The Hunger Games Analysis: Bread and Circuses

 Bread and Circuses

The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins are dystopian YA novels set in a post-nuclear North America. Part of the land has been submerged by rising sea levels and what is left is called Panem. There is a large metropolis, the Capitol, and thirteen districts. Each district has a specific industry to supply the Capitol with resources.

The society is very much modelled on Ancient Rome and was a totalitarian dictatorship. This means that the citizens are expected to be completely subservient to the state and the government has complete control over their lives. I thought this topic would be especially relevant now, because the new book Sunrise on the Reaping came out recently, and for no other reason. Of course. Ahem.

There is massive inequality within Panem, where people in the poorest districts are left to starve to death and struggle to survive while the Capitol indulge in gourmet foods and ostentatious fashions. Eventually civil war broke out, spearheaded by District 13, who were the main military industrial complex at the time.

The conflict lasted three years before it was ended when the Capitol bombed 13. A secret peace agreement with 13 was made, due to the district acquiring some of the Capitol’s nuclear arsenal, and they disappeared, pretending they didn’t exist and were allowed to remain independent.

The remaining 12 districts were subdued by the Treaty of Treason. The names of these things are very deliberate. This treaty established the Hunger Games, an annual event to remind the citizens of their failed rebellion and continually punish the Districts for their insurrection.

“Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen.” – Chapter 1 of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The above quote is Katniss’ interpretation of the history explained at every Reaping, when the children are chosen for the Hunger Games. Aggressive law enforcement with executions and public floggings were common place. Civil rights were restricted and travel or communication between the districts was banned.

Panem et Circenses

This literally means ‘bread and circuses’ in Latin and is where the name came from. The phrase means using entertainment and food to distract people from other, more important matters or to cover up what the government is really doing.

Each of the twelve districts had to send one boy and one girl aged 12-18 to go into an arena and fight to the death. The Games only end when there is a single survivor, the Victor. The Victor would be showered with money, food, a luxury house and gifts, and their district would get extra food for a year.

The Bread

This does literally mean food in this case. The Reaping was a lottery where each eligible child’s name would be placed on a slip of paper and one chosen at random by hand. Each child’s name went in once for every year they are eligible – so at 12 it would be once, 13 it would be twice, 14 it would be three times and so on. So they’re more likely to be picked as they get older.

Given the poverty that is so prevalent in the districts, especially the ones further away from the Capitol like 11 and 12, it was possible to claim extra food. Children could claim ‘tesserae’ for each member of their family: a years supply of grain and oil. Each tesserae claimed would add their name into the Reaping pool again.

These extra entries are cumulative over the years until the child is reaped and either dies or becomes a victor, or until they reach 18 and are no longer eligible for the games. So by the 74^th Games, Katniss has her name in there 20 times, while Gale, who has more siblings, has his name in there 42 times!

So it means that kids are putting themselves at greater risk just for the sake of keeping their families safe and fed for the year. So the poorest families have the higher chances of losing a child to the games since the odds are not in their favour. It is preying on their desperation because the slim hope that their child might win, thus netting them the benefits of being a Victor, is enough to be worth the risk.

I hope we all understand how horrific this is. For people who’ve seen the movies but not read the books, this isn’t well explained. Eligible children can volunteer in someone else's place but this is rare outside the ‘career districts.’ Districts 1, 2 and 4 are more affluent and shown preferential treatment by the Capitol and see participation in the games as an honour. While training for the Games isn’t technically allowed, these districts do it and are allowed to do it, so they do tend to produce more Victors than the poorer districts like 11 and 12. Of course being better fed and generally healthier would also aid their survivability.

The Circus

The Hunger Games is a huge national event with a lot of pomp and circumstance. The Tributes are fed well on the train, with rich and fancy foods they aren’t used to. Katniss finds her stomach unsettled because of the rich food.

They go through intense cosmetic preparation and are dressed up in extravagant costumes and outfits for the Tribute parade. They even use horse-drawn chariots to show them off and help attract sponsors. Highlighting the connection with Ancient Rome.

The tributes get three days of training before an individual assessment by the game makers to be rated for their skills. This impacts sponsorship too, as well as the odds offered on each tribute’s chances of winning. Because of course the Capitol residents can bet on the outcome of the games. It’s only money, right?

So the tributes get a taste of the luxurious and extravagant lifestyle enjoyed by the Capitol’s citizens. Their bizarre fashions set them so far apart from the districts, to the point where from Katniss’ point of view, they’re like aliens. A different species entirely.

The tributes are interviewed on TV and again there’s a lot of ceremony around it all. They want to appeal to sponsors, because a rich sponsor can send gifts to their chosen tribute in the arena. They could send food, water, medicine or even a weapon, such as the burn ointment sent to Katniss after the fireballs.

The game makers control the arena and can manipulate it in basically any way they like. Such as the fireballs, adding creatures or setting up a feast at the Cornucopia to force the tributes together to instigate a fight. It’s all recorded and broadcast like reality TV and everyone is expected to watch it. Every evening the death toll is broadcast, both on TV to the citizens and within the arena for the Tributes.

It’s very much like the gladiatorial combat of Ancient Rome, which was entertainment for people. Glorifying the violence and making it a big deal so nobody stops to consider the ethics of forcing children to fight to the death in punishment for what their ancestors did.

