Imagination

Philip Pullman, in His Dark Materials trilogy, opens windows between worlds because of which Will Parry from our world and Lyra from a parallel Oxford meet. Their adventures resolve inner conflicts, and in the context of the story, universal conflicts also. Then they have to decide to close these windows for ever. Henceforward, these other worlds can only be visited in imagination.
Outside of the story, we are the ones who have to use our imaginations. The worlds we can see are 'real' in the sense of being personally meaningful.
In the story, Will has deep traumas to resolve - a disappeared father, a mentally ill mother, goons and bullies for classmates. He is introverted, liking to blend in so as not to be noticed. The breaking point was the accidental death of a burglar: this caused him to leave home and go on the run, thinking himself a murderer. His best friend was his cat, which he has to abandon when leaving. But he follows another cat into a parallel world and protects it.
Throughout the story he befriends a girl, Lyra, who becomes a significant girlfriend; finds his father, a man he can be duely proud of; he becomes a hero, saving the world many times; and he becomes his own person, someone who makes moral choices even when advised otherwise.
This then is a story of growing up, in which the inner world is more important than the outer world.
How we visualise ourselves plays a key part in our view of ourself, to our ideas of self-worth. Children need to be encouraged to believe in themselves, not to be punished into submission. We are all mentors and role models for each other, to support and assist this growth in confidence, and we ourselves learn from our own mentors. Children's role models are not necessarily positive, and peer pressure can be strong. The confidence to resist is the beginning of autonomy.
Reading stories is an important part of this process; telling them, acting them out and writing them up is even more important. My earliest dramatic role was as story narrator in the infant class, still a very positve memory. To be in control of one's own story is a good way to get through life.

See further:Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials: The Nature of Good and Evil, National Theatre Teachers Website.(2005).
Insight: Self Understanding Through Stories of Parallel Worlds. In: Research Focus, 22 May 2007, University of Worcester. (2007)

©Stephen Bigger 2008