Who Is Lyra's Struggle In The Golden Compass

In The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, Lyra is an ordinary child from Oxford’s Jordan College living with her uncle at Oxford’s Jordan College in a parallel universe where people’s souls are portrayed by an animal or daemon in physical form. But like every other child, she is very curious, and this leads to her being brought into an amazing journey nobody could have imagined. It all started when she realized what power in society can do. After learning about a project involving Dust, which is later revealed to be the original sin, things start to change in her life. The people she trusts, even her mother, betray her and this completely alters her life. Some adults have the power to control and shape Lyra’s journey. Pullman explores the ideas of power and betrayal in all of the characters. He does this to show the strong effects that power can have on somebody and he uses these concepts to create smaller conflicts throughout the book. Power and betrayal also come into play when …show more content…
In the beginning of the book when Lyra is still at Jordan College, she discovers that the Master of Jordan College has attempted to poison Lord Asriel, her “Uncle”. Lyra’s discovery “changed things completely.”, as she found out the master “poured a thin stream of white powder into the decanter”(5). This realization that the Master is trying to kill Lord Asriel shows that people with a lot of power are just like everyone else in the sense that they cannot always be trusted, powerful does not necessarily equal trustworthy. This shifted her thinking about the master and had an impact on her because of his importance. From very early on in the book powerful figures do things that shape the characters and the plot in order for Lyra to learn through other characters actions and