Every 25 years they have a Quarter Quell, which is a special edition (like having celebrities on a reality show like Big Brother) and has new, unique rules to set it apart. ‘Quell’ is a deliberate and specific word as it means ending a rebellion by force.

What is this story warning us about?

This dystopia is highlighting the issues with such extreme wealth disparity and keeping the poor under control by ensuring they can never elevate their socioeconomic status. Unless they are prepared to risk their life for it and kill for it. The Victor is showered in riches to remind the people of the Capitol’s ‘generosity and forgiveness’ which is a bold lie.

Even then, Victors are set apart from their communities with the Victor’s Village, much larger and nicer houses, extra money and food. So they’re no longer struggling like the rest of their neighbours and friends. There’s little care for any mental health issues suffered by the Victors. Most of them show signs of PTSD, unsurprisingly. Katniss has nightmares and flashbacks, Haymitch is an alcoholic (self medication) and there are other addicts among the tributes from Catching Fire.

The Capitol citizens are living a luxury lifestyle where they want for nothing. Peeta and Katniss see how far this goes at the feast at Snow’s Mansion during their Victory Tour. They are offered a drink that induces vomiting so that they can eat more and taste everything. While people in District 12 are literally starving to death.

The people in the districts are supposed to accept what the Capitol gives them and be thankful. They are supposed to be grateful for the pittance they are afforded, and told it’s their own fault and it’s for their own good. No complaints, no questions. Anything that seems rebellious is squashed harshly by the Capitol.

The word choices are very deliberate and imply this too. 'Tribute’ means a gift to show gratitude, respect or admiration. Historically it was also used to describe a levy, tax or tariff for protection. Two children are sacrificed as gratitude for the Capitol allowing them to exist. That they should be thankful for being allowed to live, continually punished for a rebellion that most people alive did not have any part in. You’ll take what you get and be happy about it.

This story, like many dystopian stories, is warning us of what happens when people are pushed to their limits and become desperate. Katniss wanted to save her sister, at the start. But she eventually realised that she had to save more than just one person from this corrupt, unfair system. That people who are desperate enough for survival will eventually be pushed to revolt and change things. That they’ll be willing to risk their lives and sacrifice everything to stop the abuse of power. Dictators and tyrants will always end up falling to revolution, just like we’ve seen throughout history. Some food for thought, no?

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

His Dark Materials: Dust, Sentience and Sapience

 Dust: Sentience and Sapience

Dust is central to the His Dark Materials story as it is ultimately what the protagonists have to protect and save. To fully understand it, we need to discuss two concepts that set people apart from other animals. I meant to say people, because in the context of the books, it's not just humans. 

Sentience

Sentience is defined as the ability to experience feelings and sensations, i.e. possessing a nervous system. This does not always imply higher cognitive functions like awareness, reason or complex thoughts. It is sometimes used interchangeably with 'sapience' but there is a difference in definition. 

There is ongoing  debate about animal sentience but we know they can suffer pain and distress, they can learn and solve problems and even pass on their knowledge to offspring and peers. It is generally accepted that all vertebrates are recognised as sentient beings, as well as fish, lobsters and octopus. The sentience of AI is beyond the scope of this analysis. 

Sapience

Also defined as wisdom, this means the ability to apply one's knowledge, experiences and judgement to decision making and encounters in our life. It means we use insight, ethics and discernment when we make decisions and take actions. 

Wisdom requires more than just intelligence, we need to have an understanding of human nature, morality and the long term impact of words and actions in order to apply wisdom to a situation. Wisdom is also connected to traits like humility, patience, compassion, empathy and morality. 

Being wise, or sapient, means reflecting, thinking and being willing to learn and continue to develop yourself. It also means recognising the limitations of your own knowledge and perspective. 

Both of these concepts are as much about philosophy as science, but the bottom line is that we base our actions and decisions on our experiences and knowledge. This understanding of nature and the world around us is what allows us to be creative, innovate and invent and to share our insights and skills with other people. 

Dust

Dust goes by many names: Rusakov particles in Lyra's world. Shadows, shadow-particles or dark matter in Will's world and sraf in the world of the mulefa. It is an elementary particle that is responsible for consciousness.

Dust is attracted to sentient species, especially adults, as well as things made by sentient people. It is produced by engaging in creative or introspective activities, created when matter begins to understand itself. Dust was lost through the wounds in the world created by the Subtle Knife, which is why the windows had to be closed. 

Dust got its name from the Bible, when God was cursing Adam and Eve for eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Magisterium took Dust to be evidence of this original sin, as we discussed before. 

"For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Dust is more attracted to adults than children and this is because it is a metaphor for the shift from childhood innocence to adult wisdom. The process of growing up and gaining experience in the world, learning and establishing who we are. 

Dust has an influence on us whether we are aware of its existence or not. It is clearly important for us to function, and this is shown through the Spectres of Cittàgazze. The Spectres were created by the knife every time a window was opened and they fed on dust, the ability to create dust and the soul, or daemon. Children were immune until they reached puberty. Victims of the Spectres did not die, but were apathetic and unresponsive to their surroundings. 

The mulefa could see dust because of the oil from the wheel tree seeds. Mary used this and a lacquer to create the Amber Spyglass to see it. She also used the Cave computer and the I-Ching to communicate with Dust, suggesting other divination methods could also communicate with Dust. 

