The Hobbit Revised Version - Research Paper Example

Research Paper: The Hobbit Revised Version Key Factors that Shape Tolkien’s Worldview J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” uses a number of key factors that shape his worldview. These factors include faith of the author, imagination theories of the author, Old English Literature and the middle earth in addition to life experiences of the author including conversions, war and his Oxford friends. Many people have questioned whether the Hobbit as a novel is anchored on Christian’s faith or tend to have aspects of Christianity. In the book, the audience does not see the names like God, Jesus, and angels. This exclusion of the words whose Christian faith bases its religious beliefs leaves readers overly skeptic. Despite the absence of the pillars of Christian faith in the Hobbit, it is evident that Christianity is one of the factors that influence the author’s work (Tolkien, 32). Tolkien is a Christian and he was guided by Christian faith in his work. The aspects of Christianity are not direct as one would want them to be but they are there in the book the Hobbit. Tolkien addresses the Christian sense of providence in a disguised manner (Hooker, 2008). For example, Elrond holding a map in the right lights from the moon, Bilbo finding the ring in the right time and the dwarves and hobbit availing them at the entrance of the Lonely Mountain when the key appears (Croft, 04). All these are instances akin to moments in the bible when biblical figures such as Moses had to rely on God’s providence. There are many incidents of relying on chance. Tolkien wants the readers to know through Bilbo that there exist that invisible hand of providence and this is God. He, thus, urges Christians to strengthen their faiths for Godly providence. On considering how intricate Tolkien’s nature to Christian faith was, readers see a recantation of the Christian devotion in his work the hobbit (Williams, 213). Thus, Christian faith and understanding of theology is a key factor that shapes Tolkien’s worldview in the Hobbit. Furthermore, theories of the imagination in addition to Christian artist are the other factors that influence the author’s worldview. Tolkien was a devoted Christian with a creative mind. He, thus, used his power of imagination and creativity to write the book, the Hobbit (Hooker, 29). It also important to know that he mainly wrote fairy tale that is powered by fantasy in the book. This he used to capture his audience which was mainly children that he intended to instill Christian morals into (Croft, 24). In addition, Tolkien greatly addresses worldview that relate to life experiences. For instance, race, lineage and character are addressed in his book. The second half of the book brings Elves, dwarves, goblins and trolls to differ physically, psychologically and even morally (Williams, 20). In his life, the author’s friends and interaction has cut across ethnicities and races. Friends and associates’ characters and behaviors have influenced his experiences in giving the different characters of the novel varied habits. These inherent racial distinctions tend to limit individual’s choice possibility but facilitate the maintenance of moral distinction easy. Goblins are evil and the elves are deemed good. The notion of individual races having unique traits is thus addressed in the novel. Being that his friends were killed in the First Word War, this inspired him to write the story especially where he captures the Battle of the Five Armies in relation to the war. His friends like Lewis also inspired his work on the novel (Hooker, 08). Key elements of Tolkien’s worldview include The basic premises of Tolkien’s worldview are anchored on Christianity and humanity. Tolkien advocates for a world of ardent devotion to Christianity and the faith so that God can be the provider. He, having being a devoted Christian, is inspired in his book by the Christian book to spring Godly aspects in the book that would make Children live knowing that God is a provider (Williams, 213). He also advocates for humanity and the challenges that face humanity such as wars, races and quest to achieve or accomplish own goals. The elves, dwarves and goblins represent races. The battle of the five armies is the wars that feature today. The worldview in the middle earth in which Tolkien anchors his story is revealed to us through the characters. Bilbo who likes any other humans is driven by his ambitions to find a treasure. This is true of any human today (Croft, 24). The challenges he meets shows that nothing comes easy. In the middle earth we also see a humanity and race issue that Tolkien talks about. Humanity is made of good and bad characters. The dragon, smaug and the goblin are evil in the story while Bilbo and elves are good in the middle earth. The different creatures in the story reveal the different races in the middle earth (Hooker, 28). The middle earth comes out as a pre-determiner of the world we live in today. The view of the world is that that is being encompassed with races as in the middle earth (Williams, 23). The wars described in the middle earth are the aggressions that we meet today. Christianity is also talked about in a disguised way in the middle earth and Tolkien meant it for the world that we live in today. Tolkien being raised as a Christian believed in the moral law. The moral law states that the good are rewarded and the bad are punished (Croft, 54). This is his stand in the novel the hobbit. He is a man who stands for justice and believes that people are responsible for their actions. In the novel, the hobbit, we are able to see evil characters like the goblin and the creatures being defeated in the end. A battle of five arms emerges and we see Smaug being weakened and defeated as Bilbo finds the treasure. Tolkien wants children to live refraining from bad and do good always for not only the rewards but the satisfaction of the conscience (Williams, 212). Do Peter Jackson’s Hobbit and LOTR Films do Justice to Tolkien’s Worldview? Peter Jackson’s movie adapted from the novel, the Hobbit, falls short of Tolkien’s worldview in a number of ways. In the three and above hours that the film flows, there is very little learnt about the major characters of the novel. The film lacks adequate context and does not have enough thematic depth and the thorough choreographed scenes of actions (Rollason, 123). The characters hold the themes and the story line but fail to grasp much knowledge of them; the idea is lost partially in the film. The film lacks the narrative focus and elements of characterization. The view on Christian faith is altered in the film and left to remain with the novel. Jackson’s film does not cohere with the beliefs and faith of Tolkien. The film alters the author’s religious beliefs. In some cases they went beyond the text and brought in religiously evocative aspects that reinforces and resonates with the story-line and its existing religious aspects (Rollason, 13). This is evident in the death and the re-emergence of Gandalf which is different from that of the novel in terms of choreographing. Works Cited Croft, Janet Brennan. War and the Works of JRR Tolkien. No. 106. Praeger Publishers, 2004. Hooker, Mark T. "Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal of Modern Fantasy Literature, Jahrbuch der Deutschen Tolkien Gesellschaft eV, and: Volume four, 2007 (2008):" Tolkiens Rollason, Christopher. "‘The Hobbit’, Peter Jackson’s film (s) and JRR Tolkien’s book: Who does the tale belong to?." Bilingual Cultural Blog,??(??),??-??. (2013). Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The hobbit, or, There and back again. Random House LLC, 1982. Williams, Donald T. "A Hobbits Journey: Discovering the Enchantment of JRR Tolkiens Middle-earth by Matthew Dickerson, and: A Hobbit Devotional: Bilbo Baggins and the Bible by Ed Strauss (review)." Tolkien Studies 10.1 (2013): 250-252. Read More