The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage

“There was probably nowhere, he thought, where anyone could learn so much about the world as this little bend of the river, with the inn on one side and the priory on the other.”

Here, Malcolm describes his home on the banks of the River Thames. Between the priory and the inn, Malcolm is exposed to many different kinds of people. Travelers are always passing through, and he loves listening to the travelers’ conversations. His childhood has privileged him with worldly knowledge, which feeds into his character development as he walks the line between religious belief and science.

“These days the prevailing fashion in politics was one of obsequious submissiveness to the religious authorities, and ultimately to Geneva. As a consequence, some organizations of the favored religious kind found their power and influence greatly enhanced, while officials and ministers who had supported the secular line that was now out of favor had either to find other things to do, or to work surreptitiously, and at continuous risk of discovery.”

This passage describes the rise of the Church, headquartered in Geneva, as a political power. The change occurred recently enough that characters like Lord Nugent used to hold power openly but now must work secretly in their opposition. The passage suggests that loyalty to the Church is all that matters in securing and maintaining power, showing the single-minded focus of the authoritarian regime.

“The CCD was the Consistorial Court of Discipline, an agency of the Church concerned with heresy and unbelief. Malcolm didn’t know much about it, but he knew the sense of sickening terror the CCD could produce, through hearing some customers once discuss what might have happened to a man they knew, a journalist; he had asked too many questions about the CCD in a series of articles and had suddenly vanished. The editor of his paper had been arrested and jailed for sedition, but the journalist himself had never been seen again.”

The Consistorial Court of Discipline ruthlessly enforces the Church’s authority. They inspire fear in the general public, which works to limit heresy just as much as violence and arrests. They are responsible for censoring, disappearances, and murders. Malcolm knows few of these details, but he knows and feels the fear the CCD inspires. Part of Malcolm’s maturity arc involves his understanding of the Authoritarianism and Religious Control in his world.

“It wasn’t an easy time; everything seemed hung about with an unhappy air of suspicion and fear, quite unlike the normal world, as Malcolm thought of it, the place he was used to living in, where everything was interesting and happy.”

This passage illustrates the changes taking place in Malcolm’s world. He is slowly waking up to the pain and suffering in the world, a sure sign that he is leaving the innocence of childhood behind. At the same time, this narration foreshadows the impending conflict of the flood and all of the obstacles to come.

“And then there was the word Dust, with a capital D, as if it wasn’t ordinary dust but something special.”

While Dust doesn’t play as important of a role in La Belle Sauvage, it nevertheless sparks Malcolm’s interest immediately when he reads the word in the letter hidden in the acorn. The novel later reveals Dust to be a mysterious elemental particle that Bonneville studied, writing a paper arguing that the particle could explain human consciousness. It is a controversial claim because the Church worries that a scientific explanation for consciousness will undermine religious authority.

“The prefect sent a body of armed men to the library and threatened the librarian with death if it was not given up. Again the librarian refused, saying that he had not taken up his office in order to give away the contents of the library, and that he had a sacred duty to conserve and protect them for scholarship.”

Here, a professor in Uppsala describes how the Magisterium tried to take an alethiometer from the Oxford library by force. The librarian, who probably never expected to find himself on the front lines of a war, stood his ground and refused to let the instrument go. This attack on the library illustrates the Church’s mission to remove knowledge and, therefore, power from its opposition.

“I won’t go into all the steps Rusakov took, but he finally arrived at the extraordinary idea that consciousness is a perfectly normal property of matter, like mass or anbaric charge; that there is a field of consciousness that pervades the entire universe, and that makes itself apparent most fully—we believe—in human beings.”

Much of Pullman’s writing is concerned with the idea of consciousness. In La Belle Sauvage, scientists are close to proving that human consciousness has a scientific explanation; it is something that occurs naturally in matter, like electricity. However, the Magisterium believes that consciousness is spiritual in nature. They worry that a scientific explanation will undermine the Church’s power and try to silence these researchers.

“‘Oh , yes. And there were times when it was very dangerous to think the wrong things, or at least to talk about them.’

‘It is now, sort of.’

‘Yes. I’m afraid you’re right.’”

One of the ways that the Magisterium maintains its power is by limiting the public’s access to knowledge. Information that might threaten the Church’s power, like scientific findings that contradict religious teachings, is forbidden. People can go to jail just for talking about these forbidden subjects. The nature of this censorship stands opposite to Malcolm’s interests and personality, a boy who loves learning about the travelers at the inn and longs for exploration and scientific study.

