Northen Lights

Theme : Novel Analysis
Book Title : Northen Lights
Author : Philip Pullman

CHAPTER I

PLOT ANALYSIS OF “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

 

1.      Exposition

The story takes place in a parallel universe to ours, controlled in part by the Magisterium, a body of the Church in that world which guards against heresy. Human souls exist externally in the form of a sentient "dæmon", appearing in animal form which constantly accompany their human.

Lyra Belacqua—an 12-year-old girl who has been allowed to run somewhat wild–awaits the arrival of her uncle and guardian, Lord Asriel at Jordan College, a fictional Oxford University college. She spies on him and learns of "Dust", a material that makes magical links. As her uncle leaves Jordan, she meets Mrs Coulter, a beautiful and adventurous woman, and agrees when invited to go and live with her. The Master of the College secretly entrusts Lyra with an alethiometer, a "truth teller" which resembles a silver, many-handed pocket-watch that can answer any question asked by a skilled user. Although unable to read or understand its complex symbols, Lyra takes it with her, and gradually begins to master the device over the course of the narrative.

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2.      Raising Conflict

Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter secretly directs the "General Oblation Board", a Church organisation nicknamed as "the gobblers" who have been kidnapping children. Horrified, Lyra flees and is rescued by the Gyptians, a nomadic people who reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are Lyra's father and mother. She joins the Gyptians on an expedition to the north to rescue them.

On a stop in Trollesund, Lyra meets Iorek Byrnison, an outcast prince of the sapient panserbjørn, or "armoured bears". His armour, stolen from him by the villagers, is akin to his soul, and without it Iorek is bound in servitude to the village. Lyra uses her alethiometer to locate it for him and in return he, and an old friend of his named Lee Scoresby, agrees to help her quest. She also learns that Lord Asriel is held prisoner by the Panserbjørn. At the local consulate of the Witches, the Consul states there is a prophecy about Lyra's destiny, which she must not know, and the reader also learns that witch-clans are choosing their allegiances in preparation for an imminent war.

3.      Climax

The Gyptians and Lyra continue north to Bolvangar, where they are told the Gobblers take the children. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra detours at a village and finds a boy who had been severed from his dæmon. Lyra realizes that the Gobblers are attempting to sever the bond between human and dæmon (the process being called "intercision"), a horrific action in that world, and the boy dies. She is captured by bounty hunters and taken to Bolvangar, where she locates Roger and devises an escape plan. Mrs. Coulter arrives, evidently supervising the facility, and Lyra is caught spying by staff. The staff decide to silence her using the same process; she is rescued by Mrs. Coulter who is shocked to see her as an intercision subject. Mrs. Coulter tries to take the alethiometer from her but the container she takes contains an insect-like device that renders her unconscious. Lyra escapes, leads the other children from the facility, and is rescued by Lee Scoresby, Iorek, the Gyptians, and their allies, the witch-clan of Serafina Pekkala.

Lyra is determined to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, believing that he needs it for his purposes. She tricks the usurping bear-king Iofur Raknison into fighting Iorek Byrnison, by claiming that she is Iorek's dæmon, and that if Iofur killed Iorek, then she would become Iofur's dæmon – something no bear has and Iofur wants. Iorek is victorious and regains his throne. Lyra - nicknamed "Lyra Silvertongue" by Iorek as a token of her ability - travels onward to Lord Asriel’s cabin, accompanied by Iorek and Roger.

4.      End

Despite being imprisoned, Lord Asriel has become so influential that he has accumulated the necessary equipment to continue his experiments on Dust. He explains to Lyra what he knows of Dust, the Church's view that it is deeply sinful, his belief that Dust is somehow related to the source of all death and misery, the existence of parallel universes, and his goal—he intends to visit the other universes, find the source of death and misery, and destroy it, bringing the end of "centuries of darkness"; and he claims the Church fears that he may succeed, "with good reason". As Lyra sleeps, he departs, taking Roger and much scientific equipment. Lyra pursues them, having discovered that she has indeed brought her father what he wanted, though not in the way she thought. It was not the alethiometer he needed, but Roger: the severing of the child's dæmon will releases an "enormous" amount of energy, which Lord Asriel needs to complete his task. Roger dies when Lord Asriel separates him from his dæmon, and Lord Asriel is able to tear a hole through the sky into a parallel universe. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter (who caught up with him by zeppelin) face the newly revealed world, but Mrs. Coulter feels unable to go with Asriel and painfully declines. Lord Asriel walks through into the new universe alone. Devastated at her part in rescuing Roger only to bring him to his death, Pan and Lyra follow.

CHAPTER II

CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

1.      PROTAGONIST

a.       Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon: The principal characters. Lyra is described as having blue eyes and blond hair, along with being short for her age and quite thin but is still quite attractive. Though young and attractive she is brave, curious, and crafty. Her dæmon is Pantalaimon, nicknamed Pan. Because she is still a child, Pan is capable of changing into any shape he wishes, through he frequently appears as a brown moth, a wildcat, a white ermine, and a mouse. Lyra has been prophesied by the witches to help the balance of life, but must do so without being aware of her destiny.

b.      Roger Parslow: One of Lyra's friends, a boy whose family works at Jordan College. When he is kidnapped and taken north, Lyra pursues him in hopes of rescuing him. He is killed at the end of Northern Lights by Lord Asriel.

