Dust is a very important feature in the book Golden Compass.
Dust is the feature that connects humans to their d? mons. A d? mons is a soul that can talk and is in the form of an animal. It sends the Dust to the human to allow the human consciousness. This being is actually somewhat of a soul that can talk and is in the form of an animal.
If the bond between a human and their d? mon is severed both the human and the d? mon die. If it happens after your Dust has settled on you and you become an adult you simply become a lifeless shell. It is Dust that provides the answers given by the Alethiometer.An Alethiometer is a small, gold-colored, compass-like device that had a single use which is to tell the truth. 'Althea' meaning Truth gives its name. Dust is the entity that settles a child’s d? mon into one final form of an animal.
Dust has many good characteristics. "We've heard them all talk about Dust, and they're so afraid of it, and you know what? We believed them, even though we could see that what they were doing was wicked and evil and wrong.... We thought Dust must be bad too, because they were grown up and they said so.
But what if it isn't? What if it's – "She said breathlessly, "Yeah!What if it's really good. . . " (398) Lyra comes to the conclusion that Dust must be good if so many evil people are trying to get rid of it. Dust is an arguable subject. Dust also has a negative side to it.
An example of this is… "No, no, that's the saddest thing: she will be the betrayer, and the experience will be terrible. She mustn't know that, of course, but there's no reason for her not to know about the problem of Dust. And you might be wrong, Charles; she might well take an interest in it, if it were explained in a simple way. And it might help her later on.It would certainly help me to be less anxious about her.
" (32). In this quote the Master and the Librarian of Jordan College are reluctant to burden Lyra, a child, with the knowledge of Dust. This is important to the children’s knowledge so they know what is coming in the future. Dust helps d? mons to stop changing forms. "She just said, it's something to make you more grown up. She said everyone had to have it, that's why grownups' daemons don't change like ours do.
So they have a cut to make them one shape forever, and that's how you get grown up. " (251). This quote explains that Mrs.Coulter and the General Oblation Board have started to separate children from their daemons, which is thought to save them from the Dust that leaves around them once they stop shifting.
In essence, the children aren't really going to grow up; they'll stay innocent and Dust-free forever. Overall, dust is both a dangerous and helpful part of life in the golden compass. First of all I exhibited how dust has many good characteristics. Secondly, I showed how dust also has a negative side to it.
Lastly, I explained how dust helps d? mons to stop changing forms. Dust is a very important part of the lives that the people in the golden compass live.