“The League of St . Alexander was set up in memory of that brave little boy, and its emblem is a picture of the lamp he carried up onto the roof to signal where to come. Now, you might think that those days are long ago. We don’t have pagan altars in our cellars anymore. We all believe in the true God. We all cherish and love the Church. This is a Christian country in a Christian civilization.”

Here, a woman from the Magisterium visits Malcolm’s school and recruits children to join the League of St. Alexander, asking them to report instances of heresy and nonbelief to the Church’s authorities. She tells a story about St. Alexander, a young boy who reported his family for worshiping pagan gods and encourages Malcolm’s classmates to do the same. This passage shows the kind of suspicion and instability that the Church spreads as people always wonder who they can trust and who might be on the side of the Church.

“They taught less vigorously and told fewer stories, lessons became duller and more careful, and yet this seemed to be what the badge wearers wanted. The effect was as if each teacher was being examined by a fierce inspector, and each lesson became an ordeal in which not the pupils but the teachers were being tested.”

This passage describes how Malcolm’s school changed under the League of St. Alexander. Worried about being reported by their students, the teachers stopped including anything considered controversial in their lessons. Instead of being in charge, the teachers found themselves subject to their students. Malcolm, though confused about how to feel about the League, recognizes something sinister in this manipulation of students under the guise of religion.

“The steamy, noisy kitchen was the safest place in the world, it seemed to him. Safety had never been anything to think about before; it was something you took for granted, like his mother’s endless, effortless, generous food, and the fact that there would always be hot plates ready to serve it on.”

Until recently, everything in Malcolm’s life has been easy and comfortable. He never thought about being unsafe or living in fear. Now, however, he begins to realize that safety is not a given. He is lucky to experience the warmth and comfort of his mother’s kitchen, and he knows it is something that can be taken away, a sign of maturity as Malcolm comes to terms with his reality.

“She had nothing to fear from the police, or from any other agency, except that like every other citizen she had everything to fear. They could lock her up with no warrant and keep her there with no charge; the old act of habeas corpus had been set aside, with little protest from those in Parliament who were supposed to look after English liberty, and now one heard tales of secret arrests and imprisonment without trial, and there was no way of finding out whether the rumors were true.”

Here, Dr. Hannah Relf worries when she sees an official-looking van parked outside her home. Even though there is no way to prove that she opposes the Magisterium and works for Oakley Street, she lives in fear under the constant threat that the Church represents. Because there are no checks on the Magisterium’s power, anyone can be locked up on mere suspicion.

“[B]ut his imagination was limited at this point: he couldn’t conceive what a grown man would want with a solitary girl at night, or what could pass between them. Nor could he understand why she was blushing.”

In this passage, Alice tells Malcolm about her conversation with Bonneville. In his childish innocence, it doesn’t occur to Malcolm that Bonneville was trying to seduce the girl or that Alice might have felt attracted to him. He is still mystified by sexuality and adult relationships. Malcolm’s understanding of sexuality becomes a marker of his maturity throughout Pullman’s novel. Though he initially finds it mysterious, he eventually must confront it himself.

“This is a deep and uncomfortable paradox, which will not have escaped you: we can only defend democracy by being undemocratic. Every secret service knows this paradox. Some are more comfortable with it than others.”

Before Hannah agrees to read the alethiometer full time for Oakley Street, she asks for more details about the group’s mission and activities. Dr. Al-Kaisy tells her they must work subversively because the Magisterium has eroded democratic processes. This is another example of the complex concept of right and wrong that the novel illustrates. To work for a cause they believe in, liberty and intellectual freedom, Oakley Street has to act in a way they believe is wrong.

“‘Well, she’s very advanced for her age, anyway,’ said Malcolm. 'It’s really clever for her dæmon to be a mole. How’d they know about moles?’

‘That’s a mystery,’ said the old nun. 'Only the good Lord knows the answer to that, but that’s not surprising, because after all He created everything.’”

Malcolm is fascinated by the baby Lyra—especially by her dæmon’s ability to change into animals he has presumably never seen. Here, he wonders how Pantalaimon knows how to become a mole. With these questions, Malcolm is asking about the essence of consciousness and identity. Pan’s innate understanding of being “mole-ish” suggests humanity’s natural connection to the universe.

