Paper