{"id":1399,"date":"2024-10-06T15:49:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T19:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2024-10-06T15:49:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-06T19:49:56","slug":"tolkiens-reimagining-of-his-traumatic-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2024\/10\/06\/tolkiens-reimagining-of-his-traumatic-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Tolkien’s reimagining of his traumatic past"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to talk about J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s experience with war and loss and how those experiences have influenced <\/span>The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/i>. At the age of 12, Tolkien was orphaned with his father dying in 1846 with rheumatic fever and his mother dying eight years later from complications due to her diabetes (Whitt). Twelve years after the death of his mother, Toklien joined the first world war fighting in the trenches on the front lines and simultaneously losing four of his five closest friends in the war (Whitt, Imperial War Museums). Reflected in <\/span>The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/i>, Tolkien creates \u201cThe Fellowship\u201d consisting of nine members, four of which are hobbits, Frodo, the protagonist, Samwise (Sam), Peregrin (Pippin), and Meriadoc (Merry).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The character of Frodo shares many similarities to Tolkien. Frodo lost both of his parents quite young and went on a quest that cost the lives of his friends and, if failed, would plunge the world into eternal darkness. Throughout the three novels, there is a constant question of sides. Whenever the fellowship, either together or broken up, encounters another person, they almost always begin their line of questioning with asking whose side they are on. This question mirrors Tolkien\u2019s experience in the Great War, a heavily sided war with the side Tolkien was fighting against, the Central Powers, going down in history as the bad side. The long journey brought Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship to lands unknown to them, just as Tolkien was sent into battle in countries that he had never been in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The death of Boromir in the beginning of <\/span>The Two Towers<\/span><\/i>, the second novel in the trilogy, is what really drew me to looking into Tolkien\u2019s history with war. Frodo was unaware of Boromir\u2019s death when he runs from the group, but he runs knowing that death is on the horizon. He has seen a vision of death and does not want those around him to be hurt. Tolkien\u2019s loss of his closest friends in the war deeply impacted him and his writing of Frodo of going on the journey to Mordor alone in order to save his friends lives could be what Tolkien wished he could have done. Of the Fellowship, only Gandalf and Boromir are killed, but Gandalf is later resurrected. Tolkien saving Frodo\u2019s companions and friends are the complete opposite of what happened to Tolkien during the war, and most likely what he wished had actually occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:<\/span><\/p>\n

Tolkien, J.R.R. <\/span>The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring<\/span><\/i>. New York, Del Rey, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tolkien, J.R.R. <\/span>The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King<\/span><\/i>. New York City, New York, Del Rey, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tolkien, J.R.R. <\/span>The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers<\/span><\/i>. New York City, New York, Del Rey, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSecond Lieutenant J R R Tolkien.\u201d Imperial War Museums, www.iwm.org.uk\/history\/second-lieutenant-j-r-r-tolkien. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whitt, Jeremy. \u201cUnderstanding J.R.R. Tolkien through a Christian Perspective.\u201d Celebrating J.R.R. Tolkien – Library News | Pepperdine Libraries, Caruso School of Law – Pepperdine University, 18 Sept. 2023, library.pepperdine.edu\/news\/posts\/2020-01-jrr-tolkien.htm#:~:text=After%20their%20return%20to%20England,Morgan%20of%20the%20Birmingham%20Oratory.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to talk about J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s experience with war and loss and how those experiences have influenced The Lord of the Rings. At the age of 12, Tolkien was orphaned with his father dying in 1846 with rheumatic fever and his mother dying eight years later from complications due to her diabetes (Whitt). Twelve … Continue reading Tolkien’s reimagining of his traumatic past<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4823,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}