J.R.R. Tolkien Research Paper

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J.R.R. Tolkien Research Paper

As many have grown up during this generation, they have been dazzled by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien as well as the artistic interpretation of this trilogy through Peter Jackson. This movement started when Tolkien created The Hobbit and then later the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s.However, there are those who have criticized both the books and the cinema for being sexist and/or racist. Tolkien is not a sexist because he develops his female characters by revealing their individualism and dynamic features, and is also not a racist because much of the criticism comes from Peter Jackson’s interpretations and because racism is harshly looked upon more in this generation than it was back in the 1940’s.

For one, Tolkien is not a sexist because he illustrates his female characters as growing individualists. Three of the most prominent of these female characters are Eowyn, Galadriel, and Arwen from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Once Eowyn is knocked on her back from the rejection of Aragorn, she “must search for healing” (Enright 93). Because Eowyn is forced away from a companionship, she must learn to become an individual in order to be successful. The power of leadership is a motif throughout the stories of the Lord of the Rings and “Galadriel is a stronger embodiment of this power than her husband Celeborn” (Enright 93). In this time period, this is looked upon as a rarity, but back in the time period where Tolkien wrote it, it must have been an absolute outrage that a female character could be more dominant than the male king of a society since women did not have much power or choice. With the third character, Arwen, she is able to overcome the separation between herself and...

... middle of paper ...

...dualistic and develops them fully in his books, and he is not a racist because he did not create the movies that are also being harshly criticized and the racism that we think of today is more harshly looked upon in this generation than that of Tolkien’s. As David Ibata said himself, “I believe the issue is not wheter Tolkien or Jackson intended to offend….they did not”.

Works Cited

Enright, Nancy. “Tolkien’s females and the defining power.” Renascence: Essays on values in Literature 59.2 (2007) : 93. Literature Resources from Gale Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Hatcher, Melissa. McCrory. “Mythlore.” Literature Resource Center. Spring –Summer 2007. Pg. 43. Print.

Ibata, David. “Lord of Racism.” Chicago Tribune. Jan. 12, 2003, arts and entertainment: 11. Print.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954. Print.

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