In Lyra's world, someone used a special emulsion to develop photographs that showed Dust and how it was attracted to adults more than children. The Alethiometer too was a method of communicating with Dust. Angels are beings that are consolidations of dust, made of it. 

This implies that our consciousness is what created angels, including the Authority and Metatron, who was once a man. So we created God, because we needed something to believe in to explain our world. Interesting thought. 

The Final Battle

The ending of the story culminates in a battle which is ultimately about protecting dust and retaining it in all the worlds. Lyra and Will promise to produce enough Dust to keep the window from the world of the dead open. This is why they separate despite it breaking both of their hearts to live apart. 

So this battle is therefore fighting for the right to keep our knowledge, curiosity, creativity, free will and freedom of thought. Everything that makes us people, makes us sentient and conscious, that makes us sapient. An important thing to preserve, in my opinion and a major theme of the books. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. 

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

His Dark Materials Analysis: An End to Death and Destiny

 His Dark Materials: Putting an End to Death

Death is inevitable for all of us. Most of us fear death and do everything we can to evade its arrival. People also wonder where we go after we die. Beliefs on this subject vary massively depending on culture and religious beliefs among other things.

In His Dark Materials, the witches have a prophecy about Lyra playing the role of Eve and ‘falling’. As discussed, this means her growing up, leaving behind her childhood and her innocence and attracting dust. The prophecy states that she will bring about the ‘end of destiny’ and must do so of her own accord without knowing in advance what she must do.

Death

Death is the end of life, whether it happens due to injury, illness or just old age. We will all have to face death at some point. We are mortal. It’s a fact of life, and it will happen. It’s normal to fear it, and to feel angry or upset when a loved one dies. Especially if it is sudden and unexpected.

So what happens when we die? Physically it is very clear. The heart stops beating, breathing stops, brain activity shuts down and the body’s physiological systems stop functioning. Eventually the body will decompose. This sounds harsh but it’s the natural order of things, and this process provides nutrients in the soil to feed plants. The circle of life, as told by Mufasa in the Lion King.

The metaphysical sense is different. Whether you call it the mind, the soul, the spirit or something else, the essence that makes up an individual person. What happens to that part of us after death? Does our essence go somewhere, and does it depend on how you behaved in life?

Heaven/Nirvana/Peace

Many religions speak of or promise a peaceful afterlife where you are happy and comforted. This may be something you have to earn by behaving in line with the teachings of your deities. You’ll be familiar with the concept of ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise’ from the Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism. Eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism speak of Nirvana – a place of rest and peace earned through good karma.

Hell/Punishment

Some religions also speak of a place of eternal punishment for sinners or those who go against God. This is particularly notable in Christianity and Islam. Judaism has Sheol which is a place of darkness but not necessarily of torment.

In the eastern religions of Busshism, Jainism and Hinduism, there is a place called Naraka which is a temporary place where you suffer and earn good karma, or are purified. Sikhism has no belief in any kind of hell.

Purgatory

Fairly unique to the Roman Catholic sect of Christianity, purgatory is a temporary place of purification before you can be admitted to heaven.

Other Options

Some people believe that when we die, nothing happens and we are simply gone. Or that ghosts stick around, intangible and perhaps looking for unfinished business.

The Witches

In Lyra’s world, the witches have their own Goddess of Death, Yambe-Akka. She welcomes dying witches with open arms and a smile, a peaceful and welcoming event for them.

Fear of Mortality

People fear death, for themselves and their loved ones. We fear the unknown because we cannot possibly confirm for certain what happens after death. It’s natural to have this fear. Things are less scary when we understand them, and death is something we don’t understand.

I think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5, when Buffy’s mother dies. It’s a heart-breaking point of the series and the way each of the characters reacts to the news is different. But it is Anya’s reaction that I find particularly gut-wrenching.

She doesn’t understand why it happened. She lived for over a thousand years as an immortal vengeance demon, and didn’t much care for the lives and deaths of humans. Now human again, Anya has to face up to the reality of mortality. That someone she knows and cares about is dead and there’s nothing to be done to bring her back.

The Land of the Dead

In The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will travel to the land of the dead. They leave their demons behind when on the ferry. They discover that the afterlife is nothing but a quiet empty place full of ghosts. The ghosts slowly lose their memories and fall into despair, with the harpies taunting them by reminding them of every little thing they did wrong in their lifetime.

The harpies were charged with watching over the land of the dead by the Authority, and to feed on the misery of their charges. It’s a bleak, sad, empty place where everyone is treated the same. The boatman especially highlights this, pointing out he’s had rich people try to bribe him, people try to threaten him. Everyone ends up going to the same place regardless of who they were in life.

There is no judgement, no heaven, no hell. Whatever sins or righteous deeds you did in life, no matter how much penance you do, you still end up in this place which is nothing. You are forced to accept you are dead and now you have nothing left.

In order to cross the water to the land of the dead, Lyra must meet her Death. A being created for every person at their birth. Your Death follows you throughout your life, ducking out of sight for most people but never leaving your side.

There is at least one world where people know about their Deaths and see them, finding their presence comforting and reassuring. When your time is up, your Death takes you by the hand and leads you to the ferry.

