"The golden compass" by phillip pullman to a quote by Tennyson ("to seek, to strive, to find and not to yield."

During the novel, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, Lyra's life follows the quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". As she matures through her experiences, the dimension of this credo changes.

At the beginning of the novel, she lives her life from day to day, plays around with other children and all she wants is a new adventure. At the same time, however, she knows that even though the scholars of Jordan College look after her and give her a place to stay at night, Jordan College is not her home. Even though she tries hard to make it her home, she is unsuccessful. However, as she stays with Mrs. Coulter, Lyra to finally have found it. For the first time, someone seems to care for her and her wishes. As she realizes her misjudgment, one would expect her to give up in disappointment.

Carbon print of Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1869, printe...

Deutsch: Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809-1892 englischer...

Lyra (Richards) and Pantalaimon in front of Ms. Co...

However, Lyra keeps going and tries to find another way to accomplish her goal.

While she stays with the gyptians, she finds out that Lord Asriel is her father. At this point in her life, she cannot imagine someone better to fill in this blank. As she searches now for Lord Asriel, she does not only hope to find her father, the person, but also the father figure she has created in her head. During this search, she finds something she would not have imagined: love. This love between Iorek and her, however, is not sexual nature, but rather based on the feeling that Iorek will always be there for her and will accept her and her decisions anytime. Without realizing it, she practically already found what she was looking for.

As she finally finds Lord Asriel, she expects to find the father figure she...