Gender and the Fall in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" Trilogy

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Origin and studies of gender
2.1. The Christian construction of gender: the Fall
2.1.1. Analysis of Genesis 2–3
2.1.2. Affirmative implications of Genesis 2–3
2.2. Scientific investigations: gender studies
2.2.1. About gender studies
2.2.2. Gender studies and fantasy fiction
2.2.3. The protagonists’ names

3. Gendered worlds
3.1. Familiar cultures
3.1.1. Lyra’s Oxford: medieval patriarchy
3.1.2. Witches and bears: single-sex societies
3.2. Other worlds
3.2.1. Cittàgazze: dystopia
3.2.2. The Mulefa: utopia

4. Biblical allegories: Protagonists in HDM
4.1. Mary Malone
4.1.1. Mary’s life: science versus religion
4.1.2. The serpent and the saint
4.2. Mrs Marisa Coulter
4.2.1. Femme fatale, Lilith or vicious stepmother
4.2.2. Mother fatale or loving mother?
4.3. Lyra Belacqua / Silvertongue
4.3.1. Lyra’s childhood: missing role models
4.3.2. Lyra as female hero

5. The Fall in HDM
5.1. Prerequisites
5.1.1. Eve and Adam
5.1.2. The Church
5.2. The Fall
5.2.1. Two antipodal versions
5.2.2. Lyra and Will

6. Conclusion

Works cited

1. Introduction

There is hardly any story about the origin of human beings that is as well-known as that of Adam and Eve. In every culture and religion legends exist of how mankind came into being, what our function on earth is, why we are mortal and where evil originates from. Hardly any story has had such an immense and lasting influence as the Christian story of the Fall of Man: every child knows the names of the first human beings, countless literary works refer to them, and numerous theories as to the intention of the story have been made. The text has been interpreted literally as well as allegorically, depending on the cultural, temporal and religious background of the interpreter, on the purpose (what they wanted to read out of the text) – and on the sex of the respective reader. Often enough, the story of the Fall served as a justification for discrimination of women and has thus become “the one that has been most generally abused” (Bal 2001: 149) – one starting point for scientists to engage in the origins, reasons, development, and actual status of misogyny. Starting with feminism, scientists have enlarged their field of work to gender relations in general.

Today, we live in a place and time where women and men have equal rights, equal jobs and an equal social status. We think of social inequalities as happening either far away in place or long ago in time. We have the first female German Chancellor ever; a woman has the power to lead and represent our country. But still, a female Chancellor is unique and special in Germany. We find ourselves at the height of a debate about the sexes in society, in politics, and among scientists. The work of scientists and feminists has been going on and developing for the last three or four decades and is one of the reasons why today’s society is as equal as it is. This does not mean, however, that the only objective of the so-called gender studies is to bring about equality – on the contrary, even in apparently equal societies there is a lot more to examine than the status of women.

Gender studies do not denounce defects among the two sexes, but rather “frag[en] nach dem Wert, der Funktion und den Konsequenzen von Differenzierungen, Polarisierungen und Hierarchisierungen in historischen, sozialen, politischen und kulturellen Kontexten“ (Stephan 2000: 68). There are uncountable aspects to this field of study, since almost all components of social life interact with one another. Thus, you could easily trace the effects that philosophy has on natural sciences, art history on medicine, literature on jurisprudence, and theology on social sciences (cf. von Braun 2000: 11). Additionally, gender studies are not restricted to one particular culture, nation, race, class, religion etc. Sometimes only the comparison to other societies makes the findings interesting.

So if one wants to study gender in the literary field, other areas of science almost naturally come into play. Literature is a reflection of and an interaction with society, and even in genres like science fiction there are always relations to the world the author lives in. Correspondingly, my essay on Gender and the Fall in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials -trilogy is composed of several seemingly different, but interacting and important fields of study: I will start with an analysis of Genesis 2–3, since the story of Adam and Eve brought about role models and images of man and woman (and thus of gender) that lasted for centuries. These implied mostly negative features, so my next task will be to point out what positive aspects can be deduced from the story – mostly based on recent findings of gender studies. From there, I will give an overview over research in gender studies, in general at first, and then specifically with regard to fictional literature. The gender view on literature differs from traditional narratological approaches in quite a few aspects. ‘Classic’ narratology is ahistoric, sex-indifferent and text-centered, whereas gender-oriented narratology focuses on content rather than form, on the interpretation of (mainly female) characters, and on references to reality (cf. Nünning/Nünning 2004: 8–10). Since this essay is about gender, my emphases will be on the very same aspects.

