The Imaginative appeal of The lord of the rings

Abstract

Hobbits are peace-loving, furry-footed creatures, seldom attaining more than four feet in height; they live in holes, close to the earth, tilling the fields and orchards and devoting the rest of their time to feasting, family trees and folk ballads. They are inhabitants of Middle Earth, and the heroes of a four-part saga, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These homely little people, very similar to most men, have their heroism forced upon them, and the tale of their plight is an analogue to our own. Thus students in America and elsewhere write letters in Tengwar (Elvish), and discuss the nature of Middle Earth culture. They wear sweatshirts and badges inscribed "Frodo Lives", "Gandalf Saves", or "Support your Local Hobbit". Rhapsodic articles have appeared in countless magazines, both popular and literary. And the creator of this world of Middle Earth is bewildered by all the fuss. The moral vision embodied in his work, paradoxically, represents everything from which the young cultists wish to liberate themselves. This essay is an attempt to clarify the immense imaginative appeal of The lord of the Rings which has led to such cultism, and more importantly, ( for the cult is concerned largely with extra-literary phenomena), to examine the trilogy as a serious work of art. It must be admitted that there is more of the scholar and of the mythmaker, or rather myth-collector and shaper, in Tolkien than there is artist: consequently more space will be devoted to the fable and its meaning than to the literary technique, although the latter will not be neglected. Ultimately the two are tightly bound up with each other; but Tolkien is first and foremost a great story-teller, an art which seems to me to have been much neglected in recent years. We are suspicious of stories, considering plot a mere framework upon which to hang symbols and implications. Story-telling is no light pastime for Tolkien; whatever he may say to the contrary, Tolkien's fictions reveal a deep moral and religious concern.