Smith of Wootton Major - Essay Example

Smith of Wootton Major
This was the last of Tolkien’s published works; a fairy fable about a gifted man‘s journey through fairyland.
As Smith travels back and forth to the fairy realm and back to reality he gets to experience a change in his perspective of things. At one point he gets to see the hall in a repainted form and more colorful. This gift is what makes him excel in his career as a blacksmith. He takes time to be precise in what he makes; this is because he gets to see things for what they are and not what one is used to seeing. His journeys through fairyland bring out a sense of enlightenment. When he visits fairyland he gets to visit another realm not so far apart from reality and gets to see it in their eyes. He thus brings a fresher and more refined view of reality when he is teleported back to it.
The question of space and time also arises with the flow of the fairy tale. It is not said how long Smith takes in his travels through this unknown land; not in terms of hours, days or years. It seems that the time he spends in this other unknown land does not heavily affect his time in the real world. With this advantage, Smith takes his time sometimes even ages studying features of this enchanted world, a tree, or even a leaf to gain greater knowledge in the understanding of things, some of which seemed quite strange. The perilous moments Smith gets to experience are but a representation of what he had to go through to better his skills, to get to see what he had to see thus bringing the knowledge back to reality where it yielded productive results.
The character’s journey through fairyland is but a representation of his struggle and experience in his field of work and what he could manage to bring forward to his readers(the real world). Finally, he ends his allegory by making the main character Smith pass down his star to the next generation. Being the last of his works, the fable was a way for him to pave the way for the next generation of fairy tale writers who would also be endorsed with a gift such as his. Read More