“The Golden Compass” is a book that I have seen on
bookshelves and in libraries my entire life, but had never bothered to pick up
and read before. The only opinion I had to go off of was my Dad’s disapproval
of its “anti-religious” themes, so I was very interested to read it and come to
my own conclusions about it.
The book is a critique of crime in the name of bettering
society. That is an unquestionably real problem that almost all governing
bodies face. Many times, throughout the course of history, governments or
religious groups have been willing to commit atrocities in order to negate a
perceived threat to society. For example, the Nazis imprisoned and slaughtered
people of Jewish faith as well as other outcasts all under the obviously false
assumption that the Jews were causing the economic problems in their society.
In “The Golden Compass” children are cruelly separated from their spirit
animals—called daemons—in a procedure that often leads to a slow, miserable death.
This is justified by the people who are doing it because of a scientific
phenomenon called “dust” which is attracted to people who have gone through
puberty. The church has decided, without any scientific evidence, that this
dust is either attracted to or causing sin, and so they are attempting to
prevent children from reaching a level of maturity at which the dust can affect
them. There is no proof of any kind that the dust harms anyone. The name “dust”
may even have some significance, in that dust is small and harmless and nothing
to get worked up about.
The book doesn’t just critique the institution of the
church. The church is represented by the main character’s mother, who was the
founder of the group that does experiments on the children. The main
character’s father is a representation of the institution of science. He is
also willing to sacrifice the lives of children, but for him the goal is
scientific progress, not the ultimate end of sinfulness. In the end, he
harnesses the energy released from separating a child and his daemon to open a
portal to another dimension.
The solution in the end of the book was somewhat
unsatisfactory in a storytelling sense because the problem remained unsolved
and the main character did not really triumph in any way. However, the
conclusion that the main character comes to is very close to something I think
is useful and helpful. Both of her parents want to try to stop the dust, and
everyone is assuming that it’s evil. Because of this, she decides that everyone
is wrong and the dust must be good. She makes it her goal to prevent her
parents from stopping the dust. This doesn’t sit well with me. Just because she
jumps to the opposite conclusion doesn’t mean she isn’t jumping. However, her
decision to search for the source of the dust is a very good one. She must find
out for herself what the dust really is, and then decide whether it’s good or not. The decision to discover the
truth for herself instead of relying on the assumptions of other people sets a
very good example for readers of all ages.
There were a few things in the book that bothered me.
Aside from the main character’s conclusions in the end, there were things that
rang false to me about the daemons. It was implied throughout the story that
when your daemon settles, you have discovered who you truly are. I don’t
believe that part of maturing is necessarily choosing a road that you will follow
for the rest of your life. The ability to change does not end when you become
an adult. I might be taking the metaphor too far here, but that’s what it felt
like to me.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. I think it pointed out
true flaws of church and state, and accurately portrayed the kinds of
consequences that can come about because of those flaws. The solution that was
found in the end of the story may or may not have been a useful one, depending
on the way you look at it. But it does encourage readers to find out things for
themselves instead of taking for granted what the authorities say.
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