{"id":363,"date":"2011-05-31T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=363"},"modified":"2011-05-27T17:15:03","modified_gmt":"2011-05-28T00:15:03","slug":"mark-reads-the-golden-compass-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/05\/mark-reads-the-golden-compass-chapter-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Golden Compass’: Chapter 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh chapter of The Golden Compass, <\/em>BRAIN EXPLOSION<\/em><\/strong>. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Golden Compass. <\/em><\/p>\n

what is even happening<\/p>\n

CHAPTER SEVEN: JOHN FAA<\/strong><\/p>\n

I promise I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t skip to the end I promise I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t skip to the end I promise I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t skip to the end I promise I–<\/p>\n

Pullman is perhaps the best world-builder I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come across out of anyone I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reviewed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for Mark Reads, and before we get to all the unbearable mind-melting, I want to spend some time appreciating just how richly detailed this<\/em> world is.<\/p>\n

Lyra sets off on a new<\/em> adventure with the Costas, doing what she can to show her appreciation for taking her in by helping out as much as possible around the boat. Lyra may be rude and a brat at time, but I think that in her heart, she knows what to do to make things right, and I found this routine she sets herself into to be immensely respectable. I mean, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eleven and she already understands this sort of thing? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s honestly really rad, and I like that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so natural to her.<\/p>\n

But Pullman injects an odd sense of impending doom to all of this. I absolutely trust the gyptians taking care of Lyra, especially the Costas, but as I read through chapter seven, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand why they were so interested in her, and why they were so worried about her being spotted. Pullman does provide a bit of context:<\/p>\n

