Mage against the Machine:
Anti-Industrial and Pro-Environmental Themes in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien It cannot be denied that, in at least some areas, the invention and progression of technology has benefitted the human race. With the growing industrialization of the world in the last centuries the lives of many people have been made easier. But, this growth of technology is not without its consequences and people are not without their concerns. While industrialization has had its benefits, the environmental cost of this progress is immense, and the impact it has on nature can be hard to swallow. It may seem like talk of the environment is something to be left to scientists or activists specializing in that particular field, but they are
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Tolkien’s perennial protagonists, the hobbits, are described as caring strongly for nature, growing and building, caring for craftsmanship and very rarely doing any harm. They care chiefly for eating and merrymaking, and being, overall, kind and decent creatures (Morgan). According to Arthur W. Hunt III in his paper “Back to the Shire: From English Village to Global Village and Back Again,” Middle Earth itself stands as a representation of the world “before the assembly line,” the healthy, green land of the Shire in which the hobbits dwell being a “pre-industrial English village.” Tolkien himself has more-or-less confirmed this, as he had explained that Bag End had been styled after the countryside of Worcestershire (Hunt). It can be seen that Tolkien holds the Shire very dear to his heart; it is his own “lasting image of home.” Hobbits are, all in all, good. They appreciate nature just for being; they do not seek to get any more out of it than what they need. It is this attitude of the hobbits that best reflect Tolkien’s personal view on nature and its …show more content…
The Shire begins as a safe haven, unpolluted by the outside world, acting as a “foil for other images of home in Lord of the Rings” (Brawley). But it does not manage to fully escape the clutches of the dark shadow that is Mordor. “The subtext of the Ring trilogy is obviously about the violation of the earth,” writes Arthur W. Hunt III, implying that the at least partial destruction of the Shire was necessary to get this point across. Brawley agrees, stating that the Shire, being a symbol embodying both home and the nostalgia for it, “must also undergo change.” It shows that nowhere, even somewhere as supposedly paradisiacal as the Shire, is safe from the encroaching hand of industrialization. The Hobbits return from their lengthy, exhausting journey only to find their home is not as they had left it. Tolkien once again uses powerful description to invoke emotion in those reading, as he described the Hobbits seeing the destruction of their home. “This was Frodo and Sam’s own country, and they found now that they cared about it more than any other place in the world,” Tolkien writes. He describes the wreckage in greater detail, depicting the now abandoned rows of hobbit-holes, the ugly new houses that had been put up, and the dark, menacing chimney spitting out black smoke off in the distance (The Lord of the Rings, 1004). While the Hobbits have finished
The Hill: More commonly referred to as “Bag End”, The Hill was a smial where the Baggins family and later the Gardner family resided. A smial is described as the Hobbit’s style of dwelling, holes in the hillside, during the late Third Age while most other Hobbit-holes had been replaced by buildings made of wood or brick. In the beginning of the novel, the reader is entered into Bag End with descriptions surrounding them such as “a perfectly round door like a porthole...with a shiny yellow brass knob” (Tolkien, 3) and “panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted” (Tolkien, 3). Lone-Lands: The Lone-Lands was a name used by the Hobbits to describe an area of wilderness east of the land of Bree. The Lands held the Weather Hills and Weathertop, once seen as a vision of vigilance and now seen as a
Thesis: John Ronald Reule Tolkien’s life experiences influenced his writing, beginning as a student, then a soldier, lexigrapher, professor, and then a writer to his own children; Tolkien’s life created the place known to most as Middle-Earth.
young boy in a seemingly utopian society and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, a fantasy novel about a
Do you ever wonder what kind of person you are? Are you adventurous, perseptive, athletic? Have these traits ever affected your decision making? Because in “The Hobbit” By J.R.R. Tolkien, The protagonist Bilbo Baggins feels conflicted whether he should act like his more daring ancestors, the Tooks by embarking on a perilous journey to retake a kingdom. Or to be like his more respectable ancestors, the Bagginses and stay in the comfort of his warm home. As you can see, the traits he has acquired from his forebears are altering the way he sees the situation. Much like Bilbo, I believe that we all have similar sides to our personalities, whether the conflict is to be brave or timid, or smart rather than foolishly. And it is up to us to correctly
Sheltered in the utopian-like Shire, they live a life of comfort, peace, and joy, with lots of heavy eating, smoking, and drinking. The hobbits are almost childlike in their blissful ignorance to the problems outside of their home. With a few exceptions within the Took family specifically, they seem to value the comfortable status-quo over adventure and ambition. Their poems and songs corroborate this value, largely made up of drinking songs and silly descriptions of clumsy monsters. One drinking song, performed by Frodo, Pippin, and Sam, shows the ignorant optimism and isolation that defines the entire race. The lines, “Rain may fall and wind may blow,/ And many miles be still to go,/ But under a tall tree I will lie,/ And let the clouds go sailing by.” (Tolkien 1, 101), are parallel to the general Hobbit’s attitude to the problems that lie outside the Shire, and eventually within it at the end of the third volume. However, the lines also hint at the strong resilience and optimism all four Hobbits display throughout the entire story. The characters constantly look back at the Shire and reminisce about the peaceful lifestyle, safety and comfort that is so valued there. Whenever the Ringwraiths pursue the four companions throughout the Shire, an optimistic travelling, drinking, or even bath song is close by to remind the Hobbits of what they are fighting for: the safety and preservation of their home and the people in it.
