In The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, Lyra and Will both find themselves in this new world and that is where they meet for the first time. They are both from Oxford but from different times it seems. Will is from the modern day Oxford whilst Lyra is from an old Oxford. They manage to get back into Wills’ Oxford by finding a peculiar tear in the air. When they peered through, they could see the rush hour traffic of Oxford. Lyra had never seen so many cars and once they were through they both had their different missions. Lyra is trying to find out more about Dust and Will is trying to find more information about his missing father. Lyra and Will end up working together to and find that both their mysteries are connected.
“Just sort of relax your mind and say yes, it does hurt, I know. Don’t try and shut it out.” – Dr. Malone (to Lyra) (p.92)
I like this quote because I can relate. It can be hard to relax your mind when you have so many thoughts rushing through all the time. On the second sentance when Dr. Malone tells Lyra “Don’t try and shut it out.”, I think she is telling her to not ignore it when your brain is trying to relax and focus. You need to embrace it. Dr. Malone is telling her this when Lyra is trying to focus when they are trying to figure about about Dust and how the mysterious particles are connected to consciousness. Lyra needs to focus because she is connected to wires that will help her draw an image in her mind so ask questions and the answers are in drawings.