I think that there are three very prominent dichotomous themes in His Dark Materials: respectively, 1) innocence vs. experience; 2) wisdom vs. stupidity/ignorance/organized religion; and 3) destiny vs. free will. I will blog separately for each of these, as each could be its own term paper. The first and most pervasive theme in Pullman's trilogy is innocence vs. experience. He draws hugely from William Blake for this, even going so far as to explicitly quote Blake several times in The Amber Spyglass. Lyra, Will, and Mary undergo a transition from innocence to experience. Obviously, this argument could be made for about every other character in the book, but that belongs in a book!
Lyra starts out ignorant of the world at Jordan College, just hanging out with other kids all the time. She gains her first stroke of knowledge while hiding in the closet, and sees the master attempt to poison Asriel. Then she first learns about Dust, not knowing at the time that Dust would end up leading the rest of her life. Through the death of a friend, the severing of Pan, and the love of Will, she gains the perspective that leads to her experience. She is no longer a child, and cannot return to her former state, whether she wants to or not. And at first, she does want to, but she ultimately realizes that it is for the good that she now has insight and experience, for her own good, and that of the world.
Will starts out with a little more insight into the world than Lyra, as his mother is schizophrenic and at the same time is actually being persecuted and followed. Through his discoveries of the alternate world, the severing of his own daemon, sacrificing himself for the good of others, and the love of Lyra, he too gains the experience and insight necessary to finish out his life. He is no longer a child, and like Lyra, cannot return to his previously innocent state.
Mary seems to have already transitioned from innocence to experience, in her realization that Christianity is "a terrible well-thought out mistake," and her giving up her life as a nun in exchange for science. She illustrates, however, that no matter how experienced you think you are, you are still ignorant and innocent of many things. Socrates said that a wise man knows that he knows nothing. Mary goes on to another transition to still more experience, in her living and establishing a mutual symbiosis with (and I'll get to that in the civilization vs. savagery blog) the mulefa. Through her communing with the mulefa, her own discovery of Dust and her ability to personally change the world, she also gains experience. She tells Will at the end that she would like to be his friend forever because he is the only one she can talk to about the events, because their knowledge and experience transcends that of everyone else who has never traveled to another world or seen Dust or their daemons.
William Blake is best known for his theme of innocence vs. experience (and his etchings!). Pullman knew this, of course, and it is a pervasive theme in His Dark Materials. Everyone, through realizing things they did not ever imagine were possible to realize, come to experience out of their innocence. Everyone feels nostalgic about their lost state of innocence, but ultimately, they accept their experience and gained knowledge, and realize that it is for the better for themselves and the world as a whole. "There is no progression without contraries." -William Blake
More information on Blake.
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