{"id":361,"date":"2011-05-30T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=361"},"modified":"2011-05-27T15:18:13","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T22:18:13","slug":"mark-reads-the-golden-compass-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/05\/mark-reads-the-golden-compass-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;The Golden Compass&#8217;: Chapter 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Georgia} span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px} -->In the sixth chapter of <em>The Golden Compass, <\/em>Lyra and Pantalaimon escape from Mrs. Coulter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s party, finding themselves lost in the confusing streets of London, where ever person seems like a malevolent stranger. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <em>The Golden Compass.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->IS THIS BOOK EVER GOING TO SLOW DOWN. my god <em>utterly unprepared forever<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>CHAPTER SIX: THE THROWING NETS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First of all, I DO NOT LIKE THE NAME OF THIS CHAPTER. god what are throwing nets, are they exactly what i am imagining.<\/p>\n<p>Pullman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice to explore this new avenue so rapidly into the novel is exciting to me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s keeping me on my toes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to novels settling in before this much action, intrigue, and mystery, but Pullman (so far) is much more interested in dropping us into one hell of a mess and forcing us to figure it all out. I imagine that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not at all that far from what Lyra is feeling right now, too. She knows what she is doing is right, and I love that. She knows this is not an entirely <em>practical<\/em> decision, yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what she feels she should do. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean she is also entirely comfortable with it all as well:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If only she knew London as well as she knew Oxford! Then she would have known which streets to avoid; or where she could scrounge some food; or, best of all, which doors to knock on and find shelter. In that cold night, the dark alleys all around were alive with movement and secret life, and she knew none of it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I think Pullman does a fine job of taking this concept and elaborating on it in realistic ways. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed with the way he builds this atmosphere as Lyra uses Pantalaimon as a guide through the dark and confusing streets. Knowing the power that Mrs. Coulter has, the two of them become hypersensitive to every noise or laugh or ruffle that leaps out at them on those streets. At the same time, it <em>is<\/em> kind of an adventure of her own, too, as Lyra had gotten no time at all to simply explore this new city by herself. In this sense, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a moment where she can remember what it was like to spend so much of her time in the streets when she lived at Oxford College.<\/p>\n<p>Her and Pantalaimon make a brief stop at a small coffee stall (which, incidentally, just made me start craving a cup of coffee) to get a coffee and some food, and they have an experience that is somehow <em>even creepier<\/em> than Mrs. Coulter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153kiss\u00e2\u20ac\u009d scene. A man in a top hot offers to pay for Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purchase, and she figures there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no harm in that. As she stares out at the theater crowd that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just gotten out, the man begins to ask her questions about who she is. Then:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let me put a drop of this into your coffee&#8230;warm you up\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>He was unscrewing the top of a silver flask.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lyra. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just like coffee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I bet you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never had brandy like this before.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Not only are you wrong, sir, but <strong>WHAT THE HOLY FUCK ARE YOU DOING OFFERING BRANDY TO AN ELEVEN-YEAR OLD<\/strong>. At first, when he started talking to her, I worried that he was some kind of ~secret agent~ for Mrs. Coulter, but by this point I guessed he was just <em>a gigantic creep.<\/em> Lyra, ever the continual badass, concocts an obviously-absurd-yet-magnificent story about how she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s waiting for her father, who, by the way, is a professional murderer, because, by the way, she has a clean set of clothes because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably currently covered in blood.<\/p>\n<p>Bless her soul forever.<\/p>\n<p>Pullman, as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten, has this amazing gift to fill our heads with miniature stories and images in just a few sentences, utilizing brief descriptions to paint poetic masterpieces:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Endless streets of little identical brick houses, with gardens only big enough for a dustbin; great gaunt factories behind wire fences, with one anbaric light glowing bleakly high up on a wall and a night watchmen snoozing by his brazier; occasionally a dismal oratory, only distinguished from a warehouse by the crucifix outside. Once she tried the door of one of these places, only to hear a groan from the bench a foot away in the darkness. She realized that the porch was full of sleeping figures, and fled.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Gorgeous.<\/p>\n<p>I was worried that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get caught pretty early on, as I expected Mrs. Coulter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s d\u00c3\u00a6mon to have already picked up on the fact that they were gone. But at this point, they must have been far, far away from that flat, miles at least, and the reality of their decision hangs over their heads. They know only Mrs. Coulter way out here in London, so where on earth are they going to sleep? Pantalaimon suggests a nearby canal, and it seems the place is just dark enough to leave them unexposed to anyone who might be trying to find them. They come across a small hut and peer inside, watching a lone man as he puts a kettle on a stove for tea. When Lyra asks Pantalaimon if they should ask the man to let them inside, she notices that he is <em>rapidly<\/em> changing forms, a sign that something is incredibly wrong.<\/p>\n<p>And it is, as she turns to see two men running at her with a throwing net in one of their hands.<\/p>\n<p>WHAT. <em>WHAT<\/em>. How did they find her???<\/p>\n<p>As the two dart away, determined not to get boxed in and trapped, Pantalaimon shouting directions at her, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s futile. Pullman describes these throwing nets as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153loathsome tarred strings\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious. Lyra says they actually <em>sting<\/em> her, so I assume the nets are treated in some way? What a horrifying concept.