[6of9]

In books like The Hobbit, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Golden Compass, the finishing of the quest (or whatever the central aim of the book is) is usually an allegory for growing up. The Pevensie children in LWW and Lyra in GC have destinies. How they confront their destinies determines what kind of people they will become.

It could be said that each of us has a destiny, or predetermined future: namely, the people we will become. The Golden Compass represents an advance in the children's fantasy arena because Lyra can choose whether or not to accept her destiny.

This may be a little obscure, but I find that growing up in relation to this identity is like an existential construction: one makes themself in relation to it. It is Kierkegaardian, with "destiny" replacing "God" as the absolute. To me at least, this is an exciting discovery. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[Azurehero]

My comment is this: Most stories involve a journey of some kind on some level. There are twelve steps of the journey pointed out by Christopher Volger in his book The Writers Journey. George Lucas consciously used them exactly in Star Wars.

Check his book out, I think you'll be suprised.