Lyra and Will seek their loved ones and plan to escape the land of the dead. They also look for closure from the people they have lost, to assuage their guilt and say a final goodbye. How many of us wish we could have this chance to talk to a loved one, just one more time, after they have passed away?

The Harpies

The harpies were tasked with watching over the ghosts and keeping them miserable. Lyra begins to tell a story, with her usual lies, and the harpies know she is lying and attack her. Later, she tells another story, this time a true one and the harpies listened and were nourished by it.

They agree to lead Lyra and Will to a place high enough for them to cut through into another world using the Subtle Knife. In exchange for true stories, the harpies agree to lead the dead to this window. They make exceptions for very young people who did not live long enough to have stories.

This is the ‘end of destiny’ prophesised. An end to death. The ghosts are able to re-join the universe, their atoms becoming part of everything. A peaceful ending, returning to the world and remaining part of it forever instead of misery and eternal emptiness.

When they learn the windows must be closed, they decide to keep living full lives to create enough Dust to allow the window for the dead to remain open forever. To ensure that death remains a peaceful and joyful thing instead of something to fear. The ghosts splitting apart as they re-join the world is described like bubbles of happiness.

What does it all mean?

The lesson to be learned here is to live our lives and treasure our experiences and relationships over superficial and material gains. To live more for the now and ensure we have good, true stories to tell at the end of our lives.

Our deaths may come at any time, sudden and unexpected or after a long battle with cancer. We cannot evade death forever, but perhaps we can believe in a peaceful end and embrace it as we did life. We’ll never truly know what happens after we die, but perhaps we need not fear it so much.

This part of the story does also highlight a lot of the hypocrisy of organised religion that is a major theme of the books. People are not judged for their sins and virtues and separated into the good and the evil. Everyone ends up in the same place.

Father Gomez will have ended up here, after being killed by an angel. So all of his pre-emptive penance would be for nothing as he would not be judged by anyone. And if he spent his entire life doing nothing but penance for a future sin, he probably doesn’t have a great story to tell the harpies.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. As mentioned, I am an atheist, and I’m not sure what I believe awaits us after we die. But I always embrace the idea that your own faith and beliefs are important to you and you have the right to express them.

Thanks for reading!

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

 His Dark Materials: The Corruption and Hypocrisy of Organised Religion

In Lyra’s world, the Holy Church has absolute power over almost all aspects of people’s lives. In particular, the Magisterium holds power over science, research and discoveries. Discoveries that do not align with the Holy Churches doctrines are censored and suppressed, declared as heretical.

Scholars could risk excommunication, even death by pursuing what the Magisterium deems heretical research. In that world, physics is called ‘experimental theology’ highlighting a close connection between the church and the study of what makes up the world and universe.

The Golden Compass movie had a lot of issues, but one of the most glaring for me was removing pretty much all of the religious aspects of the story. In the television show, they removed anything that referred to Christianity for the same sort of reason. But the books are a clear critique of organised religion and how corrupt and hypocritical it can become. So let’s talk about it.

For clarity, I am an atheist but I was raised as a Christian and thus I am pretty familiar with a lot of the teachings and how it all works. I was involved in religious organisations like the Girl Guides growing up. I don’t believe in the Christian God in any way, but I am not suggesting that people who do believe are wrong to hold such beliefs. I understand how important faith is to some people and do not disparage that. I do despise those ‘Christians’ who cherry pick and deliberately misinterpret the Bible to push their own agenda.

That out of the way, let’s get into it.

The Holy Church

The Holy Church in Lyra’s world is based on Christianity and enforced very strictly. Unsurprisingly, for this reason it is almost entirely men who hold positions of power within the organisation. Marissa Coulter is a woman who managed to climb to a leadership role despite her gender.

That said, the General Oblation Board she led was a semi-private institution hidden away in the North, near Svalbard. This gave the Church plausible deniability, they could claim her work was unsanctioned if need be. Particularly important when they were kidnapping children for their experiments.

The research at Bolvangar was into the nature of Dust and how it changed at puberty, the onset of adulthood and the point at which one’s daemon settled. The Church declared Dust to be evidence of the ‘Original Sin.’ Evidence of the sin all humanity is saddled with at birth because of what happened with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The very fact that the Church holds so much power in this world is a criticism of the way organised religion can prescribe people’s behaviour and set rules and laws based on their interpretation of the Bible. That they allow research and evidence they approve of, and censor what they don’t approve of.

So they are cherry picking what evidence suits them and condemning anything that sounds like free-thinking or any proof of anything outside of the Churches purview. It is not about criticising having beliefs or practicing your faith. It is about using your beliefs to control what other people think, say or do. If something is against your religion, that does not mean that I can’t do it.

It is also a criticism of restricting scientific discovery and research based on one interpretation or perspective. A real world example being the Creation vs Evolution debate. Evolution is a scientific theory – this means it is objectively proven with evidence. People don’t seem to know the definition of a scientific theory, it is not an unproven idea, but a proven one. Hypothesis is for the unproven ones. It is different from the definition of ‘theory’ most people seem to know.

