Nature and Heroism of Tolkien - Research Paper Example

A World Gone By: Social Commentary in Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ J.R.R. Tolkien’s well-known dislike of allegory should not be mistaken for what he called “applicability,” which allows the reader to see meaning through the prism of his or her own understanding of the story. In a terse, almost impatient statement, the author of The Lord of the Rings insisted that there was nothing allegorical to be found in his work, in spite of endless theorizing by fans, critics and academics. Nevertheless, the 20th century’s seminal work of fantasy was clearly influenced by the radical and abrupt changes that shaped the great English philologist’s world view and left him with such a powerful emotional attachment to a way of life that was passing away before his eyes. Consequently, Tolkien’s exposure to modern warfare, industrialization and the victimization of the natural world imbued The Lord of the Rings with poignant social commentary. Nature and Heroism Tolkien grew up in the village of Sarehole, a community not far from the industrial northern English city of Birmingham. The Shire, the land of the Hobbits, was closely modeled on the pastoral world that informed Tolkien’s ideas about Nature and man’s relationship to the land. One of the most affecting scenes in The Lord of the Rings is the ruin of the Shire, a fertile, beloved landscape transformed by smokestacks and burned fields. Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Name 2 Merry return to a home they barely recognize, which survived the war against Sauron but couldn’t escape the deprivations of those who cared nothing about preserving the beauty of the Hobbits’ beloved homeland; who cared nothing about preserving Nature. The sight that met the Hobbits as they approached Bag End and Bagshot Row was like a nightmare vision from Tolkien’s youth, years when he watched the factories, slag heaps and cheap suburban housing of nearby Birmingham slowly overtake and ruin the tidy, green fields of Sarehole. “It was one of the saddest hours in their lives. The great chimney rose up before them; and as they drew near the old village across the Water, through rows of new mean houses along each side of the road, they saw the new mill in all its frowning and dirty ugliness: a great brick building straddling the stream, which it fouled with a steaming and stinking outflow” (Tolkien, 313). This, then, was Tolkien’s experience: the slow death of small farms, of small woodlands and bucolic streams. In The Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit), Tolkien visits retribution upon those who abuse Nature the way the industrial barons of Birmingham ruined his home. “The delving of the dwarves is a good example of an unlawful use of natural resources, for they are set upon by Smaug in The Hobbit and by a Balrog and Goblins in The Fellowship of the Ring. Saruman too is set upon by Fangorn and the Ents and Orthanc is destroyed because of Saruman’s unruly destruction of the land” (Rorabeck, 6). Conversely, those who steward the land and defend the virtues of Nature renew the world and are themselves renewed. “Tolkien’s heroes necessarily find peace with nature, both respecting the natural order and furthering that order to its full fruition. Sam Gamgee, Tolkien’s ultimate hero, is such a hero who respects nature…Nature is not only a component in Tolkien’s heroic aesthetic, but provides strong Name 3 evidence of Tolkien’s effectiveness as a social critic, acting as a moral compass distinguishing a moral society from an amoral one” (Rorabeck, 6). Tolkien in the trenches: Courage and the common man It is difficult to read The Lord of the Rings without thinking on the two great wars that affected its author. Tolkien witnessed the horrors of trench warfare firsthand during World War I, and one can almost see the explosive gouts of flame from artillery barrages lighting up the skies above Gondor or Mordor. But the true spirit of Tolkien’s social commentary on war isn’t restricted to the horrors of battle and the wastefulness of death and destruction on an industrial scale. Tolkien has something quite profound to say about the personal value and moral strength of the ordinary individual. Tolkien came of age in an England that scoffed at the notion that the rank and file was responsible for winning wars and for saving their country: these were the heroic actions reserved for the nobility and the wealthy. But Tolkien knew better. He had witnessed countless acts of bravery committed by the common British soldier, the same troops that would be led by the sons of England’s aristocracy. How could Frodo have succeeded in destroying the ring of power without the support of his faithful servant Sam Gamgee, whose courage matched that of his beleaguered master? For Tolkien, who had seen “unimaginable suffering and unspeakable horror in the trenches and the fields of France…Sam Gamgee is in part a reflection of English soldiers from the Battle of the Somme” (Drout, 219). Merry and Pippin’s fates took them down their own dark and dangerous paths. Through their bravery, they bring about the salvation of kings and great warriors. Eowyn, brave princess Name 4 of Rohan, is saved by Merry from death at the hands of the Lord of the Nazgul. Pippin defies Lord Denethor so that Faramir may be delivered from the flames of immolation. Uncowed by Denethor’s power and regal presence, little Pippin wields a moral courage that counters the great man’s insane fury. In a last command of desperation, the Lord of Gondor orders Pippin to go and seek death. “I will not say farewell, my lord, said Pippin, kneeling. And then suddenly hobbit-like once more, he stood up and looked the old man in the eyes. ‘I will take your leave, sir,’ he said…But from my word and from your service I do not wish to be released while you live. And if they come at last to the Citadel, I hope to be here and stand beside you and earn perhaps the arms that you have given me” (Tolkien, 101-02). Insignificant though the mighty may deem them, Hobbits embody the power of simple faith, of self-sacrifice and of brave deeds done not for personal glory, but for the preservation of those things that must be preserved. “Those persistent strains of simple human goodness and essential moral concern accumulate to an undergirding and overarching religiousness in Tolkien’s fiction that celebrates all life as quest, weighting every action with tremendous implications…” (Walker, 36). For Tolkien, the world order that was blown apart by the guns of 1914, the natural world that was crushed and soiled by the factories and workhouses of industrial England, was an ideal, a place of substance and moral value. The Hobbits, the little heroes that risked all to save the world they knew and loved, understood on an instinctual level what was at stake. So, too, did Tolkien. The Hobbits may have succeeded in preserving the Shire for future generations, but the England of Tolkien’s youth had been lost forever. Yet through his unique social commentary, Tolkien assures us that it is still possible to hold onto those things that matter most in life, the places, people, values and traditions one doesn’t fully appreciate until they are lost. Name 5 Works Cited Drout, Michael C. J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. New York: Routledge. 2007. Rorabeck, Robert. Tolkien’s Heroic Quest. New York: Crescent Moon Publishing. 2008. Tolkien, J.R.R. Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin Publishers, Ltd. 1955. Walker, Steve. The Power of Tolkien’s Prose: Middle Earth’s Magical Style. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2009. Read More