…there was a rumor that they were searching for a missing girl. And that in itself was odd, considering all the kids that had gone missing without being looked for. Gyptians and land folk alike were getting jumpy and nervous.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And that is <\/em>rather weird. Had Mrs. Coulter already sent out the news that Lyra had gone missing to all the proper channels? I know she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the Church, so I imagine she has a lot at her disposal.<\/p>\n
And there was another reason for the Costas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 interest in Lyra; but she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to learn that for a few days yet.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH GOD NOW I KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS <\/em><\/strong> someone hold me<\/p>\n
The routine continues for days as they push north towards their meeting point with John Faa, and Lyra continues to hide whenever there is the possibility of her being discovered. (Neat fact: cedarwood is soporific! omg sleeping pantalaimon WANT FOREVER) The boat slowly makes its way around up to the marshland in Eastern Anglia (I GOOGLED THAT AND I NOW KNOW WHERE THAT IS), called the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fens,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is where they gyptains are located. I think I understand now how the gyptains are meant to represent a marginalized culture more than ever before, and Pullman is great at not only explaining how people look down on them for their culture, but how that relates to their lack of power in society. Perhaps the best way that Pullman elaborates on this is describing how Lyra begins to assimilate gyptian culture into herself AND how that can be problematic.<\/p>\n
At first, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in terms of the way she speaks (and we get better examples of how her manner of speaking and her syntax change dramatically when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talking to John Faa), and then by adopting Fen-Dutch words into her vocabulary. Ma Costa is keen to notice this and I was absolutely shocked (in a good way!) that she literally explains what cultural appropriation is to Lyra:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You en\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gyptian, Lyra. You might pass for a gyptian with practice, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more to us than gyptian language. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deeps in us and strong currents. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re water people all through, and you en\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a fire person. What you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re most like is marsh fire, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the place you have in the gyptian scheme; you got witch oil in your soul. Deceptive, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you are, child.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Lyra was hurt.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I en\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t never deceived anyone! You ask\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
There was no one to ask, of course, and Ma Costa laughed, but kindly.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you see I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a paying you a compliment, you gosling?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, and Lyra was pacified, though she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I MEAN SERIOUSLY, COULD THERE BE ANY MORE OF A PERFECT EXAMPLE. <\/em>A culture is not made up of singular things that are for the taking, and the gyptian culture is not simply something you \u00e2\u20ac\u0153learn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then MAGIC, you are one of them! IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S LIKE A GAME, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Oh gosh, young people read this, that is so amazing<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The Costas arrive at the Zaal (a mooring in the Fens), \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the sun…about to set in a splash of bloody sky,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and everything gets incredibly weird incredibly fast. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be honest: I could not figure this out. Tony and Kerim Costa are excited about an event called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Roping\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and they tell everyone the strangest thing:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a saying in the town–what d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122you think of this?–they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying that the missing child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on a gyptian boat, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a going to appear tonight at the Roping!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Is this a good<\/em> thing??? Why so much excitement and, more importantly, how does the rest of the town know?<\/em> My anxiety crept up just a bit because I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure of the intent of the gyptians at this point. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve certainly demonstrated to Lyra that they genuinely care for her and are trying to protect her, but why is everyone so weird<\/em> around her? Why is she so important? (This does feel a tad like Harry Potter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fame, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Only Lyra knows nothing <\/em>about it, which is a fascinating dynamic.)<\/p>\n
The thing is, Tony Costa wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exaggerating, as Lyra experiences first-hand just how much anticipation the gyptians have for her visit. At first, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just stares and pointing, but Pullman describes the group as literally parting the way for her as she moves with Ma Costa to the front of the group. The spacious hall is light by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153naphtha,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which I assume is a reference to coal tar, and creates this neat effect where only those on the ground are lit and the roof of the place is dark enough to seem as if it stretches forever. At the end of the hall, a platform with eight chairs is then filled with the leaders of the gyptians, with John Faa arriving last, a crow d\u00c3\u00a6mon adorning his shoulder. (I still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figured out why certain men have crows as d\u00c3\u00a6mons and what that represents. Oh gosh, d\u00c3\u00a6mons are so intriguing to me.)<\/p>\n
As far as I understand it, The Roping is just some sort of meeting between all of the gyptians, as I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explained otherwise. But John Faa begins this all with a very intentional, direct message, knowing why they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all gathered: someone has been stealing children from them and the landlopers. But he makes it clear that those on land have put out a steep reward for the return of Lyra, and that any gyptian who thinks of even entertaining that notion does not belong among them. And then my heart swelled because I no longer had any reason to worry about the intentions of these people, because that is one amazing <\/em>thing to say about Lyra.<\/p>\n
He continues to explain why they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all met up, that the Gobblers are a destructive force on their society, and that both the police and the clergy seem bent on helping abduct children. Now that<\/em> is probably the most fascinating thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read yet, even more so than anything later in this chapter. Why on earth would the clergy be intrinsically interested in kidnapping children and sending them to the north? What is it about the Dust that threatens either them or the world?<\/p>\n
John Faa insists that the gyptians must send a group of fighters to the north in order to rescue the children who are captured there. One of the gyptian men asks Faa if he means to rescue all the non-gyptian children as well, and Faa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response is pretty spectacular:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Raymond, are you saying we should fight our way through every kind of danger to a little group of frightened children, and then say to some of them that they can come home, and to the rest that they have to stay? No, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a better man than that. Well, do I have your approval, my friends?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
SIMPLY AMAZING. Holy shit, that is so awesome!<\/p>\n
