The children of today are caught in the crossfire of the gender, races, and culture clashes between adults. Children are confronted with multiple competing truths and a lack of absolutes. In the media, community, and at home, there are so many opposing voices straining to sway the opinion of the youth. However, the truth is not far when you have an alethiometer, a truth meter used in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. In a world with so many conflicting opinions, children must search for the information that they find to be true; they cannot idly stand by and be spoon-fed the agenda of the masses, nor can they be sugar-coated and lied to. Learning from Lyra’s examples of following the path of what she believes to be right, and in search of the truth, children can arm themselves against deception and sub-par “truths”. The mature themes of philosophy, morality, and politics in The Golden Compass teach the child reader to think freely, be a skeptic, and know when to disobey authority. Through the plot of the novel, readers can observe the similarities and differences of this world and Lyra’s. At first it may seem similar with the furnishings and the college settings, but as the novel progresses, the presence of daemons clearly differentiates the two worlds. These daemons serve as metaphors throughout the series. For example, daemons do not take their final shape until their owners are no longer children. This concept exposes the malleability of a young person’s character and how easily influenced they can be. The reader is also introduced to the concept of Dust when Lord Asriel shows the slides of the aurora borealis and the special projects of the Dust, which is seemingly more attracted to adults than to children. The reader can assume that it has something to do with the experience and loss of innocence that may come with age, and therefore the process a person’s
I think the main idea the narrators is trying to emphasize is the theme of opposition between the chaotic world and the human need for community with a series of opposing images, especially darkness and light. The narrator repeatedly associates light with the desire to clear or give form to the needs and passions, which arise out of inner darkness. He also opposes light as an idea of order to darkness in the world, the chaos that adults endure, but of which they normally cannot speak to children.
Pullman used the concept dust in Northern Lights. Dust is a convention for human physically inspired by God's judgement. It is not just the ending and the beginning of human physical existence and the origins of universe. Pullman was influenced by John Milton the paradise lost and his concept dust. Pullman used the word to connect everything with everything and the parallel worlds. The church considers dust as the original sin. The oblation board wants to cut and sever the daemons of the children to prevent the dust from setting on the child and to prevent daemons to settle when children become adult. The church thinks that dust may threaten its absolute power. The individuals that go through cutting their daemons operation will be subject
Children are common group of people who are generally mislabeled by society. In the short story “Charles’’ by Shirley Jackson and ‘’The Open Window” by Saki showed examples of the labeling of children. In “Charles” the concept of parents labeling their children as being pure and sincere was shown. As in “The Open Window” by Saki “used the notion that girls were the most truthful sex and gives her a name that suggests truthfulness to make her tale less suspect.”(Wilson 178). According to Welsh “Because the fantasy is so bizarre and inventive and totally unexpected from a fifteen-year-old girl, the reader is momentarily duped.”(03). This showed that even we as the readers were a victim of misleading labels of society.
High school students in many American schools first read this book in an English class, which has been a staple for many schools. A required reading assignment exposes many more people to the book. Even though the book is considered to be a children’s book by many, it is still enjoyed by people of all ages.
Fairy tales are under attack in the United States from both right- and left-oriented pressure groups. (Ravitch, 62-96) From the left, the charges include sexism, stereotyping, distortion, and anti-humanism. (Ravitch, 84) From the right, the charges include immorality and objections to the portrayal of violence, death, and the supernatural. In addition, some critics claim that the tales terrify their children. (Ravitch, 76). In The Language Police, Diane Ravitch claims that both groups understand the importance of putting pressure on state textbook adoption committees, and that, as a result of such pressure, most major publishers are simply dropping the tales from the textbooks they sell to schools. (77-78) Thus parents who assume, or would prefer that, their children are reading traditional fairy tales in school may find themselves mistaken.
Think back to your childhood; a time where everything and anything was possible. Magic and imagination was something that was used everyday in your life. Now think about where you are in your life right now. There is no longer any magic or mystery. Neil Gaiman and Antoine De Saint-Exupry write two different novels that include multitudes of fantasy. But in the midst of all of the fantasy is the fact that children and adults think differently. Both of these novels explore the idea that children think positively while adults grow out of that stage, developing a pessimistic way of thinking from what they experience in life.