Creation is, of course, the story in the Bible of how God made everything. We have definitive proof that evolution is true. People may want to believe in creation and intelligent design, and they are more than welcome to do so. But nobody seems to consider the possibility that evolution is the intelligent design plan God laid down. Evidence for evolution is all around us, even in your own body right now. You can ignore the evidence if you choose to, but that doesn’t make it go away.

Pre-Emptive Penance

The Consistorial Court of Discipline is one of the most powerful parts of the Magisterium. It was established by the last Pope – John Calvin, and it is based in Geneva. Their function is to deal with heresy and non-believers. Enforcing the Churches will and laws, in essence.

Father Luis Gomez was the youngest of the twelve members of the CCD and he was sent to assassinate Lyra before she could play the role of Eve. He failed and was killed by the angel Balthamos, ironically. The angel used the last of his strength to eliminate this man.

Father Gomez found himself in the world of the mulefa and saw the tualapi. The large bird-like creatures who attacked the mulefa. He used fear to control the creatures. This fits with this version of the Church, and even some real world sects. Controlling people through fear, fear of hell, fear of purgatory, fear of the rapture. Fear of God’s wrath. You know what I mean.

Father Gomez, before leaving on his assassination mission, took part in a new concept conceived by the CCD. Pre-emptive penance. This involves doing intense penance in advance for a sin not yet committed instead of after sinning and asking for forgiveness.

The idea that one could build up enough ‘credit’ to be able to commit a sin and already be absolved of it. Thus freeing the sinner of any guilt. In this case, murder. Which is one of the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’

This whole concept is wild. The whole point of confession and penance is that you should be trying not to sin and making up for falling into temptation. It is claimed that Rasputin believed that one had to sin in order to attain divine grace for confessing, so sinning more would allow him to attain more divine grace. This isn’t confirmed but it might just have been a way to justify sinning as much as he wanted to.

So by the logic of ‘pre-emptive penance’ you could just build up enough penance, do enough self-flagellation to do whatever the hell you wanted, no matter how evil. Apologising before you’ve done anything wrong and then when you do the thing, you’ve already apologised so it’s somehow fine.

If the assassination is justified, then it’s justified and would not be considered a sin so why would you need penance? You would only need to atone for something that would be considered wrong. So it follows then that they know killing Lyra is morally reprehensible and a sin. If it was what their God wanted, to prevent another ‘Fall’ then surely there would be no need to ask for God to forgive it either before or after the fact.

This really highlights the hypocrisy that we see in certain religious groups in the real world. People who do what they condemn others for doing. Religious extremism is prevalent in the modern world, and it’s not just one religion either. As much as some people believe it to be. The scandal with sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church in the last forty years says a lot.

Original Sin

This refers to the sin all children are supposedly born with because of what happened in the Garden of Eden and the sins committed against God. This is, of course, usually blamed on Eve giving into temptation by the Serpent and eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She then tempted Adam to do the same. According to the scripture in Lyra’s world, the first human’s daemons settled and brought sin to the world.

In the main story of His Dark Materials, Lyra is prophesised to play the role of Eve and ‘fall’ again. What was this oh-so-terrible sin? Falling in love and growing up. Mary Malone played the ‘serpent’ by telling Lyra and Will stories of her first love. The sharing of fruit before the two young people share their first kiss echoes the story of Adam and Eve as well.

So what’s the issue? It’s often women who are blamed, called temptresses and causing men to sin or think about sinning. Original sin means that everyone is born with this sin marring our souls, shouldering the burden of another’s actions. We are expected to apologise and atone for what the first humans supposedly did. Which was to know the difference between good and evil.

Shouldn’t we have that knowledge? If we don’t know the difference between good and evil, our actions have no context for us to decide the morality of them. So it would be left up to God to know and decide this. So what eating from this tree did was give the knowledge of moral context to us. Thus giving us the ability to make a choice between doing something good and something evil. Giving us free will to choose and do what we want. Kind of a problem for an organisation that wants to control our lives in all aspects.

Through what happens with Lyra and Will and with Mary, the author is telling us he disagrees with this. That we should not feel guilty or be condemned for natural and normal human experiences. That we should not carry guilt for the sins of others. That we should be free to think, learn, experience and create without such restrictions. That we can choose to question things.

Lyra’s ‘fall’ is about her choosing love, choosing compassion and choosing to dedicate her life to growing up and learning. Understanding the true nature of Dust, which she sets out to do at the end of the first book, means understanding what it means to be ‘sapient’ or human. The mulefa have a wonderful relationship with dust and with the world they live in. Their symbiosis with the trees they make their wheels from that allows them to create more Dust.

In the end, Lyra chooses the selfless path, even though it means losing the one she loves. Even her parents, who have done some really reprehensible things, make the right choice in the end, sacrificing their lives to oblivion to bring down Metatron and protect Lyra. The important thing is that Lyra was free to make that choice for herself. They remember and observe a small ritual to honour and cherish their love for each other but they agree to go on and live full lives. Even permitting each other to find love again if they can. All for the sake of removing death’s hold on people and keeping the way out of the land of the dead open.

This is what the Magisterium and the Consistorial Court wanted to prevent. This goes against what they want because they do not want people thinking freely, questioning their teachings or seeking to understand more about the world. Because people might see that the Churches teachings are not in people’s best interests.