Accordingly, I will approach the content of the trilogy by having a look at the names the author gave his protagonists. These names are most obvious references to ‘our’ culture and history, and they are helpful, if not essential, for characterizing the protagonists. The next step will be to examine the surroundings these protagonists live in: the kinds of society Pullman has created in his books. There are several very special peoples, clans or other social groups that are worth studying from a gender perspective – either because they are utopian fantasy, or because they live contrary to existing prejudices or stereotypes, or because they remind the reader of existing groups that appear satirically exaggerated.

The focus of this essay, however, will be on three particular characters, whose behaviour and gender roles are the most striking exceptions from their social surroundings: Mary Malone, Lyra Belacqua and Marisa Coulter. All of them show extraordinary (non-stereotypical) characteristics and an interesting development, and all of them can be seen as allegorical figures partaking in Pullman’s version of the Fall. Thus, their careers and backgrounds are to be examined as well as the roles they play in the Fall in HDM. My final chapter will be about Pullman’s Fall as such, including requisites that precede it and the various adaptations of the Fall we get to know. The original version in the Bible is closely related to the church as an institution. The books do not shed a friendly light on the church and its members, and this image is to be examined in my essay, too (which could also be discussed in the chapter about social groups, but which I prefer to place within the context of the Fall). The Fall of Man, the creation of conscious life, is mentioned and re-told three times in Pullman’s books and thus should be considered in greater length here, too. All this previous knowledge is important in order to fully appreciate the Fall of Lyra and Will. In Christian culture, Eve is part of the first story about love, sex and gender ever in human history. By referring to the starting point of gender studies and also to the beginning of this piece of writing, the final chapter rounds off my essay.

2. Gender studies

2.1. The Christian construction of gender: the Fall

2.1.1. Analysis of Genesis 2–3

The first chapters of Genesis in the first book of Moses in the Old Testament contain the creation of human beings and the Fall of Man. Our origin, our mortality, the questions of how we became conscious, sentient, thinking beings and how evil came into the world are themes that have (and will?) always bothered us. All of them are addressed in this small piece of writing. Many people have attempted to explore

how Christians invoked the story of Adam and Eve to justify and establish their beliefs; how they saw their own situations, their sufferings, and their hopes mirrored in the story of the creation and the fall […] and often projected themselves into it. (Pagels 1988: xxf.)

The full impact that this story has had on mankind can hardly be put into words. That the story is essential even for unbelievers, because its effects and references are noticeable everywhere, cannot be doubted. Let us see, then, what it is that has for centuries caused so much turmoil. To achieve a comprehensive depiction, I have decided to approach the matter chronologically: I will step by step analyse the original text and sum up what has been read out of it.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. 22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. (The Holy Bible: Genesis 1, original typeface)

These lines have often caused men to claim superiority over women: don’t they say that the man was created first and the woman is just a piece of his bone, without any spirit or intelligence? For centuries, people believed this explanation and regarded women as inferior beings who shouldn’t be allowed to think, only to please the men. More recent interpretations, however, point out that this description only emphasizes the deep bond between men and women – they were one flesh und thus equal. And on closer inspection there is no evidence that the first being was a male – ‘man’ can refer to Mensch in general. (“Adam”, see ch. 2.2.3., only means that this being is made of soil.) Only when the second Mensch is made, they are attributed different sexes: like one chromosome that replicates, splits apart and then develops into two different things.

1NOW the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (The Holy Bible: Genesis 2, original typeface)

The serpent’s approach is often regarded as a tactically and verbally clever manoeuvre. Engaging Eve in a conversation, it generalises God’s command not to eat from the single tree of knowledge of good and evil, expecting Eve to contradict. The following adjustment of the consequences seems purely informative, without any threats or negative outcomes, but rather with the prospect to get closer to God. Eve is not seduced, exactly, but persuaded by better arguments and by the possibility of free choice. An interesting question is also, how Eve came to know God’s exact words, since she hadn’t been there yet when God spoke them to the man. Some say that Eve did no wrong, because God didn’t forbid her to eat the fruit of this tree. Additionally, her choice of words does not specifically refer to the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the prospect of death rather suggests the tree of life, which is also in the midst of the garden.

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked […]. (The Holy Bible: Genesis 2, original italics)

The serpent made Eve judge the matter at hand by herself, and Eve used her commonsense, her wits as well as her senses. She is given the chance to make an own decision instead of blindly obeying orders; the most convincing argument seemed to her to be wiser afterwards, the better to please God and behave to his liking. Can she be condemned for an action that was motivated by good faith?

