northern lights the subtle knife and the amber spyglass

Lewis was a practicing Christian whose Narnia books were pretty obvious religious allegories. While both authors can be found in the young adult section of bookstores, the messages of their books are as different as pizza and brussel sprouts. Pullman's detractors call him the anti-Lewis, referring to C.S. Everyone's got an opinion about these fantasy novels written for tweens and teens. For more on that topic, head over to ' Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory: Dust (and Original Sin).No one really feels wishy-washy about Philip Pullman's controversial His Dark Materials trilogy ( The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). In The Golden Compass, those 'Dark Materials' presumably refer to Dust, which – as Lord Asriel tells us in Chapter 21 – the Church interprets as evidence of original sin.

For more on the phrase 'His Dark Materials,' zip over to our section on the novel's epigraph, which contains the phrase. The phrase 'His Dark Materials' is a line from Book II of Milton's Paradise Lost, which you can read all about on Shmoop. Which title do you like better? His Dark Materials The original title shifts the focus away from the alethiometer and toward the scene under the northern lights where Lord Asriel creates a bridge to another world. Actually, it's only published as The Golden Compass in North America. The original title for this book is Northern Lights. The titles of the other two books in the trilogy also feature objects : The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Why title the book The Golden Compass? Maybe it's because Lyra's growing skill with this instrument of the divine proves to the reader that there's something very special about her – and it allows her to harness a power of her own. It's a bit ironic that the designated keeper of this particular alethiometer is Lyra, who is known for telling whoppers. As Farder Coram tells us in Chapter 7, 'aletheia' is Greek for 'truth,' so 'alethiometer' means 'truth measure' (7.118). The device is powered by Dust and can be used to gain insight into any number of questions.

The golden compass, also known as an 'alethiometer,' is a gadget given to Lyra by the Master of Jordan College at Oxford. You know that the title of the book is The Golden Compass, but let's not forget that it's also the first book in the series called His Dark Materials.

Northern lights the subtle knife and the amber spyglass