People should be free to form their own beliefs and decide how they want to practice their faith. People should also be free to make their own choices. Of course, with that freedom is the freedom to be wrong. Believing something alone, does not make it true. But learning and questioning is a natural thing that makes us human. Children are full of curiosity about the world, and this is why ‘because I said so’ doesn’t make sense to them. Answering their questions honestly, obviously in an age-appropriate way, helps them understand the world.

As I said, this isn’t a condemnation of all relgions and religious beliefs but it is a criticism of the hypocrisy present in some parts of religious organisation. Such as claiming that the Bible condemns homosexuality while priests are molesting young boys.

Or telling a woman she can’t get a necessary abortion because the foetus implanted in her fallopion tube has more rights to bodily autonomy than the living person who will die if the pregnancy isn’t terminated. Because it is against your beliefs. You don’t get to use your religion to tell other people what to do.

People are very quick to jump on the First Amendment rights of the US Constitution, preserving freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. The USA was basically founded on the freedom of religious expression, with many of the early immigrants traveling to avoid religious persecution at home.

It’s a wee bit more complicated in the UK due to some rules around the monarchy and the established Church of England. The reigning monarch cannot be Roman Catholic and until 2013 could not marry a Catholic. You can thank Henry VIII for that one.

It’s obviously a complex and sometimes emotive issue. Personally, I feel that you are welcome to act in accordance with your own beliefs and I am welcome to act in accordance with mine. But you do not get to tell me that I have to act according to your beliefs if I don’t share them. Sounds reasonable, yeah? I think so.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found this interesting. I welcome all comments and discussions as long as they are kept respectful. 

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

His Dark Materials Trilogy: In-Depth Theme Analysis

 Welcome to my new series for the month of March. I'm digging deep into my favourite story of all time, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. This consists of The Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the USA), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. I have not yet read the Book of Dust trilogy, but it will be on my TBR. 

Today I'm covering Lyra's story arc. She's the main protagonist of the series and a fascinating character. The journey she takes in the story is all about her coming of age. Her transition from childhood towards adulthood and the lessons she learns along the way. 

Childhood - Jordan College

Lyra's character is well established early on and we know she is curious and clever, independent and confident but stubborn and rebellious as well. She is a natural leader, and resents being told what to do. 

She will break the rules when she disagrees with them or if her curiosity gets the better of her. She's an explorer as well, and knows the college and the city of Oxford very well. 

Attempted Poisoning of Lord Asriel

Witnessing the Master poisoning the Tokay shows Lyra that adults are capable of doing seriously bad things. Even adults she trusts and respects, and this throws her off. She does the right thing by letting Asriel know about it, saving his life. She also learns of Dust for the first time and has a strong desire to understand it better. 

Mrs Coulter and the Alethiometer

The Master gives Lyra the alethiometer and urges her to keep it a secret from Mrs Coulter but doesn't explain why. She is unsure of who to trust but is star-struck by Mrs Coulter. Lyra had been largely raised by scholars and had never met anyone quite like Marissa Coulter. 

Mrs Coulter shows Lyra a drastically different kind of life with high fashion, socialising and even manipulation of others. It all seems very grand and exciting at first, but Lyra soon grows bored of it.

Pantalaimon has his doubts about the promises to take Lyra North. In this series, daemons are manifestations of the soul, so his doubts indicates Lyra's sub-conscious sensing that things are not quite what they seem. They argue about a shoulder-bag prior to a party at the apartment and this proves to Lyra that Mrs Coulter cannot be trusted. This is confirmed again when they learn of her involvement with the Gobblers. 

The North

When Lyra travels north, she makes a lot of interesting choices. She defies the Gyptians who have taken over responsibility for her in order to advocate for Iorek Byrnison. She talked him down and sought justice for him, while defying the adults. This turns out to be the right thing to do though. 

After this, she learns of an odd occurrence in a nearby village and this time Lord Faa trusts her knowledge from the alethiometer and allows her to go with Iorek. There she discovers what is happening to the children taken. She finds Tony Makarios without his daemon, and despite her deep horror and fear of him, she shows him kindness and compassion. She demonstrates her bravery here as well. 

Bolvangar

She demonstrates her mother's ability to lie and deceive people very well to ensure the people don't realise who she is. She finds Roger and Tony Costa and learns more about what's been happening. During a fire drill she meets Kaisa, the daemon of a witch, Serafina Pekkala and they free the cut daemons to find their humans. Lyra notices the staff of the centre are unused to managing groups of children and spots an opportunity she can use. 

She concocts a plan to escape from Bolvangar to reach the approaching Gyptians, but Mrs Coulter arrives and rescues Lyra from the process of intercision. Mrs Coulter lies to Lyra, telling her the procedure is important for growing up and is a good thing. Yet Lyra questions why Mrs Coulter would save her from it if it was such a good thing. She knows Mrs Coulter can never be trusted, and manages to enact her escape plan. 

Svalbard

Reaching Svalbard and the kingdom of the bears, Lyra demonstrates her own mastery of manipulation on Iofur Raknison and allows Iorek to succeed in killing him and becoming King of the bears. She goes to Lord Asriel and inadvertently betrays Roger, resulting in his death. 

Lyra has learned of her parentage and sees them together but rejects them both. She is angry about their lies and betrayals and the horrible things they have done to innocent children. She makes a choice, setting out into the new world to find the truth. 

