Summary
The Costas and Lyra arrive at the Fens, where the gyptians’ great meeting will take place. At the same time they receive news that the police are offering a large cash reward for Lyra’s capture. At the meeting, the gyptians approve John Faa’s proposal to send a rescue mission to the North to look for their missing children. John Faa announces another meeting in three days to discuss the details. He also announces that the girl the police are looking for, Lyra, is present at the meeting, and that the gyptian community will protect her against anybody who wants to turn her in, gyptian or not.
After the meeting, John Faa invites Lyra to the parley room to talk with him and Farder Coram, an old gyptian seer who is greatly respected in the community. Lyra tells them everything that she has experienced. She explains that the Master tried to poison Lord Asriel and that she is in the possession of an alethiometer. Farder Coram, who knows a little bit about how to use the device, explains that each symbol depicted on the alethiometer has many layers of meaning. If Lyra learns the symbols’ meanings then she can ask the alethiometer any question she wants. However, this information is in a book that only exists in a library in Germany.
In their discussion, the gyptian leaders also explain the truth about Lyra’s past. Lyra learns that her parents did not really die in an airship accident. In reality, her mother is Mrs. Coulter and her father is Lord Asriel. When her parents met and fell in love, Mrs. Coulter was married to a politician. Rather than risk her husband discovering her affair, Mrs. Coulter sent Lyra to be raised by Ma Costa in Oxford, where Lord Asriel could keep an eye on her.
However, when Mr. Coulter discovered the truth he went to find Lyra in a fit of rage, intent on killing her. Lord Asriel arrived in time to save Lyra. In the subsequent fight he killed Mr. Coulter. The court left Lyra in the care of a convent and took away all of Lord Asriel’s property as punishment for the murder. But Lord Asriel was able to move Lyra from the convent to Jordan College, where he thought she would be better cared for. He left Lyra there on the condition that the Master never let her mother, Mrs. Coulter, contact her.
While Lyra was in Oxford under the care of the Master of Jordan College, Ma Costa continued to watch over her. In general, the gyptians looked after Lyra because Lord Asriel fought for their rights in parliament on many occasions. John Faa tells Lyra that Bernie Johansen, a half-gyptian pastry cook at Jordan College, sent reports to John Faa and the gyptian leadership about Lyra’s development throughout her life.
Lyra leaves the meeting with a completely new sense of self. With the knowledge that Ma Costa took care of her as a baby, her relationship with the older gyptian woman becomes much more intimate. Lyra spends several days pestering Ma Costa for more information about her childhood and getting to know the gyptian children at the Fens. She also tries to glean meaning from the symbols on the alethiometer. She has no book to study and no one to tell her what the symbols mean. However, the knowledge that the great Lord Asriel is her father gives her confidence that she will be able to work it out with practice.
After three days the gyptians hold their second meeting. John Faa appoints each of the six heads of families to a different task for the northward journey. After the general meeting, the men of the Gyptians’ Council meet in the parley room to further discuss the plans. Lyra is furious that they are not planning on bringing her along, and she interrupts their meeting to try to convince them that they will need her on the mission, a demand which they flatly refuse.
Lyra is frustrated that she will not be allowed to join the journey north. She finds distraction in Farder Coram, whose wisdom and knowledge of the world intrigues her. One afternoon Lyra is playing with the alethiometer and asks Farder Coram what the hourglass means. He says that other than time, its second meaning is death. Farder Coram asks Lyra what she was thinking about that prompted the alethiometer to give that response. She tells him she was thinking of Benjamin de Ruyter, the gyptian spymaster. At that very moment, news arrives that Benjamin de Ruyter was killed on a mission.
John Faa hears that Lyra is getting better at reading the alethiometer and decides that she should join the gyptian men on their mission to the North. Lyra is ecstatic but John Faa warns her that the trip will be dangerous and difficult. The first leg of the journey is by narrowboat to reach the coast. During this time Lyra will have to remain in hiding, since the police all over England have intensified their efforts to locate her.
On the way to the coast, Lyra is on board the same boat as Farder Coram, and the two become increasingly close. Since Lyra is not allowed above deck, she spends many hours trying to interpret the strange messages emitted by the alethiometer, and Farder Coram continues to guide her. Lyra finds that she has an almost natural ability and quickly advances in her abilities with the device.
Toward the end of the journey to the coast, where they will board a bigger ship to go North, Lyra asks her alethiometer what Mrs. Coulter is doing at that moment. Yet she cannot decipher the device’s answer. Frustrated, and tired of being stuck indoors for so long, Lyra convinces Farder Coram to allow her above deck just for a few minutes. However, while she is there two small bug-like mechanical devices attack Pantalaimon. Farder Coram, who recognizes the machines, says they are powered by a mighty and evil spirit. He believes that Mrs. Coulter is probably using them to spy on Lyra.
Both Farder Coram and Lyra realize that the alethiometer had warned them about this and that they must take the device’s messages seriously. One of the bug-like spies gets away, most likely to inform Marisa Coulter of Lyra’s whereabouts. But Farder Coram traps the other one and seals it in a tin box. If it ever escapes, the evil spirit that drives it will direct it to kill Lyra. Presently, they reach the coast and join John Faa and the rest of the team on a ship headed north.
Analysis
The Fens, where the gyptians feel safest and most at home in all of England, is a dangerous place with harsh physical conditions. There is very little dry land to build on. The “landlubbers” who live in the dry areas around the Fens view the gyptians with disdain. Pullman thus develops the theme of social class through the gyptians, since many in England treat them as second-class citizens.
Lyra hardly misses a beat when she learns that she has been lied to her whole life about who her parents really are. However, Pullman notes that Lyra would have to adjust to her new sense of self, and that this “couldn’t be done in a day.” This instance of understatement highlights Lyra’s hardiness of character. Most people would be upset if their parents lied to them about their identities. Yet Lyra is able to gather inspiration and confidence that her father is actually Lord Asriel, who she considers intelligent, strong and impressive.
Lyra’s conversation with Farder Coram and John Faa is the first time that she shares her story completely with anyone. She does not even conceal that she is in possession of the alethiometer. As Lyra is thrust into positions of greater responsibility, she begins to develop more honest relationships with the adults in her life. This is also because she meets more sincere adults with whom she is able to form real friendships: Ma Costa, John Faa, and Farder Coram. She no longer feels the need to lie to these adults or to withhold information from them.
The boat ride on the canals from the Fens to the Coast represents a symbolic moment of rebirth for Lyra. She has plenty of time to think about where she comes from and where she is going, because she must stay under deck for two whole weeks. As she daydreams, Lyra is both anxious to get to the freedom of the North and nostalgic for her simple life back at Jordan College. The cramped, dark quarters of the boat represent a sort of womb, where Farder Coram nurtures Lyra with knowledge and stories.
When Lyra reaches the sea she is met by its “rush of water,” evoking imagery of childbirth and a woman’s water breaking. She emerges from the canal into the open sea, where she will sail north and take on even more responsibilities. After weeks hiding indoors, Lyra is finally leaving England, where the entire country’s police force is looking for her. The “rush of water” is accompanied by the “movement of air.” This symbol of rebirth also represents a new, freer state of affairs for Lyra.