Wenn Eva und Adam vor dem Griff nach dem Apfel keine Kenntnis von Gut und Böse hatten, wie konnten sie dann wissen, daß ihre Tat böse war? Waren sie dann nicht wie Kinder, denen man keine Schuld zuweisen kann? Mußten sie dann nicht zum Apfel greifen, um geistig wach und moralisch reif zu werden? (Flasch 2004: 30, original italics)

It is important that we notice two inconspicuous, but essential little words: “her husband with her” (The Holy Bible: Genesis 2, 6; my emphasis). Adam was close by; he must have overheard the whole conversation and voluntarily took the fruit from Eve. If any blame should be assigned to Eve at all, Adam bears half of it. “[N]either of the two human beings was deceived, and both transgressed equally” (Bal 2001: 154). Interestingly, even though Eve was seen as the culprit, many references speak of ‘Adam’s sin’. The anatomic phrase ‘Adam’s apple’ is said to derive from the Fall: a piece of the fruit (apple) became stuck in Adam’s throat as a reminiscence of his disobedience. Additionally, even God didn’t seem to consider Eve as the lone culprit: he addressed Adam first, then Eve and finally the serpent, punishing them in reversed order. Neither Adam nor Eve stood by their deed, by the way, but passed the blame on to the next in the row. This may be another reason for God’s harsh punishment.

22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden […]. (The Holy Bible: Genesis 2, original typeface)

The expulsion from Eden is explained with God’s fear that the man may also taste of the fruit of the tree of life. Maybe the knowledge of good and evil is not the reason for the expulsion, then, as that had been punished with hard labour and pains already. There is another argument supporting my thesis: if one articulates a ban, doesn’t one half expect it to be violated? Why articulate it otherwise? Every law, every rule and instruction comprises the concept of violation, or it would make no sense. If, however, the prevention of immortality was God’s motive for the expulsion, it would have been an unfair thing to do: to punish someone for an action they might never have done. He may have been to late anyway, as Adam and Eve had already gained knowledge:

If, as the synonymic use of the verb yada for ‘to know’ and ‘to have sex’ suggests, this knowledge includes sexual knowledge, it does indeed supply immortality, not to the individual but to the species. (Bal 2001: 164, original italics)

Immortality of the species is undeniably an appealing promise. For the next chapter, my goal will be to find more evidence for the thesis that the Fall can just as well be understood positively.

2.1.2. Affirmative implications of Genesis 2–3

We have already discussed some of the negative bearings of the biblical story: the discrimination of women and a refusal to let them occupy powerful jobs within the church and outside of it, and a justification of patriarchy. Is Eve indeed guilty, because the serpent had beguiled her and not Adam? Sauvant (1995) describes at great length that for thousands of years, matriarchy was the standard form of rule. The reason was simply that the men were absent all day hunting, and when they got home, they were tired and had missed all recent events at home. So the obvious habit was that the women decided and managed matters. With this in mind, the idea suggests itself that the serpent instinctively approached the woman as the appropriate contact person. Women were responsible for important decisions; essential issues such as progress and wisdom were Eve’s to assess. From this view, the story casts a rather negative light on the man, instead, as he uncritically followed Eve suit without so much as ask for her reasons.

There is another support to the assumption “Eva hat recht getan” (title of Sauvant 1995): Only after the Fall and the punishment by God the woman is given a name and, at the same time, a function: “the mother of all living” (The Holy Bible: Genesis 3,20). She is not ‘the mother of sin’ or ‘the bringer of pain, labour and death’, but, explicitly positive, the reason for and the cause of life. Consequently, the Fall was good: it was necessary for life to continue, for all human beings to know their function in society and thus to see their meaning in life.

One more destructive effect of the Fall I want to refute here is this: clerics have often read the story as a condemnation of sexuality, regarding Adam’s and Eve’s ‘knowledge’ as the cause for the expulsion from paradise. The serpent had become the embodiment of evil, if not of Satan himself. This reputation lacks verification, though. One attribute of serpents is their periodical casting of the skin. It stands for regeneration, renewal, development, and progress: “Das Bild der Schlange stand für das intuitive Wissen um das Grundprinzip der stufenweisen Weiterentwicklung des Lebens“ (Sauvant 1995: 69, original italics). The biblical image of the serpent might just have signalled that it was time for Adam and Eve to move on, to advance to the next level of maturity. Being loyal servants to God and not wise enough yet to decide on their own, they might not have progressed without help; they needed a stimulus and a catalyst. The serpent therefore helped them develop and mature; it triggered the evolution of wisdom, procreation, freedom, and of mankind as we know it in general. This is one message Christians have read out of Genesis 2–3:

freedom in its many forms, including free will, freedom from demonic powers, freedom from social and sexual obligations, freedom from tyrannical government and from fate; and self-mastery as the source of such freedom. (Pagels 1988: xxv)

The most essential point that is repeatedly stressed by scientists and Christians alike is the “Konflikt zwischen freiem Willen und Schicksal” (Borer 1984: 118). If God rules over everything and has the power to influence our lives, is then everything we do predestined? If so, why do we mature, if we cannot make our own decisions? „[H]ier geht es um die Frage nach dem Sinn des Lebens überhaupt“ (Borer 1984: 118). If we take Genesis 2–3 as guidance (as many Christians use to), the goal very clearly is: free will.

