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

double significance. In Lyra’s case, lying is associated with, and even defined as, the
extensive use of imagination when describing an event, an act that is common and expected
during childhood. Therefore, when Lyra is lying, she is exercising her childhood prerogative
of being imaginative and nonchalant, unaware of and disinterested in the value of truth. The
realization comes when the Harpies call her a liar, an unsurprisingly homophone word to her
name, Lyra, as throughout the trilogy she is seen lying and weaving fictitious stories in order
to conceal her identity and escape danger. The second meaning is more accurately represented
by Mrs Coulter who masters the art of deception and lying in an adult framework for the sole
purpose of succeeding in her manipulative schemes. This aspect of lying differs from Lyra’s
in that it is conscious and lacks the naivety and ignorance of the latter.
James H. Sims compares the scene of Adam’s and Eve’s expulsion from heaven in
Milton and the Bible and argues that “there is amplified re-telling [in the scene] in which God
‘drove out the man; and he placed at the East of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life’ (3:24)” (Sims, 1962, 128).
In AS, when Xaphania, wielding the subtle knife, tells the children that they must separate so
that she may forever close the windows between the worlds, it is not only reminiscent of the
way Adam and Eve were driven away from the gates of Eden but may be seen as an allegory
for this scene, which has generated some debate among theorists such Christine Moruzi and
Claire Squires. The similarity also begs the question of whether Pullman is also punishing the
children, just as God punished Adam and Eve, and decided to forever bind them to their own
worlds. Lyra’s and Will’s separation is discussed and somewhat condemned by Moruzi who
raises issues such as the childhood-adulthood transition, the relationship between children and
adults, and their respective roles in society. She argues that in his treatment of the child
characters in his trilogy, Philip Pullman actually subordinates children and the entire idea of
childhood by “allow[ing] [them] to become increasingly independent, but only within
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