Edited by Scott Westerfeld - Teen Libris

Pants on Fire 13
Lyra and Will learn to trust each other and to tell the truth, to reveal
things they have kept secret from others. This honesty is essential for
them to be able to unite their powers and save the world(s). Ultimately
it’s that special human truth, the declaration of love, which enables them
to do that.
Finally, the power to read the truth is taken away from Lyra. She
reaches puberty. She is no longer a child. The ability to follow the
alethiometer’s swinging needle, to plumb the levels of meaning for the
symbols, gradually slips away until she’s no wiser than anyone else as to
its operation. Now if she wants to use it, she must do it the hard way.
She must embark on years of study and memorize the many levels of
meaning the symbols hold, or she must learn to recognize the truth herself,
unaided.
On her epic journey, Lyra learns the value of truth and the power of lies.
She learns truths about herself-she’s loyal, she’s brave, and she’s capable
of love. Lies have a place, Pullman tells us. But ultimately, it’s truth that is
important, particularly inner truth, being truthful to yourself.
“‘You must tell them true stories,’” a ghost tells Mary Malone, “‘and
everything will be well’” (TAS 386). This is the truth for Philip Pullman.
He has taken us on a long journey through lies to truth. For him,
truth is everything. Stories are fiction, authors are a type of liar, but if
the stories have that core of truth, then they’re a force for good even
if they are a tissue of lies. He lies so that we, like Lyra, learn the value
of truth.
And there’s one particular truth that Pullman wants to leave us with.
Being independent from any sort of “authority,” including God, is another
kind of self-truth. “‘We’ve had nothing but lies and propaganda and
cruelty and deceit for all the thousands of years of human history. It’s
time we started again’” (TSK 282). He’s ready to throw out the concept
of the Kingdom of Heaven and replace it with the Republic of Heaven,
where everyone gets to think for themselves. We shouldn’t let God, or
anyone’s idea of a god, or any representative of a god, tell us what is true
and what is a lie.
In the world of His Dark Materials, Dust particles know the truth, the
universal truth, but in the end it’s just Philip Pullman’s truth, the only
truth he knows. “Truth” isn’t something that can be captured or quantified.
It isn’t fixed, nor is it universal. Truth has as many shades as lies do.