The concept of free will, an affirmative understanding of the Fall of Man, and the importance of maturity and human worth will play an important role later in this essay. Before I deal with Philip Pullman’s realization of gender and the Fall, I want to introduce scientists’ view on this issue.

2.2. Scientific investigations: gender studies

2.2.1. About gender studies

The Fall of Man, e.g. the story of Adam and Eve, was one of the causes for scientists to start studying the role and image of women; and it certainly is still an important ground for their work today. The biblical story has often been the justification for men to discriminate women, to keep them from responsible occupational positions or from employment at all, and to blame them for all kinds of things in general. The findings of gender studies were enlightening, though, and created attention; thus they have contributed a lot to rectify former views. Having started as feminist researches, these studies devote their work to women and men equally today.

Women had enough of being blamed only because of the sex they were born in. “Perhaps the most fundamental claim of modern feminism is that anatomy is not destiny” (Bloch 2003: 22). The daily life of an average woman/man and therefore the image of a ‘typical woman’ or a ‘typical man’ have changed considerably during the last centuries. The reason for this change is the development of society. “With few exceptions, feminists blame society, not the body, for producing women’s subordination” (Bloch 2003: 22). ‘Gender’ is, therefore, seen not as a biologically given, static fact, but as a social construction that changes and develops through time and place. Hence also the change of the name ‘feminist studies’ to ‘gender studies’, because the new name emphasizes the difference between biological sex and socially constructed gender and fully includes men as objects of study.

Geschlechterforschung/Gender-Studien fragen nach der Bedeutung des Geschlechts für Kultur, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaften. Sie setzen keinen festen Begriff von Geschlecht voraus, sondern untersuchen, wie sich ein solcher Begriff in den verschiedenen Zusammenhängen jeweils herstellt bzw. wie er hergestellt wird, welche Bedeutung ihm beigemessen wird und welche Auswirkungen er auf die Verteilung der politischen Macht, die sozialen Strukturen und die Produktion von Wissen, Kultur und Kunst hat. (von Braun 2000: 9)

This definition accentuates the importance of society and culture; it also fittingly describes gender studies as a category connecting or mediating different fields of study as well as male and female scientists (cf. von Braun 2000: 11). Also interesting about this definition is that it is representative for all the other attempts to fix the meanings and contents of gender studies. So many aspects have turned out to have an influence on ‘gender’ and almost every part of society, history, culture and literature can be analysed with regard to gender. Pullman’s fantasy fiction books are, as I will show next, a wonderful example.

When looking at literature one has to distinguish between a narratological approach and a feminist/gender one. The ‘classic’ method is theoretical, descriptive and analytic, and examines the form and structure of literature. Feminist-oriented literary studies are rather normative and interpret the content and the characters (cf. Nünning/Nünning 2004: 8). One of the most striking differences to the traditional method is that feminist and gender studies emphasize the importance of reality – or, as Nünning and Nünning call it, “Referenzialisierbarkeit oder lebensweltlicher Bezogenheit” (2004: 100, original emphasis). I will repeatedly show that including references to reality into the analysis often contributes to a better understanding.

This essay is therefore not a traditional literary analysis, but one from the gender perspective. This makes sense also, and especially, for fictional literature.

2.2.2. Gender studies and fantasy fiction

Until recently, fiction was regarded and analysed in a way that was marked as “ethnocentric in critical orientation (e.g. ‘Englishness’ as ‘universal’) and male-dominated” (Longhurst 1989: 2). The ‘universal Englishness’ Longhurst speaks of can be seen especially when the characteristic other worlds are involved: English is the language that most people speak, even in other countries or on other planets (also in His Dark Materials^[1]: there are very few exceptional people that can’t communicate in English with the protagonists, for example the villagers little Tony Makarios lived with or the Mulefa). In addition, English-speaking countries or even cities are the centre around which the story revolves: in Pullman’s case it is Oxford in England. It is the setting of the beginning and the end of the trilogy, it appears in other worlds as well and many of the protagonists live there.