First of all, the book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity through the setting. In
...motional self. We as an audience can analyze characters such as Mrs. Coulture and Lyra; and can clearly see how the two may differ in terms of moral values and pureity. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and the actions of both Pan and the daemon of Mrs. Colture , the Golden Monkey, speak at great volumes, which also in turn reveals more about their character then they do themselves. The importance of daemons to their human counterparts’ is blanetly evident, without daemons, the humans can’t exist without a daemon and neither can the novel. They lead the novel in a more spontaneous direction as Pan feeds Lyra with ideas, Stelmaria and Lord Asriel attempting to use their cunning wits to help them prevail on their queset to the city in the sky, and even Mrs. Coulture and her golden monkey with they’re mission to obtain Lyra and the Alethoimeter.
The censoring of books and other literatures in schools by parents is a common thing, even in the United States, where the freedom within the law protects the educator’s judgment of their professional standards, meaning schools should be trusted to practice their rights to choose which materials may or may not be used in children’s learning environment. Schools already censor materials that are deemed not suitable for young students; school books should not be used to push ideological positions, they should be used to teach children the truth and expose them to ideas that will expand their knowledge, not by influencing them, but by making them understand.
Wilbur shows a good effort made to protect a child from fears because the fears are irrational. On the contrary, Collins juxtaposes a history teacher’s efforts to protect his students from historical truths and their ensuing behavior to show that the time he spends misguiding his students could be better spent teaching children to mature. Wilbur and Collins both demonstrate approaches to calming children; however the approaches differ in terms of protecting the children verses outright lying to them. Theses passages attempt to answer the controversial question of whether it is better to shelter children or expose them to the harsh realities of the world.
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
Many people can name a specific experience that changed their world view, whether it be a significant event, a piece of art, an influential coach, or a religious experience. My view of the world changed significantly when I began to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. This wonderful work of literature opened my eyes to the power of imagination and allowed me to develop my passion for reading. However, it also brought me to a realization, one that every young child must face: that every word an adult says is not necessarily true. After becoming aware of the ability for adults to be mistaken—or even to lie—I began to understand and realize that to be trusted by others, one must have respected reputation, and that trust in adults begins with a knowledge of their integrity.
You are eleven years old, and to your knowledge, your parents died in a Zeppelin crash when you were very young, so you can't remember. You attend Jordan College, where you hear about something called "Dust". In your world, people have a pet that is the external expression of their soul. You're flabbergasted by Northern Lights, so you want to go up North to learn more about them. You receive a golden compass from the master of your school, and are told firmly to show it to no one. You find out that you can read the future of specific things/events using this tool, and you are the only one that can read it. Later in the day you meet a kind looking woman who tells you that she can help you travel to the north, and of course you joyfully say yes. During your journey, you realize that you have made a mistake going with this lady, wasn't intending to take you to the North anyway. This is what happened to Lyra Belacqua, in The Golden Compass written by Phillip Pullman. Lyra's pet/daemon is named Pantalaimon. He is very similar to her, except he is a lot more cautious. Daemons are normally the opposite gender of the person. The golden compass/aleithiometer that Lyra received can read the future of specific things. Lyra's best friend is Roger, who gets kidnapped by Gobblers. Gobblers steal kids to experiment on their daemons. Lyra joyfully joins Mrs. Coulter on her journey to the North, but they first stop at Mrs. Coulter's home. The next day Mrs. Coulter has a large cocktail party in which Lyra overhears Mrs. Coulter talking about Lord Asriel, her uncle, being captured in Svalbard. She is disturbed by this so she and Pantalaimon courageously run away. During her escape, she is caught by Gobblers, but they don't take her far since the Gy...
Peter hunt’s ‘Instruction and Delight’ provides a starting point for the study of children’s literature, challenging assumptions made about writing for children and they are trivial, fast and easy. Children’s literature is a conservative and reading it just to escape from the harsh realities of adulthood. It’s probably the most exciting for all literary studies, and a wide range of texts, from novels and stories to picture books , and from oral forms to multimedia and the internet , so it presents a major challenge and can be considered for many reasons. It is important because it is integrated into the cultural, educational and social thinking for the success of the publishing and media, and it is important to our personal development. Things that may seem simple at fist, how children understand the texts, how these differ from the
Thomas Gradgrind Sr., a father of five children, has lived his life by the book and never strayed from his philosophy that life is nothing more than facts and statistics. He has successfully incorporated this belief into the school system of Coketown, and has tried his best to do so with his own children. The educators see children as easy targets just waiting to be filled with information. They did not consider, however, the children’s need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts that are used to expand children’s minds, all of which are essential today in order to produce well-...