c.       Lord Asriel: Lyra's grand-uncle, though it is later revealed that he is actually her father. He performs experiments in the north on the Dust children, who are considered threatening for the Magisterium Society as they are part of Asriel's fight against God. His dæmon is Stelmaria, a Moroccan snow leopard.

d.      Iorek Byrnison: A panserbjørn (a race of armored white bears living in the far North and capable of human speech), first encountered in servitude having been tricked out of his armor, which Lyra helps him recover. He becomes very protective of Lyra and joins the expedition to find the children seized by Gobblers. After Lyra successfully tricks usurper Iofur Raknison into submitting to Iorek, Iorek gives her the name "Lyra the Silvertongue."

e.       Lee Scoresby: A Texan aeronaut who transports Lyra in his balloon. He and Iorek Byrnison are good friends and Lee comes to see Lyra as a surrogate daughter. His dæmon is Hester, an arctic snow hare.

f.       Ma Costa: A Gyptian Women closely involved in the Syrian government. Her son Billy Costa is abducted by the evil "Gobblers". She rescues Lyra from Mrs Coulter and takes her to John Faa, a large man with sturdy hands.

2.      ANTAGONIS

a.      Marisa Coulter: An agent of the Magisterium, who does not hesitate to manipulate the Church to obtain funds for her projects. She is intelligent and beautiful, but extremely ruthless and callous. She is revealed to be Lyra's mother; as a result, she is unexpectedly kind to Lyra. Her dæmon is a golden monkey.

b.      Iofur Raknison: A panserbjørn who wants a dæmon and has usurped Iorek's authority as king. Lyra tricks him into fighting the exiled Iorek Byrnison by pretending to be Iorek's dæmon, and promising that when Iofur wins the fight, she will become his.

CHAPTER III

THE SETTING ANALYSIS OF “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

1.      The Setting of Time.

There is no specific time in this novel.

2.      The Setting of Place

a.       Jordan College, a college where Lord Asriel lived. Lyra also lived there.

b.      Trollesund, the main port of the country of Lapland, which Lyra and her Gyptian protectors visited during their journey to Bolvangar.

c.       Svalbard, the location of the panserbjørne palace and the center of the ice bear government. Iorek Byrnison lives there.

d.      Bolvangar, The far north location of the research facility where the Magisterium conducts experiments with intercision; children are kidnapped and brought there to be subjected to the process.

e.       Cittàgazze, "City of the Magpies" in Italian.

CHAPTER IV

THEME ANALYSIS OF “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

The main theme of this novel is about “a negative portrayal of the Church and religion”.

CHAPTER V

VALUES IN “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

            In this novel is told there was a girl which tried to help her friend and other children from Magisterium, and she finally success because she was right. So, we can learn about “ Kindness always win”.

Brief Synopsis of “NORTHERN LIGHTS”

Lyra, a wilful and disobedient young orphan who lives at Jordan College, Oxford, in a world not unlike our own. With her dæmon Pan, she enjoys a carefree life,  occasionally visited by her uncle Lord Asriel who gives her the vague idea that she doesn't belong at Jordan.

Her life is turned upside down when children start to go missing, kidnapped by the enigmatic "Gobblers", culminating in the disappearance of her best friend Roger. The arrival of the glamorous Mrs. Coulter interrupts Lyra's plans to rescue him, and she is swept away to be Mrs Coulter's "assistant". A parting gift from the Master of Jordan College – an instrument resembling a compass, called an alethiometer – keeps her busy as she struggles to understand its function. Some disturbing information about her new guardian overheard at a party leads Lyra to believe that Mrs Coulter is responsible for the disappearing children and she resolves to run away.

She is found and rescued by the Gyptians – riverboat-dwelling travellers – and she learns of their plans to travel North to rescue the missing children. She also discovers the truth about her own heritage: Lord Asriel is actually her father, and her mother is Mrs Coulter, a woman who now inspires nothing but terror in Lyra. She learns from the Gyptians that the alethiometer is a truth reader, which will answer any question she asks it. Lyra decides to accompany the Gyptians to the wild and dangerous North. 

Joined by the witch queen Serafina Pekkala, renegade armoured bear Iorek Byrnison and Texan aëronaut Lee Scoresby, Lyra discovers the truth behind the Gobblers and their wicked experiments in a Northern research station: they undertake a process called "intercision", forcibly separating children from their dæmons. This cruel operation supposedly protects children from Dust, the obsession of the civilised world but a mystery to Lyra.

Captured by hunters and taken to Bolvanger, Lyra comes face to face with her mother. She escapes again, freeing the remaining children and flying away with Roger and Iorek in Lee's balloon. They crash-land on Svalbard, home of the armoured bears, where Lyra learns that Iorek is the rightful king. She manages by trickery to win back the throne from the false king, Iofur Raknison, who had allied the bears with the Gobblers.

On Svalbard, Lyra meets her father, held prisoner on the orders of Mrs Coulter. She is terrified by his plans to build a bridge into a new world through the Northern Lights, where the barrier between the worlds is thin. From him she learns about Dust; it is an elementary particle, thought to be evidence of Original Sin. Thinking it will help him, Lyra offers Lord Asriel the alethiometer. Instead what he requires for his bridge is the huge burst of energy produced by the process of intercision; to her horror, she finds herself an unwitting assistant in Roger's death at her father's hands.

Overwhelmed by guilt, Lyra resolves to find Dust herself, reasoning that if her mother thinks it is a bad thing then the opposite must be true.  She and Pan follow Lord Asriel into the new world.