The mirror of Tolkien : the natural world in The Lord of the rings and the threat of technocracy in the third and fourth ages of Middle Earth
Date
1989
Authors
Resta, Anne Marie
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Abstract
This thesis examines the role of the natural world in J R R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in which landscape surpasses its traditional role as setting and becomes both the medium and the message of the tale I suggest that Tolkien is fiction reflects an environmental philosophy which is a reflection of his own personal philosophy and which has yet to be investigated in any depth. The thesis argues that The Lord of the Rings is an environmental work which addresses the problem of our ever-increasing technocratic society of the twentieth century.
Chapter One explores Tolkien's personal devotion to the natural world, particularly to trees, and identifies the importance of this devotion as it is translated into the creation of the secondary world of Middle Earth I identify a correlation between Middle Earth and our own world, this correlation is vital to the message which The Lord of the Rings embodies and to the premise of this thesis.
Chapter Two addresses the "aliveness" of the natural world in The Lord of the Rings Plants, stones, animals, and the many races who people Middle Earth collectively referred to as the "Free Folk" --possess an unalienable intrinsic value Tolkien depicts this aliveness in terms of anthropomorphosis because the natural world is generally held by twentieth-century western thinking to be a resource viewed solely in terms of its instrumental value to Humans. By attributing human characteristics to various elements of the natural world, Tolkien leads the reader to perceive these elements as alive and to experience a "recovery" of the natural world.
The second chapter goes on to identify the interrelationship of the natural world with the Free Folk I draw parallels between this interrelationship, vital to the survival of living beings, and the philosophies of co-inherence, the person-planetary paradigm, and Taoism Each of these philosophies stresses the ever-important and undeniable union which exists between all living beings and warns against the refusal to recognise this connection. This intricate network of all living things, secure in neither the Third, nor the Fourth Ages of Middle Earth, is one of the premises of Tolkien's mythology. Chapter Three identifies the One Ring of Power as an unnatural force which threatens the interrelated, holistic community of living beings of Middle Earth I suggest that the Ring is a symbol of the technocratic philosophy which Tolkien demonstrates as posing an all-too-real threat to the natural world in the twentieth century and explain that Just as the corrupting influence of the Ring could physically and spiritually destroy all natural beings in the Third Age, so too does technocracy threaten the very survival of Humans and the natural world in the Fourth.
In conclusion, this thesis suggests that The Lord of the Rings serves as a guide for Tolkien is readers in the vital decision between the person-planetary and the technocratic philosophies which we face today. The battle, both physical and metaphorical, between the Free Folk and Sauron represents the dilemma facing Humans in the Fourth Age. The opposing armies in Middle Earth reflect the human battle which is fought within our own psyche, the battle between the holistic, person-planetary lifestyle and the evil, yet ever-attractive, technocratic paradigm Tolkien gives us the single most important weapon in our battle the hope which is found in the recovery of the natural world in The Lord of the Rings. He offers a philosophy as one way to end the battle in the human psyche, to give us that harmony within ourselves and with the natural world which we seek. This harmony can be found in the person-planetary lifestyle embodied by the Free Folk of Middle Earth.