“Lessons went on as normal , though each lesson was now preceded by a prayer. The pictures that had hung in the corridors and classrooms—mostly reproductions of famous paintings, or paintings of historical scenes—had been taken down and replaced with posters bearing quotations from the Bible in rather hectoring color. Few pupils were openly naughty anymore—there were fewer fights in the playground, for instance—but everyone seemed guiltier.”

This passage is another example of the changes at Malcolm’s school under the League of St. Alexander. Religion has become integrated into the classroom in the place of rational learning. Although the children are better behaved than before, the indication that they feel guiltier suggests the constant looming fear of doing something wrong.

“[V]oices that said that the child was destined to put an end to destiny. That’s all.”

Here, the Oakley Street agent Bud Schlesinger describes the witches’ prophecy about Lyra, which will become central to the plot of His Dark Materials. Nothing more is known about the prophecy, but it is clear from the moment she is born that she is someone of great importance.

“Malcolm stopped thinking about that. He was discovering a new power in himself: he was able to stop thinking things he didn’t want to think. Quite often, he realized as he led the way down the moonlit path, he had pushed aside thoughts of his mother and father and how they must be suffering, wondering where he was, whether he was still alive, how he’d ever find his way back against the flood. He did it again now. It was dark under the holm oaks, so it didn’t matter if he made a face of anguish. He could stop that too after a few seconds.”

Here, Malcolm demonstrates his growing self-awareness. He is learning to see his thoughts as a distinct part of himself that he can control, not as something that merely happens to him. This means he is becoming more aware of the nuances of his identity, a sure sign that he is leaving childhood behind.

“He didn’t feel in the least bit sleepy, and his mind was still dwelling helplessly on the thought of Alice’s face, and what it might be like to stroke it or kiss it. He pushed that idea aside and tried to think of something else.”

Another clear sign that Malcolm is growing out of his innocence is the attraction he begins to feel toward Alice. These are the first sexual feelings Malcolm has experienced, and they surprise and confuse him. This moment marks a clear shift in Malcolm’s understanding of sexuality, which further develops as he witnesses the horror of Alice’s sexual assault.

“Expressions flitted over Alice’s face like the shadows of swift clouds on an April morning; but these expressions were all fear, or disgust, or horror, and looking at her, Malcolm felt he would never see sunlight on a spring morning again, so deep was the anguish and loathing the girl was feeling.”

Here, Alice reacts to hearing Bonneville say her name outside the canoe. Although Malcolm has matured a great deal, he still cannot fathom the complexity of emotion that Alice feels toward Bonneville. Her fear and hatred reach deeper than he can imagine.

“Malcolm felt something grow inside him that he couldn’t argue with or control, and it was like a herd of wild dogs, snarling and howling and snapping, racing towards him with their torn ears and blind eyes and bloodied muzzles.”

Repeatedly, Malcolm dreams of a pack of wild dogs that do his bidding and make him feel exhilarated and powerful. Faced with Bonneville, Malcolm summons the power of these dogs to kill the man. Their frightening yet exciting power represents the changes Malcolm feels as he grows up.

“Like Lord Nugent, George Papadimitriou had experienced the sense of strangeness and unreality that the flood produced. The gyptian owner of the boat he was traveling on told him that in gyptian lore, extreme weather had its own states of mind, just as calm weather did. 

‘How can the weather have a state of mind?’ said Papadimitriou. 

The gyptian said, ‘You think the weather is only out there? It’s in here too,’ and tapped his head.”

The flood sometimes produces strange visions or opens doors to parallel dimensions, like the fairy woman’s kingdom or the strange house where people “go to forget.” In this way, the flood is revealing what has long lay hidden. The suggestion that the weather is also “in here” suggests that the flood could be a symptom of the corruption in society, with the oppressive Magisterium limiting personal freedoms and spreading fear and anxiety. The flood serves to cleanse society and put into question those in power.

“With her now so close, he felt more shaken, sadder, more guilty, much older.”

Another important part of Malcolm’s coming-of-age story is his separation from Asta. This is another example of his growing self-awareness and ability to take control of himself and the situations around him. The incident ushers him into the complexity of adult experience as he feels relief for saving Alice but also grief for hurting Asta.