Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Friendship and Love
I thought it was interesting how in class on Tuesday, the two chapters of The Silmarillion that we read, we focused on friendship and love. I believe these two work hand in hand. It's a common saying that when young married couples are asked what it's like to be married, they say something along the lines of, "It's like living with your best friend". Your partner is supposed to be someone who you typically will spend the rest of your life with. Hopefully you consider them to be your friend. Anyways, it was interesting to take a look at Tolkien's approach of a romance within his work and within the fantasy genre as a whole. I don't really see this part of the story as a "love story". To me, it was just a story that happened to mention love, and have a little bit of tragedy tied in with in. The love aspect didn't really appeal to me within this piece of work, and I think that is because I was focused on the other parts of the story.
1 comment:
Ossö,
I loved reading this post! I think that friendship is a key piece in a relationship for many reasons. My parents have been my biggest role models when it came to how a strong and healthy romantic relationship looked like. They argue on occasion, but they always talk through their differences and find the best way to go about things. They have never harbored anger or resentment against each other and they are fiercely loyal to one another! I think that all those qualities have to be in a friendship for the friendship to work. I think too often we let lust or desire color what we think love looks like, which is why we don't automatically think about our romantic interests being our friends.
Do you think that maybe we look to see love in Tolkien's work, even though it might just be a friendship? Do you think that Tolkien would want the reader to have their own interpretation in this reading, or do you think that he might be upset that some readers focus more on the romance?
I'd love to hear what you think!
Uinen
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