The gyptians overwhelmingly approve this idea and Faa outlines plans for taxes and levies to raise funds for the expedition (SEE TAXES ARE GOOD), giving the gyptians three days\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time before he meets with them all again to outline what their plan is. After this, Tony Costa takes Lyra to meet with John Faa privately to discuss…well, I was still unsure why<\/em> he needed a private meeting with her. Why was she so important to the plan?<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a ridiculous air of tension, mostly on Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part, as she meets privately with John Faa and Farder Coram, an older man who sat on that same platform with the other leaders of the gyptians. I know that Lyra is nervous about what this whole spectacle is about, and I was too. I knew at this point that it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something bad, but it was just the uncertainty that pinged at my stomach.<\/p>\n
John Faa starts off by asking the obvious: Did Lyra run away from someone in London\u00c2\u00a0 and who was that person? Lyra begins to grow much more trustworthy of the man before her and begins to tell him what she knows of Mrs. Coulter, the Oblation Board, and how that relates to the Gobblers. As I said in the last review, the very nature of the Gobblers has created a sense of confusion, spawning this disparate stories of who the Gobblers are and what they do. I imagine that the Oblation Board intended for this to happen and probably spread some rumors of their own to keep people misinformed and confused. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this meeting of the minds is so intriguing, because it allows Lyra and John Faa to combine their stories to make more sense of the disappearing children.<\/p>\n
First, though, John Faa outright confirms that the gyptians, and especially him and Farder Coram, know quite a bit about Lyra herself. He states that he knows \u00e2\u20ac\u0153news\u00e2\u20ac\u009d about her on top of news about the disappearances. Lyra is quick to assume that her own personal judgment day has arrived, that John Faa is talking about her siege on Ma Costa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boat the day her son disappeared, and Faa and Coram have a hearty laugh at how clueless and naive Lyra is. Not only do they know about that, but this has nothing<\/em> to do with it.<\/p>\n
That is when John Faa says a sentence that perplexes me:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I were saying, Lyra, as we knew about you from a child.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry. What?<\/em> How? Why????<\/em><\/p>\n
If you will allow me the indulgence, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from this point on that I literally had to keep stopping because I thought my brain was going to explode from the sheer info dump that Pullman provides us. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a big fan of recapping exposition-heavy dialogue like this because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boring to write, but I am a big fan of lists. And I need to talk about at least forty things at the same time, so, again, indulge me, please.<\/p>\n
THINGS THAT BROKE MARK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BRAIN
\n<\/strong>Solely From Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Conversation With John Faa<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
<\/strong> Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father did not die in an airship accident, and he knows this because she has met her father more times than she can count. HER FATHER IS LORD ASRIEL<\/strong>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry WAS THIS IN THE MOVIE VERSION BECAUSE I DO NOT FUCKING REMEMBER THIS AT ALL. I honestly had to get up and walk away for a second because I was so flabbergasted by this reveal. HOW IS THIS FUCKING POSSIBLE.<\/em><\/li>\n
<\/strong> Oh, Lord Asriel totally had an affair with a married woman<\/em> who gave birth to Lyra and it was so obvious that Lyra was not her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s husband\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s child that Lord Asriel took Lyra to be put in the care of a gyptian nurse in Oxfordshire.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> Oh, but wait, then the husband found out and went to the cottage where she was being hid so he could…be in a murderous rage? IDK HE WAS REALLY, REALLY MAD.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> LORD ASRIEL FINDS OUT, RUSHES HOME JUST IN TIME TO PREVENT THIS MAN FROM FINDING LYRA AND THE GYPTIAN NURSE IN A CLOSET, CHALLENGES HIM TO A DUEL, AND THEN FUCKING KILLS HIM<\/strong>. Lord Asriel my body is ready.<\/em><\/li>\n
<\/strong> Lord Asriel is sued? Perhaps the British use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lawsuit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is different than ours, but the court is completely perplexed as to how to punish him because the law is complicated, but they eventually decide to punish Asriel by TAKING ALL OF HIS PROPERTY AND LAND AND LEAVING HIM COMPLETELY POOR<\/strong>. oh god why \ud83d\ude41 \ud83d\ude41 \ud83d\ude41<\/li>\n
<\/strong> Lyra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother? WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH HER. So the gyptian nurse petitioned to take care of Lyra, but the courts were BIG BLOODY RACIST ASSHOLES and instead she gets placed in a priory.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> BUT LORD ASRIEL TOTALLY HATES RELIGION OR SOMETHING AND GOES AND JUST TAKES HER OUT OF THAT PLACE AND STICKS HER IN JORDAN COLLEGE AND ASKS THE MASTER TO TAKE CARE OF HER AND PROTECT HER. my god lord asriel simply has no fucks to give oh my god character development.<\/em><\/li>\n
<\/strong> <\/em>Oh, and the gyptians never stopped looking out for Lyra, as they had a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of sorts at Jordan College, and it was totally Bernie Johansen, the kitchen servant who Lyra freaked out to in chapter three when Roger disappeared. what even is this book. I mean, seriously, Pullman is already<\/em> tying up loose ends in CHAPTER SEVEN. how am i ever going to be prepared for the future.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> The gyptians learned that Lord Asriel was imprisoned and knew this was awful because now he was no longer around to protect Lyra from bad things, and oh, that bad thing is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only then<\/em> that the gyptians remembered the name of the man that Lord Asriel killed: Edward Coulter.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> MRS. COULTER IS LYRA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S MOTHER<\/strong>. Which now makes me want to die forever and ever (in a good way) (how is that good) (stop describing things) because every appearance of her in the past has now been re-contextualized and that kissing scene is possibly the creepiest thing in all of existence.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> The alethiometer. I am combining all revelations about that wonderful instrument into one section because I am utterly shocked that Pullman outright describes exactly<\/em> how it works so early into the book. Farder Coram is well aware of how rare it is and <\/em>how powerful it is. He explains that each of the thirty-six images represents at least<\/em> three levels of meanings, and can go as deep as NEVER ENDING<\/em>. So you ask the alethiometer a question by turning three of the dials to symbols that best represent whatever it is you need to know, and the fourth hand will point to symbols that give you the answer. Oh, and it works only if the user does some weird concentration shit in their brain? I mean…I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to need to see this in action to fully understand this, but HOLY SHIT<\/em>.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> This fucking fantastic quote from John Faa broke my brain because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the coolest things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see the Master as a man having terrible choices to make; whatever he chooses will do harm, but maybe if he does the right thing, a little less harm will come about than if he chooses wrong. God preserve me from having to make that sort of choice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d GOOD GOD.<\/li>\n
<\/strong> As if all of that was not enough to thoroughly put me completely into Philip Pullman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands, it is revealed that the woman who cared for Lyra after she was born and protected her from certain death was Ma Costa.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I cannot even. This is just simply incredible<\/em>. AND I AM BARELY A THIRD THROUGH THIS BOOK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the seventh chapter of The Golden Compass, BRAIN EXPLOSION. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Golden Compass.<\/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-363","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\/363","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=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}