In class yesterday, we mentioned the gift of death to Men from Ilúvatar that struck me as interesting. Why would death be a gift? Maybe the first question should really be, "Why is death considered to be 'bad'?"
Death is mysterious. Just like the Elves in the Silmarillion don't know where Men go after death and don't bother to think much about it, death is not something that we discuss in casual, everyday conversation. It's scary, because we neither understand it nor do we want to think about the "end" of the life we know in the present.
Death is generally only addressed by religion and each religion's guess as to where people end up after they die. Do we just cease to have conscious awareness and decompose into dust? Do we end up in a "better place" beyond the clouds? Do we come back to this earth as a different life form? I think a lot of people adopt religions to answer these questions that they cannot themselves answer.
I think Tolkien's creation of death as a gift to Men from Ilúvatar traces back to his Christianity. Just like in the Silmarillion, Christianity says that it is appointed once for Men to die, and then the judgement. But death is a gift to those who face that judgement having lived their earthly lives dedicated to Christ, who saved them from the punishment of sin by an eternity in Hell. That truly is the most beautiful gift that can be given: "Greater love has no one but this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13).
In this way, the Silmarillion's assertion that death is a gift to man reflects the modern Christian religion that is fairly common in today's culture.
2 comments:
I definitely think that you discussion about how death is tied to religion is very accurate. However, I feel that death being a gift is more about how burdening it is to be immortal. As an immortal you see an astronomical amount of people die, you see their mistakes, you see the world change right in front of you. You would become this ever knowledgeable creature, while only being able to share that with other immortal beings. Now, I may not be immortal, but I have had too many people die during my life time. And that messes you up so much more than you would ever think. So to even think about that happening for the rest of someones existence?? Absolutely terrible. And everything else they have to deal with during their existence, it just sounds sad and lonely. All of this being said, I think the death being a gift is more a way to try and let the readers accept that it is a part of the human condition.
Hi Arien,
This is a wonderful post! I love your thought process and how you related this subject back to the Christian religion and its ideologies. When this subject came up in class, I also thought about how it was typical to fear death and the unknown that comes with it, especially in society today. Death, however, is not always a bad thing. In life, the death of some things can be good. For example, the death of a grudge, the death of illness, the death of a bad relationship, or the death of a plague or epidimic. I know that the death of a "thing" is different than a death of a "being" but imagine being an all-powerful and all-knowing creator; the importance of a man's life and the life of a thing might have very similar importance. If my life was a book, good and bad happening would be the subject of chapters in it. In Tolkien's case, the Men from Ilúvatar are all just a part of the chapters in a book, and dying might not exactly be scary because they are contributing to a greater story. Thanks for your thoughts!
-Melian
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