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also confirmed outright here that whatever happens to a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s d\u00c3\u00a6mon can cause them harm, as one of the men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s d\u00c3\u00a6mon, a fox, harms Pantalaimon in a way that causes pain in Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flesh. I read in horror, realizing just how awful and hopeless this situation was, until I got to the line about the puddle and the arrow and I had to read it again. Just like the characters, this took a second look to understand.<\/p>\n<p>One of the men is bleeding out from an arrow wound in his neck. <em>What???<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Pantalaimon sat up and blinked, and then there was a soft thud, and the net man fell choking and gasping right across Lyra, who cried out in horror: that was <em>blood<\/em> gushing out of him!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>HOW IS THIS ALL HAPPENING AT ONCE. WHAT THE FUCK.<\/p>\n<p><em>More<\/em> men arrive, but these ones cut away at the net strings, and they address Lyra by name. In one fantastic OH SHIT moment, we learn it is Tony Costa, Ma Costa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son. <em>Why<\/em> on earth they are all the way in London is <em>beyond me<\/em>, but that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they point. They invite her to stowaway on their ship. The narrative shifts into an unbearable system of frustration, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that as an insult. The situation is indeed quite confusing to Lyra, since so much has just happened in a short length of time, the least of which was her recent encounter with the men with throwing nets who were just killed in front of her. She has a <em>lot<\/em> of questions (as do I), but the Costa family is unwilling to talk about what the hell is going on just yet. Pullman uses this as a wonderful way to build tension amidst a whole lot of waiting.<\/p>\n<p>On the boat, Ma Costa approaches Lyra, who is quietly worried that Ma Costa will remember that this girl helped capture her boat on the day her son disappeared. Instead:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But the boat mother set her hands on either side of Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, and her d\u00c3\u00a6mon, a hawk, bent gently to lick Pantalaimon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wildcat head. Then Ma Costa folded her great arms around Lyra and pressed her to her breast.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I dunno what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing here, but you look wore out. You can have Billy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crib, soon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a hot drink in you. Set you down there, child.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>OMG MA COSTA. &lt;3 &lt;3 &lt;3 please come hug me forever.<\/p>\n<p>And thus the waiting I spoke about begins. Lyra heads to bed and awakes the next morning to more tender care from Ma Costa, but is met with the same answer to her questions about what is going on: Be quiet. Keep out of sight. Not yet. In this instance the next morning, Ma Costa actually says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trouble.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Trouble in what sense? I wondered. It seems to me that there is a convergence of problems and perhaps Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s troubles are related to them.<\/p>\n<p>We do <em>finally<\/em> get a chance to learn what is going on when the boat leaves the Grand Junction Canal and Tony Costa comes below deck. Unsure of what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re to tell Lyra about the situation, they ask her to tell her side of the story, since everyone assumed she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been taken by the Gobblers.<\/p>\n<p>She relates the full story, aside from the alethiometer, to them, confirming outloud that Mrs. Coulter <em>is <\/em>The Gobblers, or at least she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one leading them.<\/p>\n<p>Tony tells Lyra that they know that kids are being kidnapped to be experimented on, apparently. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still utterly confused about what is going on, though I assume that Pullman intended this all along. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me how the story of the Gobblers has a different meaning for everyone involved, and despite that Lyra was right at the heart of it all, she <em>still<\/em> doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the truth is. The gyptians aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure, but they hear stories of Tartars and political maneuvers and N\u00c3\u00a4lk\u00c3\u00a4inens.<\/p>\n<p>WHICH ARE <em>FUCKING TERRIFYING.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/em>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a kind of ghost they have up there in those forests. Same size as a child, and they got no heads. They feel their way about at night and if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sleeping out in the forest they get ahold of you and won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nothing make \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem let go. N\u00c3\u00a4lk\u00c3\u00a4inens, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a northern word.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then there are Windsuckers, which clump in trees and suck the power out of you.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and there are Breathless Ones, warriors <em>half-killed<\/em> by the Tartars in a process where the North Tartars SNAP OPEN THEIR RIBS AND PULL OUT THEIR LUNGS AND THEIR D\u00c3\u2020MONS KEEP THEM ALIVE BY MANUALLY BREATHING FOR THEM.<\/p>\n<p>could pullman and suzanne collins just hang out and create fucked up creatures to haunt our nightmares forever<\/p>\n<p>The conversation turns to Lord Asriel when Tony mentions the <em>panserbj\u00c3\u00b8rne<\/em>, and he also takes time to elaborate on what they are. Literally, the only thing I can remember from the movie version of <em>The Golden Compass<\/em> was the badass polar bears, so this section was not much of a surprise. But I was more interested in <em>why<\/em> Tony was so obsessed with the North, and Pullman provides that answer immediately (for once!).<\/p>\n<p>Turns out that the gyptians actually <em>caught<\/em> one of the Gobblers and forced them to talk, which is how they found out that these kids are being taken north. They were in London to gather supplies; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at this point that Tony reveals that the gyptians are the hardest hit. I was not surprised that those in power would choose one of the poorest groups to loot children from.<\/p>\n<p>This chapter ends with a new name: John Faa, king of the gyptians. (They have a king??? AWESOME.) The gyptians are determined to head north to rescue those that have been stolen from them. And guess who invites herself along?<\/p>\n<p>Love you, Lyra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the sixth chapter of The Golden Compass, Lyra and Pantalaimon escape from Mrs. Coulter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s party, finding themselves lost in the confusing streets of London, where ever person seems like a malevolent stranger. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/05\/mark-reads-the-golden-compass-chapter-6\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,57],"tags":[23,60,62,61],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-his-dark-materials","category-the-golden-compass","tag-mark-reads","tag-mark-reads-the-golden-compass","tag-philip-pullman","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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