Innocence and Childhood in Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials

Abstract

Philip Pullman's young adult fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials combines the characteristics of the adventure tale with philosophical musings about subjects such as God, sin, humanity, and death. Among other things, the work engages in a long-standing debate about the nature of childhood. In this essay, I investigate how the concepts of childhood and innocence are utilized and discussed in the trilogy. I use historical accounts from various periods, as well as contemporary research in the field of childhood studies, in order to position the ideas of the trilogy in the wider context of the history of ideas. The essay shows that His Dark Materials sharply criticises the Romantic concept of childhood innocence, exposing it as an ideology used to silence and control children by denying them knowledge and growth. However, as similar Romantic ideas are employed and expressed in the trilogy by the implied author, His Dark Materials remains ambiguous as to whether childhood innocence should be completely rejected or not.