Edited by Scott Westerfeld - Teen Libris

Pants on Fire 11
These particles are conscious. They interact with our thoughts. “‘The
Shadows flock to your thinking like birds,’” Mary says (TSK 78). But you
can’t receive them unless you’re ready to believe in them. The alethiometer
operator, after creating her query by positioning the three moveable
hands, must enter a trance-like state. Then the Dust “reads” the operator’s
query and provides the answer by manipulating the alethiometer’s
long, free-floating hand.
But does Dust always tell the truth? And whose truth is it telling, anyway?
Or is Lyra just interpreting the symbols to fit her own needs? If it’s
anything like using the I Ching, it’s all about interpretation. I can
remember, after a terrible argument with my husband, when I threw the
I Ching half a dozen times asking it if I should leave him. It never said
yes. But was I receiving a universal truth, or was it just how I wanted to
interpret it? Let’s face it: “The fifth nine undivided shows its subject
amidst the appliances of a feast” isn’t a clear-cut answer. Should we trust
Philip Pullman when he tells us that Lyra is learning the truth? Does she
just read what she wants to? Or, for that matter, does the Dust lie to get
its own way? Dust has its own opinions. Lyra senses that it is rebuking
her when she asks the same question twice. And sometimes it tells her
things she doesn’t ask for. What exactly does the Dust want?
As the story continues to unfold, we grow so used to lies and deceit
that they become normal. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter change their
spots so many times that we don’t know who to trust. Pullman waits
until the final book of the trilogy before he introduces the last, shocking
level of deceit. The Authority himself is a liar. Pullman has waited until
we’re all totally immersed in the story, completely entranced by his
worlds, desperately concerned about Lyra. That tail-end deception doesn’t
just sting, it whacks you in the face and knocks you off your feet. God
lied when he said he was the creator of the world. He’s just another
angel. He lied when he said Heaven is a paradise. The afterlife is, in fact,
a terrible prison camp where harpies are constantly flapping around the
dead people’s heads, reminding them of their worst mistakes. Even for
an atheist like me, that’s pretty breathtaking stuff.
The hard thing about having the ability to lie is deciding when to use it
and when to tell the truth. Like many normally truthful parents, I cheerfully
fed my daughter the Holy Trinity of childhood lies (Father Christmas,
Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy) with a completely clear conscience. I enjoyed