This is not the only interesting feature of the other-worlds-idea in science fiction: “unconstrained by the parameters of the realist mode it allows a writer to imagine other worlds and other times, making space for visions of a better world – in the Utopian tradition – or, in the dystopian, a worse one” (Lefanu 1989: 177). The world of the Mulefa (see ch. 3.2.3.) could be seen as Pullman’s Utopia; the appalling opposites are maybe the children of Cittàgazze (ch. 3.2.2.), and certainly the world of the dead, where disorder, horror and fear rule the day and any kind of life, love and also understanding are missing.

A relatively new approach is to look at fiction from a gender perspective, a necessary innovation if one agrees “that all narrative and its reading are intrinsically inflected by sexual politics” (Longhurst 1989: 4). The sexual components of science fiction are numerous, and obvious:

Science fiction is not monolithic, and despite the refusal of many of its practitioners to question the sexual status quo, it has from the beginnings been a literature of inquiry, allowing comment and critique through the processes of defamiliarization and estrangement (Lefanu 1989: 179).

This means, in general, that everything is possible. Authors can either take over, redefine, turn around or abolish existing sex and gender definitions. They can do this by “examining and picking apart the apparently seamless narrative ideology that defines us as women and men in relation to each other and the world” (Lefanu 1989: 178). In the best case, “[w]orlds are created in which gender roles appear not to exist” (Lefanu 1989: 179). How this is realized in HDM will be discussed in chapter three.

If one method of science fiction is “defamiliarization and estrangement” (Lefanu 1989: 179), it is important to know the reality which is estranged. How much pre-knowledge is expected from the reader and, come to that, what kinds of target readers did Pullman have in mind? In the United States and in Sweden, the novels were published for adults; in Great Britain, however, they won children’s book awards. Books for children usually show a familiar subject matter and a clear, chronological plot. In our case, familiar matter is mixed with the unfamiliar and strange; the novels are longer than would be usual and the plot ramifies and splits up among several groups of protagonists.

This argues for the American and Swedish solution, namely an adult book. The various topics, allusions and intertextual elements given in the novels seem to support this classification, too: how much could children possibly know about the history of humans and of the church? Do any children know Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Kleist’s On the Marionette Theatre or Milton’s Paradise Lost ? Do they understand physics, philosophy, the problems of growing up or questions of power?

On the other hand, there shouldn’t be any problems for children to grasp the story line. The language in the novels is easy enough for them to understand, and though with less background knowledge than adults, the conclusions are probably the same for children. The plots might sometimes be hard to follow and the characters are not all static and easy to identify with, but that holds for adult readers, too. The traditional separation into children’s and adult fiction is here not possible. I therefore argue that it is dual address what Pullman had in mind. He included a lot of elements for young readers in his books, for example, the two teenage main protagonists and their adventurous journey through the worlds without a full understanding of the adults’ businesses. For adults, there are enough other elements that may deepen their understanding, like philosophical, religious, intertextual and satirical allusions. These features make the novels more complex, certainly more interesting and maybe more difficult, and this explains why the novels are so attractive for adults: in our complex world many people feel a yearning for simpler worlds, which they (hope to) find in HDM. The books thus answer children’s desire for adventure and identification and adults’ wish for either simple entertainment or many-facetted, high-quality literature – depending on the interests. As for the sex of the readers, Pullman provided attractive features for both. Girls can identify with Lyra, because this mischievous little girl becomes a great heroine, has admirable abilities and finds her ‘prince’ in the end (even if they have to separate again). Boys will like Will, who searches for his famous father and gets the most powerful weapon in the world(s). Grown-up women needn’t see Mrs. Coulter as the evil woman but may try to comprehend her feminist, emancipated behaviour; men might share Lord Asriel’s desire to conquer a world of his own and create an entirely different republic.

Now to the second aspect Longhurst mentioned above: Science fiction is male-dominated (Longhurst 1989: 2). There are several, typically fictional, narrative elements, most of which are completely reversed in HDM. There is, for example, “the heroic quest and the tale of the lonely individual struggling against the universe” (Lefanu 1989: 185) who is usually male. Lyra, in HDM, is neither lonely nor male. The “attractive traditional solution: the achievements of and maturation of the male hero” (Lefanu 1989: 187) is transferred to the female heroine. Still, Lyra fulfils the role of a typical hero(ine), as can be seen in her name already. Her name and many others will be looked at in the following chapter.

[...]

^[1] I will abbreviate His Dark Materials in this essay with HDM. Correspondingly, The Golden Compass will be GC, The Subtle Knife will be SK, and The Amber Spyglass will be AS.