The secular angel in contemporary children's literature: David ...

case of these three authors it is imagination that allows and enables them to write secular
stories filled with religious figures.
The Authority is only one of the five angels that Pullman describes in his trilogy. The
other angels portrayed are of various ranks, of both sexes, and of different origins. Each one,
including the Authority, is different in demeanour and character. The angels in the trilogy
represent a society of their own, resembling, in fact, a human society in some respects,
including both benevolent and malicious intent, honest and mischievous temperaments.
Pullman decides to ignore some of the most prevalent angelic stereotypes pertaining to
asexuality, but keeps others, such as their immaterial and ethereal existence. Furthermore, he
seems to suggest that no matter what the nature of a being —whether it is a human, an angel, a
witch, or a bear—solely by possessing the gift of free will and a conscious state of being, the
choices are endless; and in the end, it will be these very choices that define them, not their
origins.
Anne-Marie Bird compares Pullman’s angels to Milton’s and argues that
Milton, representing both the Protestant and humanistic positions, insisted that
all actual beings must be embodied and therefore subject to physical laws
directly related to their materiality. […] Pullman’s perception of angels deviates
from Milton’s in that the angels in The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass
largely conform to the Roman Catholic doctrine in which the emphasis is on the
absolute otherness of angels. (Bird, 2001, 120)
This otherness is strongly emphasized in the narrative and expressed by the angels themselves,
as well as the humans that attempt to describe them and perceive their nature. It is of great
interest that Pullman has deviated from Milton on this point and this has resulted in the
depiction of a creature that is far from human in appearance, nature, intelligence and
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