At this point she discusses Dust with Pantalaimon and they agree that if all of these dangerous adults think it is a bad thing, it must be a good thing. Dust represents consciousness: our awareness, knowledge, creativity and free will. So in the metaphor, Lyra is right that it is a good thing. 

The Subtle Knife

We begin the second book learning about the secondary protagonist of the trilogy: Will Parry. He is evading men who are looking for his father and caring for his mother. He discovers a window into Cittagaze and ends up meeting Lyra there. 

Lyra asks the alethiometer if he is a friend or an enemy and it tells her she is a murderer. Lyra believes that this makes him a safe person to travel with. She travels to Will's Oxford and meets Mary Malone, discussing Dust with her and urging her to learn how to communicate with it using her equipment and the I Ching. 

They discover the Spectres of Cittagaze and learn what they do. They feed on the daemon, or soul, and destroy dust and the ability to create dust. Only adults can see them. This represents the loss of innocence of adulthood and the loss of awareness and consciousness, which the Spectres take away from a person. They don't kill you, they just take away your soul and ability to think and act freely. 

Land of the Dead

After Will rescues Lyra from her mother who kept her in induced sleep, they travel to the Land of the Dead. They learn that after death, there is nothing but bleak emptiness and fear. She faces her own Death, her own mortality and betrays her daemon in order to make up for the mistakes she made.

She makes this sacrifice in order to atone for Roger's death. She wants to apologies for what she did. They discover that the harpies enjoy hearing true stories of a life lived well, and find a way to let the dead leave the bleak land and return to the world. They dissolve but then become part of everything once again. 

They agree with the harpies that those who die will be led to the window in exchange for a true, good story. This fulfils the prophecy that Lyra will put an end to death. Death is no longer a dark, empty place to fear, but a good ending once one's life is over, returning to the world and becoming part of all life. 

Love and Loss

While searching for their daemons, and after talking to Mary, Lyra and Will realise they are in love. We'll discuss Mary's involvement more later. Finally they share their first kiss and touch each other's daemons, a line crossed when two people love and commit to each other. At this point, the daemons settle into their final forms. 

The daemons changing form represent the moldability of children. In essence, they have not yet been shaped by experience into the person they are going to be. When the daemon settles, the form reflects the person and represents their personality and nature. This is growing up, and learning who you are. We are all shaped by our experiences and that is part of growth.

Unfortunately, they learn that the windows all must be closed as Dust is being lost through them. They have also learned that they cannot live a full life in any world but their own. They make the hard decision to live apart and sacrifice their personal happiness for the good of all of the worlds. They agree to make enough Dust to compensate for keeping the window from the Land of the Dead open. 

This represents maturity and unselfishness as Lyra has learned from her experiences and knows she cannot be selfish and self-serving when it means other people will suffer. She and Will both bravely accept the heartbreak of being apart so that all they have achieved will not be in vain. 

Adulthood

Adulthood means taking responsibility, learning from our experiences and gaining wisdom and insight. It represents a loss of innocence and gullibility - we learn that we cannot blindly trust everyone we know or meet. 

However, it does not mean we need to lose our curiosity, creativity and compassion. Gaining wisdom, expressing ourselves and embracing life is all part of being an adult and living our lives to the fullest. 

Thanks for reading! I will post a new essay on a different aspect of the trilogy every Wednesday this month so I hope you will come back for the next one!

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

 Euphemisms and Awkward Descriptions

There is such a thing as being too creative when it comes to writing. This is especially apparent when we’re discussing romantic scenes. The descriptors some authors choose for body parts can be questionable.

I adore the videos from Atomic Apple Pie where she reads out some of these descriptions and how cringe they are. It’s entertaining but also kind of bizarre. Sometimes you can overdo it.

For example, it seems to be common for the male organ to be compared to a weapon: a spear, a sword, love’s sweet arrow. Weapons imply violence, and that isn’t really a good thing. So maybe let’s not. This often goes along with describing the female genitalia as a ‘sheath’ for said ‘sword’ which again feels a bit weird. Also, ‘impaling’ to describe the act of penetration has similiarly violent connotations.

Talking about the vagina as a ‘woman’s secret place’ or a ‘cave’ is weird to me as well. Like, it’s not that complicated or secretive. It’s not like most women hide their treasures in there like a dragon’s hoard. ‘Lady garden’ and ‘flower’ are polite I guess but again it’s just a bit of an odd comparison.

I also loathe the descriptions using ‘moist’ and ‘damp’, a lot of people get the ick from the word ‘moist’ and dampness sounds unpleasant. Like a leaky basement or something, where you’d see mould growing. Not sexy to most people, is it?

Food is another common comparison. Sausages and ham sandwiches, or beef anything is just strange and off-putting for me. Keep your ‘man meat’ to yourself, please. Same goes for breasts: melons, citrus fruits or pancakes – none of that sounds sexy to me.

Of course using juvenile words like ‘peepee’ and ‘hooha’ should also be avoided. You’re writing adult fiction for adults, so let’s behave like adults, yes? Using such childish words gives it a creepy vibe.

I understand that using the correct anatomical terms can sound very clinical and make you feel like you’re back in biology class. I’m reminded of that scene in Friends where Ross is asked to talk dirty to a woman he’s dating and he says ‘vulva’. It’s the correct word for the external genitalia, but it doesn’t sound that appealing.

