Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass is about a young girl’s journey to find truth. Lyra, guided by her daemon, Pataliamon, is on a mission to find her father, Lord Asriel. Her goal is to return to him an all-knowing dial called an alethiometer. Driven by her curiosity about Dust, a sparkling particle found only in adults, Lyra and her daemon move into the home of a family acquaintance named Mrs. Coulter. While living with her, Lyra and her daemon learn that Mrs. Coulter runs a powerful Board that performs experiments on children and their daemons. Alarmed by this discovery, Lyra questions Mrs. Coulter’s intentions with her and decides to flee. Heading North, Lyra learns some troubling information about the parents she never knew. Thus begins her quest to uncover the mystery of their identities. By masking the truth about Dust’s purpose, the adults in Lyra’s life thwart her efforts to learn to more. Due to her suspicion about her Mrs. Coulter’s knowledge of …show more content…
From the day she was born, Lyra’s parents have been trying to protect her from Dust and its influence in the society they live in. Both of the scholars believe that Dust causes lasting detrimental effects on children which account for the settling of a Daemon. Mrs. Coulter thinks that by removing daemon completely, the effects of maturing will prevent children from collecting Dust which symbolizes sin. After completing her journey and learning about Dust on her own terms, Lyra disagrees with her parent’s ideas and thinks that by taking away a natural cause, the effects will reverse, leaving children in danger of never becoming their own person. After completing their true journey about discovering the truth, Lyra is forming her own beliefs that counter her parents. Lyra has overcome her parent’s attempt to thwart her learning, showing that she has successfully completed her
absence of parental guidance in the novel and in which she explores the individual’s search for
Becca then sets off on a journey to Europe to discover her grandmother's true identity. I felt this book was more for adults than for young adults. It was complicated and probably difficult for a young teen to follow. It had language that may not suitable for a young adult. Such as a line like, "Stan expertly braked and simultaneously turned the wheel slightly to the right.
In Lois Lowry’s, The Giver, Jonas comes to find who he is through struggles he faces with his family, friends, and the Giver. This novel is complex and surprising (Lord). Zaidman states,” In The Giver, Lowry explores new territory. This fantasy's seemingly perfect society (without pain, disorder, or overpopulation) is actually a frightening dystopia (without love, colors, or sense of the past). (Zaidman)” This novel is fighting a struggle of being on a school reading ban list. The Giver is often challenged because of the adult subject matter (Lord).
The book intrigued me from beginning to end. Allowing me to go through the adventure of two heralds’ lives. This included a mine orphan Mags, who trained under the previous king’s own to become a spy and his fiance, Amily, who is king’s own or advisor.
As the main character, Rose is magnetic. Sweet and real, naive to the ways of the world that does not touch the remote Canadian wilderness she spends her early life in. Brought up as a dividend of the investment of missionaries to far, wild country, the modern world is not accustomed to the way Rose touches the lives of the people she meets as she follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
The Goose and the Golden Egg in the style of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake
Whether the intentions were good or not, the thought of erasing a living creature from this earth is not easy. The question arises: How do you live each day and move forward? The Ghost Child is harder to put out of the mother’s mind because she’s filled with visions of what will never be! “The singers and workers that never handled the air” (4), because the child was not born, the mother doesn’t know if the ghost child would’ve been a singer, movie star or a CEO of a corporation! What kind of mother would she have been? All because she snatched away their breath before the child could experience being! While she physically erased the child, the consequence was a spiritual birth of a ghost child that torments and haunts her memory, leaving her remorseful and full of grief. Who would Ghost Child look like? Every child that crosses her path is a constant reminder of what could have
Norton, D. E., & Norton. S. (2011). Through The Eyes Of a Child. An Introduction To Children’s Literature. Boston, MA, 02116: Eight-Edition Pearson Education
The epic tale of Gulliver’s travels written by Jonathan swift is one of most intriguing and entertaining novel ever written. It is indeed a fact that this beautiful piece of literature is still enjoyed all around the world by all ages. As the rise of ideas and technology, this story has been portrayed through many different mediums such as musicals, movies etc. although never portrayed as an exact copy of the original text, this story has been altered in many ways to grab the attention of the targeted audience. Despite the amends done to this great satire, it still remains one of the most memorable story’s ever in English literature.
There are several themes to this story, some of which I did not contemplate or realize for years. This book can be seen as unselfish and selfish love between a child and his parent. It is a book about self sacrifice that is taken for granted by a child to his parent. The book is happy, sad, and ultimately about love. The most important lesson of the book I feel is that always taking and not giving is not the best route in life. Those who take always are not as happy as those that give to others. The old adage
Along with Pearl, Dimmesdale is another representation of truthfulness due to the transformation in his cowardly behaviors to someone who takes responsibility for his actions. This idea is strongly proven when Dimmesdale confesses his sin to the town. He says, “Ye, that have loved me! -ye, that have deemed me holy!...I stand up the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood, here, with this woman...” (Hawthorne 172). Dimmesdale’s confession demonstrates that he is true to himself, and his character is truly holy because of his choice to confess after hiding his secret for years. This happens as a result of his realization that one cannot hide from the truth. This point supports the fact that truthfulness is an impactful theme in The
They gossip about her return bring darkness to the town. The townspeople began interpreting her birthmark as “not a stemmed rose, or a snake, it was Hannah's ashes marking her from the very beginning” (114). Sula’s mother, Hannah, ashes represent her violent death of being burned alive. The representation of Hannah’s ashes highlights the legacy of sleeping around with men she supposedly left for Sula to fulfill. Therefore, in the community’s eyes, Sula is like her mother. Also, the townspeople believe the random accidents that occur in the presence of Sula are her fault. Sula disregards their bitterness and continues to live by her own rules. Not letting their hatred impose her independence, she continues living by her terms; so ironically labeling Sula as evil changed their behaviors. They united “once their personal misfortune was identified, they had leave to protect and love one another” (117). The townspeople commences a world of upright, moral, and sober lives once they saw Sula as malicious. In fact, they were the ones' neglecting and being reckless with their lives before demeaning Sula's birthmark. The townspeople unity in their personal beliefs leads them to demean
Recommended for particularly teenagers, but adults as well, this book introduces a new world of magic where everything is unsuspected and will leave the reader guessing at all times. This book mainly focuses on the issue between the good and the evil (known as the dark elders). Firstly, we are introduced to Sophie and Josh Newman, who both have part-time jobs and are ordinary teenagers. Sophie works at a coffee shop and Josh works at a bookstore. Little do they know, Josh’s boss, Nicholas Flamel, was originally supposed to die in 1418 according to the records. Although, he’s still alive because he holds the most powerful book (known as the codex) of all time, which holds the secret of eternal life. In fact, it has enough power to even destroy the world if in the wrong hands. Once the twins discover the secret about Nicholas and how part of the book has been stolen by an evil magician named Dr. John Dee, they also discover their goal is to retrieve the codex as they are part of a prophecy which states that they can be the most powerful human beings if their powers are awakened by a
...a was raised, she was learning life lessons. She learned of violence from inside The Little Store. She never considered Mr. Sessions and the woman in the store to have any kind of relationship because Eudora never saw them sit down together at the table. Then tragedy struck, and this was how she learned of violence. She never knew exactly what had happened, but knew it was not good. The family just disappeared. Every time she came home from the store, she was carrying with her a little of what she had learned along the way. She learned a lot about, ?pride and disgrace, and rumors and early news of people coming to hurt one another, while others practiced for joy?storing up a portion for [her]self of the human mystery? (82).