Women in Northern Lights |
 Mar 25 2008, 12:16 PM
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Loyal Lockhart Fan  Posts: 4,285 Joined: 10:42am February 15, 2005 Location: Embracing my Inner Slytherin   |
Disregarding Lyra herself for the moment as we already have a thread about her, I was thinking about the portrayal of the other women in Northern Lights. In particular the passage on the first page of Chapter 5. This section describes Lyra's encounters with Mrs Coulter and her London friends:
Women so unlike female Scholars or gyptian boat mothers or college servants as almost to be a new sex altogether; one with dangerous powers and qualities such as elegance, charm and grace. The idea of charm and grace being 'dangerous' rankles with me a little bit, but I can see why Lyra might think that. She hasn't been around these types of smooth-talking people before and it's all new and strange to her. These 'ladies' also don't seem to do much but gossip about people. I see this part of the book as Lyra discovering a new type of femininity, one that she is attracted to at first, then rejects, and then soon seems to forget. I found it interesting that when Lyra is crying and distraught before the bear combat, it is Ma Costa that she longs for; she seems to be the closest mother figure to her, far more than Mrs Coulter. Anyone else had any thoughts about this? -------------------- |
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Mar 26 2008, 01:08 AM
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#2
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Exclusive distributor of The Dungbomb Protection Kit  Posts: 2,632 Joined: 10:52pm March 5, 2007  |
QUOTE(Perenelle @ Mar 25 2008, 11:16 AM)  Disregarding Lyra herself for the moment as we already have a thread about her, I was thinking about the portrayal of the other women in Northern Lights. In particular the passage on the first page of Chapter 5. This section describes Lyra's encounters with Mrs Coulter and her London friends: Women so unlike female Scholars or gyptian boat mothers or college servants as almost to be a new sex altogether; one with dangerous powers and qualities such as elegance, charm and grace. The idea of charm and grace being 'dangerous' rankles with me a little bit, but I can see why Lyra might think that. She hasn't been around these types of smooth-talking people before and it's all new and strange to her. These 'ladies' also don't seem to do much but gossip about people. I see this part of the book as Lyra discovering a new type of femininity, one that she is attracted to at first, then rejects, and then soon seems to forget. I found it interesting that when Lyra is crying and distraught before the bear combat, it is Ma Costa that she longs for; she seems to be the closest mother figure to her, far more than Mrs Coulter. Anyone else had any thoughts about this? Lyra knows how to carry off a good lie, and I think it makes her very perceptive about how the powers of elegance, charm, and grace can enhance a lie, or twist the truth until it is unrecognizable as such. Isn't that what a good gossip is, anyway? I suppose we will have to wait and see if Lyra ever uses her femininity to get what she wants, it's hard to believe that she would at this point. Ma Costa is everything that M. Coulter should have been. It broke my heart to read her frantic attempts to locate her son in the crowded marketplace. |
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Mar 27 2008, 01:48 AM
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Monster Book Stacker Posts: 395 Joined: 6:34am January 28, 2005 Location: In a corner of Flourish and Blotts, lost in a book. |
Lyra's world at Oxford is very traditional English, with women not being allowed into certain rooms and not being allowed to become scholars. But then a little girl turns out to be the brightest one. That's a funny twist!
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