Comparing Tolkien And Junger

J.R.R. Tolkien and Ernst Junger were both veterans of the same wars and a couple of the same battles in World War I. War changes a soldier’s whole outlook on life, the unbearable things witnessed in the trenches, to the brotherhood and love for your country and defending it, will last a lifetime. They witnessed many overwhelming and dangerous encounters that shaped for how they would see the world and interpret things from there on out. Tolkien grew up much differently than Junger, but they still shared similar ideas.

The upbringing of a person effects how they view the world. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (J.R.R.) was without both of his parents at the age of 12. His father, Arthur, died when he was three. His mother, Mabel, passed when he

was 12 from acute Diabetes. J.R.R. Tolkien and his younger brother, Hilary, moved to live with a close friend of their mother, Francis Xavier Morgan. Both of the Tolkien boys were raised to be good Catholics. Tolkien learned to read and write at an early age and found love for nature and plants through his mother’s teaching botany to him. But his favorite lessons involved languages. He was very involved with creating and developing languages. He didn’t believe his stories could be fully fictional if the characters were speaking English, so he developed languages for them. Tolkien describes the origin of his languages in a letter that he wrote to Milton Waldman in 1951. He describes that the two languages that he assigned to the elves are related and give a consistency of linguistic style and an illusion of historicity. Tolkien fell in love at the age of 16 with Edith Bratt. Father Francis did not approve of their love at such a young age. He forbid them from having any form of communication until he was 21 and finished with his schooling. Tolkien went on three years obeying these orders. On the eve of his 21st birthday he wrote a letter to Edith stating that he still indeed wanted to marry her. It came to his surprise that she had moved on was already engaged. Soon thereafter, they met up and renewed their love for each other and Edith chose to marry Tolkien instead. They were married on March 22, 1916. Edith converted to Catholicism for him when they got married. Before joining the British Army for World War I in 1915, Tolkien graduated from Oxford with a first-class degree in English language. He served as a communications officer during the Battle of Somme before getting sick and being moved backed to England. While he recovered from his illness he began to work on The Book of Lost Tales. Eventually, he was promoted to lieutenant. After serving in World War I, he became a professor at the University of Leeds and eventually Oxford as a professor too. The Tolkien’s had four children: John Francis Reuel, Michael Hilary Reuel, Christopher John Reuel and Priscilla Anne Reuel. While he was a professor at Pembroke in Oxford, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and first two volumes of the Lord of the Rings. He finished The Lord of the Rings in 1948.
Ernst Junger was born into a well-educated family in Hanover.

His father was a chemical engineer and a pharmacist. Junger was in school for 12 years before he ran away as a part of the Wandervogel movement; A movement of young adults that wanted to get away from the crowdedness of the city and society and wanted to be in nature and have freedom of their own. Junger, like Tolkien, also served in World War I in the Imperial German Army. While serving in the army, he was shot seven times. He received two honorable awards for his service; the Iron Cross First Class and Prussia’s highest military decoration, the Pour le Merite. Both were received by the age of 23. Junger married his wife Gretha in 1925 and they had two sons, Ernst Jr and Alexander. Junger had a passion for nature and plants in similar ways that Tolkien did. They both studied botany. Junger was offered a seat in the Reichstag, or parliament and he also refused an invitation to become the head of the German Academy of Literature. Junger was claimed to be an intellectualist and a liberal for his separation and refusal to support the Nazi party publicly. Junger lived to be 102 years old. One year before his death, he converted to Catholicism and received the

sacraments.
Both Tolkien and Junger had interesting upbringings that affected their views on life. Both of them served in World War I and events that happened to them in the War served as motivation for them to write about them. Tolkien took a fictional approach with The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings series and Junger used a non-fictional approach in Storm of Steel. In Storm of Steel, Junger uses a diary form of what he encounters and goes through in the war. Tolkien and Junger both served in the Battle of Somme. Junger directly writes about this section of the war in Storm of Steel in the chapter titled The Beginning of the Battle of Somme.
While serving in World War I, Tolkien got many of his ideas to write the Lord of the Rings books.

Tolkien was struck by the amount of courage in his fellow soldiers. Many had no choice but to go to war, leaving loved ones and their comfort behind them. Tolkien described the soldiers as heroes. Many soldiers returned home from battle walking like zombies; dull in the face, looking straight ahead with limited expression. Soldiers were forever affected by their encounters on the battlefields. They were to never forget the trench warfare and brotherhood built between them and their fellow soldiers, even the ones who didn’t make it out alive. There is some reflection of Tolkien’s experiences during World War I and in The Lord of the Rings. The courage that Frodo and Sam constantly display is a reflection of the soldiers at war. Frodo and Sam are both very unlikely heroes, but they display insurmountable courage. Their tasks are never in their favor but they seem to always breakthrough. The temptation and corruption in the world we live in is also present in The Lord of the Rings. The ring, which makes the one in possession to be invisible, is a constant temptation of corruption. Corruption is a problem in the era and today as well. Many war leaders and government leader began to lead in corrupt ways. The temptation of the ring can be a correlation to the ongoing struggle of good versus evil in the world. As stated earlier, Tolkien’s passion for nature as a child is also

resembled. The hobbits and elves continually show respect towards nature and what nature has to offer.
In Junger’s book, Storm of Steel, it is a journaling relapses from his time at War. Junger never really gives much emotion to the reader and he keeps a straight forward mentality. He goes through what I considered some very rugged, tough times. Junger has soldiers die right in front of him, but he seems to keep forward with his orders. He rarely mentions names of those around him. The amount of graphic detail included is plenty. He definitely gives the reader the impression of a soldier being heroes as they go through battle. They are put in the most extreme situations and not expected to come out alive. During World War I, fascism came along quickly. With the first fascists being Mussolini of Italy and Hitler in Nazi Germany, they were aiming for total control by forcibly suppressing the opposition of all industries, commerce, and aggressive nationalism through military and war. Although Junger never states whether he is for or against nationalism and the emotional effects of war, Junger’s involvement with World War II was said to have furthered perceptions of him as a nationalist and even a fascist. In a document by Benito Mussolini, he describes emotional impact of war on an individual. “War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision—the alternative to life or death….Fascism accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life of duty and struggle and conquest, life which should be high and full, lived for oneself but above all for others—those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after…” Later he claims, the Fascist state organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual…” Junger’s experiences on the battlefield and the accounts in Storm of Steel that he wrote about led him to be linked to the group of people involved with fascism.
A person’s upbringing and personal experiences early on in their life can directly and indirectly affect how they live out the rest of their life. J.R.R. Tolkien grew up without parents after the age of 12 and went on to write some of the most amazing literate of all time in The Lord of the Rings series. He used real life experiences, passions, and struggles and put them into a fantasy, fictional world. Ernst Junger grew up much differently, moving numerous times as a young child and running away from home. They both were soldiers in Worlds War I and the affected them and their future lives tremendously.