However, the flip-side of this privilege is inequality and discrimination, themes that Pullman highlights through the story of the gyptians. However, Lyra never misses an opportunity to remind anyone who will listen that she has a rich and powerful uncle and a privileged position at Jordan College, or that she got to spend time at a glamorous London flat with Mrs. Due to the unusual conditions of Lyra’s childhood, many of her playmates are of a different social class. In The Golden Compass, as in our world, social class often defines a person’s life circumstances. However, Lyra is able to convince him to control himself because he is indebted to her for reuniting him with his armor. After Lyra helps Iorek Byrnisson to recover his armor, Iorek is almost lost in a fit of rage. In the world that Pullman creates, such social debts may even overpower physical strength. In turn, Serafina Keppala and her clan owe a debt to Farder Coram because he saved her life forty years ago. For this reason, John Faa feels that the gyptians owe it to Lord Asriel to protect his daughter Lyra. For example, Lord Asriel has performed many good deeds for the gyptian people over the years. Often this takes the form of a social debt. Loyalty is a powerful force that weighs heavily on the decisions of the characters in The Golden Compass. For example, Lyra’s companionship with Roger is so important that his disappearance is enough to upend her life. Even beyond the relationship with one’s dæmon, companionship has serious consequences. She takes joy in her dæmon’s pleasure but also fears his desire to stray. For example, while aboard a ship Lyra watches Pantalaimon take the form of a fish and play with a dolphin in the water. Even in characters’ relationships with their dæmons, insecurity and fear of abandonment are present. In this way, Pullman uses dæmons to draw out the broader theme of companionship and its sometimes difficult implications. Moreover, if this bond breaks then a person is considered to no longer be whole. This is a powerful bond that strikes jealousy in nonhuman beings that do not have dæmons. In the world of The Golden Compass, dæmons accompany characters throughout their lives and even into the afterlife. There'll come a time when you'll be tired of his changing about, and you'll want a settled kind of form for him” (101). When Lyra asks why her dæmon must settle when she grows up, he suggests that the compensation for losing the adaptability of childhood is knowing what kind of person you are: “Ah, they always have settled, and they always will. Lyra’s sailing mentor offers her some related advice. Throughout the novel, Pullman plays with the tension between the joys and freedoms of childhood and the lure of becoming an adult and settling into one’s identity. However, she is also very eager to encounter new experiences. Lyra experiences angst when she realizes that her world must change. The Golden Compass centers on the story of Lyra, a young girl who must leave the protected realm of her childhood behind in order to confront challenges in an unfamiliar and often-scary outside world. Buy Study Guide Fleetingness of childhood
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