The Golden Compass post 2

"Benny, the pastry cook at Jordan, whose daemon was male, sitting in the warm cabin with his cousins the Costa family and listening to the story of how Lyra hijacked their boat, and their demand that someone discipline the brat. Their indignation was too much to bear without laughing. In return..." (Pullman, 296)

This passage, by a perfunctory sweep, has little importance to the book. However, looking deeper, I can see much greater portends. There are few humans with daemons the same gender. The norm appears to be humans who have opposite gender daemons, perhaps representing a part of the personality that is traditionally male /female. This would also suggest, in my opinion, humans with opposite gender daemons are heterosexual and those with same sex daemons are homosexual.

The Lantern Slides all start their snippets without a complete sentence. (Another example will be in the next post, because the Lantern Slides are a goldmine). This allows the piece to have a more relaxed air and to also appear to be cast offs, adrift without the book to tether them.

In most fantasy novels, the hero or heroine is heterosexual. (There are a few exceptions, notably Wraeththu and The Last Herald Mage Trilogy). Where this is the case, if a homosexual character exists, they will be a side character, as is evidenced here. (To compare, again, we have two healers in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series who are lesbians, but are mentioned in passing most of the time). Apparently, for the mainstream, people want their fantasy to contain straight people, even if it has dragons, faeries, unicorns, magic, and wizards.

It is interesting the pastry cook is friendly with the gyptians. Is it more socially acceptable for a possible homosexual to mingle with another group if both are in the lower classes? What does this mean for homosexuality in general in Lyra's world? Women Scholars are rare and denigrated to second class citizens. Homosexuals are usually very much in the minority- so where are they in the class structure? How are their daemons different from a heterosexual person's daemon?