When you think of a hero, is the first character to pop in your head a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins? In most cases, people think of Superman or Hercules, but in The Hobbit, an unexpected hero emerges and changes the name for all heroes to come. The Hobbit is a novel about Bilbo Baggins and his journey, with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, seeking the treasure stolen by the dragon, Smaug. While on this unexpected journey, Bilbo and his companions overcome many obstacles to eventually get to the treasure and retrieve it. Throughout the story, Bilbo develops into a courageous man, who indeed, is a hero. Richard Tyre wrote an article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien,” and he explains his theory in which he connects multiple story’s plot with six elements. The Hobbit, is assuredly a prime example of Tyre’s theory because it follows all six steps throughout the story simultaneously. The six elements are; “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected” (Tyre 19). These elements are steps in which a character must take to emerge into a hero in the end. Bilbo Baggins is the hero in The Hobbit, but he doesn’t start off as the hero. He has always had heroic traits but throughout the novel, he pursues those six steps and in the resolution, he is transformed into an actual hero.
Literary consonance is a literary device where the same consonants are repeated numerous times in short succession. Sibilance is a form of literary consonance made by the flow of air through the sharp edges of the teeth. Phonetic Alphabet symbols representing sibilants are [s], [z], [ʃ], [tʃ], [dʒ] and [ʒ], which all create hissing noises when spoken. Tolkien effectively provides a thorough demonstration on how an author can play with consonance. He adds depth to Gollum’s character by emphasising his hissing noises with the assistance of this poetic device. His sibilance is designed to portray him as sinister, cold and distant from the normal Hobbits to the reader. It
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been beloved works among many generations of readers since they were first published. The author of these two books, J.R.R. Tolkien is just as interesting a man as many of the characters he created in the world of Middle-Earth. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Africa to a banker manager and his wife in 1892 and had only one sibling, Hilary, who was less than two years younger (Wikipedia). When he was young both of his parents died (one from rheumatic fever, the other from diabetes) and he and his brother were raised by a Catholic priest in Birmingham (Wikipedia). Tolkien was involved in World War One and Two, first as a serviceman, then as a cryptographer (Wikipedia). Indeed he was very
The story starts at Bilbo’s home in the Shire. Bilbo lives in a furnished hobbit-hole. After the company comes to his home and they embark on the journey, they head to Rivendell to seek the elf, Elrond’s, advice. They make their way through the Misty Mountains and then through the other elf dwelling, Mirkwood. After travelling up the river, the dwarves are captured by large spiders. Bilbo sets them free from the spiders, but the dwarves are captured again only by elves. The elves imprison the dwarves until Bilbo frees them. The company travels up the nearby river in barrels to arrive in the town outside Erebor. The company travels to the mountain and wait for the right moment when the secret passage inside can be opened. Bilbo eventually gets inside Erebor and encounters the dragon that occupies it. The dragon leaves in a few days to terrorize the town of Dale outside of the mountain. The dwarves then occupy their lost kingdom. The dwarves’ greed regarding their riches gets the attention of the nearby peoples. A war is started right in front of the mountain due to the desires to overthrow the dwarves’ kingdom again. As they go along their journey, they encounter many different types of beings such as orcs, elves, and other men. The whole series of events take place in the land of Middle Earth. There are distant lands far beyond Middle Earth. There is a great deal of tension in the
The Hobbit, written by John R. R. Tolkien, is a fantasy novel published on September 21, 1937. It was written as a prelude to the famous series, The Lord of the Rings, written seventeen years later. The Hobbit introduces the reader to an incredibly immersive fantasy world, that enriches the reader into its epic storyline. The story takes place in a land called Middle-earth, a land filled with enchanting surprises and magical wonders. It was the perfect playground for Tolkien to develop his main character Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo Baggins was a small hobbit, who unaware in the beginning would become a large role in the plot. It is through this character that Tolkien implemented the theme of heroism into the story. Bilbo’s
Have you ever do work on a program computer, such as written c language or develop programs?
"Three Rings for the Eleven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his Dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie(Tolkien)." Master of storytelling J.R.R. Tolkien continues the lives of the fictitious creatures that he introduced in The Hobbit, in his modern classic The Fellowship of the Ring. He artfully illustrates the truths of the evil that plague the hearts of man. He tells a story of greed, destruction and how mortal men are enslaved by
lush, green Shire. Our first view of Frodo in the film is when he is
To discover the subtler implications of the creation, which will likewise give some understanding into the style and impact of the writing itself, different components must be considered. Considering the author’s adoration for nature of Worcestershire and of medieval times while soars pervasive in the life of the writer, why did the author defer the real interpretation of these contemplations and sentiments onto paper. Being influenced by his experiences, the author offers the story of the naive hobbit that is pushed into a complex world loaded with challenges alongside the novel also depicts Tolkien’s interest in learning of language and mythology.
Tolkien carries this idea of the