The Northern Lights Research Paper

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Fantasy and Dystopian Genres Essay
The Northern Lights, written by Philip Pullman, clearly follows the conventions of the fantasy and dystopian genre as it contains many aspects of a typical fantasy and dystopian novel. The Northern Lights follows a young girl named Lyra as she travels to the North with her daemon Pantilimon in search of her kidnapped friend Roger. The author has incorporated many literary devices to ensure that the text meets the fantasy and dystopian criteria by incorporating elements such as Mythical Creatures, Magic, and betrayal.

Mythical creatures feature extensively throughout the novel and are a main feature of the fantasy genre. Philip Pullman has used a wide range of mythical creatures such as Talking animals, daemons …show more content…

Betrayal is a common dystopian device that Phillip Pullman has used in the novel. The definition of betrayal is: "to hurt someone who trusts you, such as a friend or relative by not giving help or by doing something morally wrong." The first case of betrayal in the novel appears in chapter 4 when Lyra leaves Jordan Collage with Ms. Coulter. ( pg.75) The Master of the college knows Ms. Coulter and what she is capable of but despite that, he sends Lyra off to live with her. "You need female guidance...suppose it was Ms.Coulter (pg. 71) " Master said to Lyra. In chapter 15, we find out that Ms. Coulter is performing horrible intercession operations on children and this shows her unsavoury character. Lyra feels The Master and scholars at Jordan were her family and they were simply willing to give her to a dangerous woman capable of many horrible things. Lord Asriel ordered the Master of Jordan to never allow Lyra to see or speak to Ms. Coulter and even so, Lyra is sent to live with her(pg. 75). Another example of betrayal in the Northern Lights is when Lyra brings Roger to Lord Asriel in chapter 22. To complete his big experiment Lord Ariel requires a child and when Roger comes with Lyra, Lord Ariel sever him from his daemon , causing Rogers death. Lord Asriel does not choose Lyra as she is his daughter as we find out in chapter 7 (pg.123) Lyra accidentally brings Roger to his death which makes her a betrayer. Accidentally Lyra becomes responsible of her best friends death. Betrayal is a main feature in the dystopian genre and the author has used it to create suspense in the novel. The mix of fantasy and dystopian in a book crates the perfect

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