So my advice is to keep it relatively simple, pick a couple of commonly used terms that fit the vibe of your story and stick with those. Think about what words are used in sex scenes you enjoyed reading and echo those. If you can’t read it out loud without cringing, it needs revision.

Another point is that romance scenes work a lot better if your focus is on the emotions and the relationship between the characters instead of detailed stage directions of what is happening. Tab A goes into slot B, that kind of thing. Like with fighting and action scenes, it’s not just about what the characters are doing, but how the action affects the characters and their relationships with each other.

Emi the Cat Lady 💜

Reading: Content and Trigger Warnings

Content And Trigger Warnings

Last week we briefly touched on content warnings when discussing dark romance which deals with dark subject matter that might be distressing to some readers. So let’s talk more about it, because it is an important subject and needs to be covered.

Content Rating Systems

Most other media content we consume has an official rating system that allows people to be selective about what they watch or play. These tools are especially important for parents deciding what to let their children consume in the media. When I was growing up, I loved watching South Park. My parents had no idea what the content was in that show, and I probably shouldn’t have been watching it at the age I was when it came out.

The systems vary depending on the media and your location. For example the Motion Picture Association of North America uses the following rating system:

G	General Audiences: Suitable for all ages
PG	Parental Guidance: some content maybe unsuitable for young children
PG-13	Material may be inapporpriate for children under 13 years of age
R	Adult material – must have parent or guardian if under 17 years of age
NC-17	Adults only – must be 18 years old or over to view

 

These ratings will be accompanied by notes on what specific kinds of content are included in the media. This could include violence and gore, swearing and bad language, use of tobacco products, drugs and alcohol, nudity and sexual content.

The British Board of Film Classification uses a very similar system. 

U	Universal	Suitable for all with only very mild references
PG	Parental Guidance	General viewing but may be unsuitable for young children under 8 years old
12A	12 Adult	Children younger than 12 must have an adult as moderate themes
12	12 years +	For home release – must be 12 to rent or buy (obviously rare now!)
15	15 years +	Fairly mature themes but no graphic sexual detail
18	Adults	No limit on language, drugs, sexual content, gore etc
R18	Licensed	Explicit sex, fetish, extreme sex acts – porn basically

 

Video games are also subject to rating systems. The Pan-European Game Information rates video games based on content and is fairly similar to the movie rating system above. It will also provide content descriptions with symbols for things like bad language, discrimination, drugs, horror, gambling, sex, violence and online interactions which could be difficult to regulate and prevent younger children being exposed to objectionable content.

Fiction Rating Systems

There is no official rating system for books. Fanfiction websites do have rating systems. Both AO3 and Fanfiction.net use ratings to allow authors to give a general idea of the content of a work before they read. I’m most familiar with fanfiction.net. The system is largely based on the MPA one.

FFNET rating	Age Range	MPA Equivalent
K	Ages 5+	G Rating
K+	Ages 9+	PG Rating
T	Teens 13+	PG-13
M	Mature 16+	R rating
MA	Adults Only – Explicit	NC-17

 

MA is not allowed on fanfiction.net, but AO3 does allow this, while it includes a warning to the reader to ensure they are aware of the content.

Content Warnings

It is now becoming more common to include content warnings at the beginning of the book. Or it can be added at the end, and readers can be directed to it from the front of the book. It’s also important to give this information to anyone who reads your book during the writing and editing process such as critique partners, editors, proof readers, sensitivity readers and the like.

Authors may also include the details on their website and social media channels. It is possible to avoid spoilers but content warnings do need to be specific: so state ‘child abuse’ instead of just ‘abuse’ or the like.

There are all kinds of subjects that require content warnings: a full list can be found here.

But generally any kind of racism, homophobia, transphobia or bigotry would need a warning. As well as abuse, child abuse, sexual violence or abuse, grief and loss, blood, gore, body horror, extreme violence, suicide and self-harm.

Nobody is saying you can’t write about these subjects, just that you should be aware of the need for some sensitivity for your readers.

Why?

Because trauma has a profound effect on the body and the brain. When we suffer some kind of trauma, it can literally change the way our brains work. So an unexpected reminder or depiction of a past trauma can set off a really severe flashback and associated symptoms of PTSD. This can cause real harm. These responses cannot be controlled.

Not everyone who has experienced a particular trauma will be triggered by mentions of it. We discussed last week that some people can find reading about a subject can be healing or help them cope. But for others, an unexpected reminder can be a real issue for them.

Anyone who dismisses this or tells you that they shouldn’t be affected when it’s not real is talking crap. PTSD is a complex mental health condition and everyone’s experiences are different. First and foremost, we should be taking care of our mental health. Content warnings allow readers to do that.

Providing these warnings protects your readers from actual harm, and it shows respect for them. You can do this without spoiling things but you do need to be as specific as possible. It can only help your readers and ultimately showing that kind of care towards your audience will mean readers are more likely to recommend your books and read more of your work. So it’s a win-win for everyone.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful and helpful. Remember, it's not okay to shame people for what they enjoy and it is important to respect and show compassion when it comes to potentially upsetting or triggering content. For more, don't forget to subscribe to the blog!

Emi the Cat Lady 💜