Hello everyone,
I am feeling especially compelled to get my opinion on this matter out in the open. I have already made a couple comments that at least hinted towards this notion, but I think it is important to bring to light.
I thoroughly believe that the different species within The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are meant to be reminiscent of our modern racial dynamics.
There is a lot of common knowledge out there about the "self-fulfilling prophecy" and how that relates to crime statistics for African Americans in particular. The idea is that due to our current racial issues, African Americans (and other ethnic minorities in this country) are denies access to economic opportunities and fair representation in our government. This results in a lack of money, putting people in less great areas (where crime is already bad), and where educational resources tend to be limited (also because of money). For this reason, individuals in these minorities often have lower levels of education, which decreases deviant actions and increases prosperity. These individuals are not limited because of what is inherently within them, but because of the stigma and the boundaries given to them by the vast majority of our population. Whether any of us agree with it, we still participate in a system that degrades and humiliates individuals based on their ethnicity.
How is this like other species within Tolkien's work? I'd like to point out that there are various occasions in the books that Orcs/Goblins talk about how horribly unhappy they are with their options and their leaders and their methods or actions. Is it possible that the orcs are limited by the fact that other races have a stigma about orcs because of what they have done historically? What might happen if "one of the good guys" offered a different option for living instead of disregarding every orc as a foul creature from the get go? What about the strange species-relation between dwarves and elves? Couldn't we capture a mixed race relationship within the relationship between Gimli and Legolas? Also, why are the fair creatures, elves and man (to an extent) usually fair skinned and from some line of royalty while dwarves and orcs must be grimy, tanned or red, ill mannered, and considered stupid brutes (despite the facts that dwarves come from long lines of royalty)?
Just some food for thought. Thank you!
2 comments:
This idea is definitely something that has been discussed around Tolkien’s works before. Tolkien was a man of his time, while he had some more modern ideas for the most part he still followed the world views with which he grew up in. Unfortunately this means that he had some bigoted ideas, and not necessarily because he thought they where correct but because he wasn’t exposed to anything different. If we are objective the views of those times have not shifted nearly as much as they should have considering we live in an era where higher education is for everyone and technology serves it spreads ideas father than we ever imagined. Anyway regarding the issue of race, we absolutely see goodness related to “whiteness” and vice-versa. One thing that caught my eye while reading the Silmarillion is the way Tolkien uses eye-color. Often we see light colored eyes in his stories to represent intelligence or purity, even when a character may have dark hair he is pale and has “brightly colored eyes” whereas most evil characters have dark eyes. This is directly related to race, both in Tolkien’s books and in real life. Most people of color have dark eyes, most evil character’s are from a certain race with physical characteristics that match those of people of color.
I don’t think either of you are quite seeing the whole picture. Tolkien was a man of his time and we can’t hold him completely to modern expectations of racial equality. However, given that, his works still have quite a bit to say against racism. Yes, the Men of Númenor and the Northmen are “Free Peoples” whereas Tolkien has Easterlings and Southrons that are under Sauron’s control and the Dunlendings under Saruman’s. However it’s worth noting that they can be seen as deceived rather than intrinsically evil. The orcs are very problematic for Tolkien because while they provide a great enemy for the main characters to constantly fight, but they come across as more intrinsically evil and loyal in the service of their Dark Lord. Tolkien addresses this a little bit with the interesting conversation between Shagrat and Gorbag in The Two Towers, showing that they just want peace in their own twisted way and see the Free Peoples as enemies because they kill the Orcs.
The races of the Free Peoples are each wonderfully unique and have their own skills and treasures. For example, the Men love their homeland and are braver than the others, the Elves love nature and beauty and are the most artistic. The Dwarves have their gemstones and gold and are the hardiest. (These are simplifications). We see flaws in characters from each of these races such as Thorin, Boromir, and Fëanor. Each of the races also tend to their own flaws in general as well - Men to greed for power, Dwarves to lust for gold, and Elves to pride and condescension to name a few. None of them are definitively better than the other. It’s also worth noting that while some of Tolkien’s main characters (like Aragorn) come from important bloodlines, others (like Samwise) really don’t.
I think it’s incorrect to try to correlate any specific race in Tolkien’s work with a real world race to create an allegory. They are Tolkien’s versions of the races (mostly) from old European mythology and not his caricatures of real life races.
It’s also worth noting that the entire story of The Lord of the Rings is profoundly anti-racist in many ways if you can overlook the Easterlings and Southrons. The race of Hobbits, which pretty much everyone ignore, turns out to be fundamental in the defeat of Sauron. Additionally the Fellowship is composed of members from many different races of the Free Peoples and they receive help from others. Together they use each of their strengths to fight Sauron - all of them together until the Breaking of the Fellowship, and then later going their separate ways to rally the Free Peoples to survive Sauron’s onslaught until the ring is destroyed.
~Ulmo
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