Names and Unique Vocabulary
Ok, there's a lot of words Pullman has made up for this story, and some of the names are interesting too. Pantalaimon, daemon, alethiometer, etc. I've heard it said that unique vocabulary is often symbolic to underlying themes and messages in the story. For example, daimon was a term used by Socrates to describe something that helped him with his judgement, and it was this that led to the term 'guardian angel' in use today. Any other thoughts? Anyone interesting in compiling a list of unique vocabulary? Also, are the words 'right', 'wrong', 'good' or 'evil' ever used in the book?
posted by Garden Girl @ 14:14
4 comments
4 Comments:
I have it on good authority that Pullman meant daemon to be pronounced "demon". Now when we hear the word "demon" we think of evil and hell. But of course daemons are wonderful, beautiful creatures. Pullman does this throughout the whole book, turning the traditional notions of good and evil around on us.
Yes, I heard that too, pron demon. In the whole book good/evil are juxtaposed (is sthat the right word?) First the scholar is evil because he tries to poison her father's drink, but it turns out it's her father that's evil. And the church which is supposed to be good is evil. And the witches, some are good, some are bad. Even in the language there is opposition of good and evil, eg. Iorek-Iofur
There's so much of it that it's actually hard to pick up on!
I think I heard in one of the SLIS classes that Pullman was inspired quite a bit by Milton's Paradise Lost. Hence the massive symbolic and thematic good and evil threads throughout the book.
Yes, hence the epigraph from Paradise Lost at the beginning of the book.
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