DOCuMF.NT R F SUMP'. ED 023 672 TE 000 872 By -Hal, Richard F. Hobbit' Books Make Good Reading. Pub Date Apr 68 Note -2p. Journal Cit. -Florida Council of Teachers of English Newsletter: /18 n3 p2 -3 April 1968. EDRS Price MF 402S HC-S020 Descriptors -*ElectiveReading, Epics,*Fantasy, Fiction,IndependentReading, Linguistics,*Literature, Literature Appreciation, Novels, Reading Materials, *Secondary Education

Identifiers -*J R R.Tolkein J. R. R. Tolkein's 'Hobbit" books intrigue students, perhaps becausethe fantasies lack literary pretensions." -The Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, set inMiddle Earth (a world peopled with Hobbits, Dwarves, and Elves), provide a historyfor the Elven language invented by the linguist Tolkein. In the story of the quest of theforces of good to destroy a power-giving ring which _orrupts the one who wears if,students easdy recognize the central theme--the corrup'tive tendency of power.Although the Romantic Quest is important, the tnlogy is an epic in which the conflict betweengood and evil is dear and definite. Readers who discover deeper meanings as well asthose who enfoy simple fantasy will find satisfaction in the stories and may, thus, beled to an interest in other books. (JS) THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS 'FFICE OF EDUCATION FCTE 2\I. STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION NEWSLETTER April,1968 POSITION OR POLICY. 6Flobbitt'ooks ake Good Reading** RICHARD F. HILL guage, and the books provide a history possessor of the Ring and has been -English Teacher for his Elven tongue. The popularity of ruined by his lust for it. Gollum knows University of South Florida The Hobbit, published in 1937, encour- nothing of their plan to destroy it and Mention casually in class one day that aged him to expand the storyinthe hopes to recover it by treachery. Other you're reading a book about Hobbits; Rings trilogy. members of the company are involved in The recent publication of all the books the defeat of Saruman, a wizard also then stand back and see if you haven't in paperback (incidentally, there is an started something exciting.Or,better perverted by the Ring, and the mustering still, be reading one of the J. R. R. Tol- authorized and an unauthorized paper- of armies to fight the Dark Lord. We kein books as the class comes in and put back publisher) primed a Tolkein fad learn that one of the men in the fellow- it aside reluctantly when the bell rings. inthe colleges whichisspreading to ship is, by right of inheritance, King of This should have several of them de- the secondary schools. Recent, articles in Middle Earth. manding to know what are Hobbits any- Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post In the final book, The Return of tlze way and what could you be reading that tell of Tolkein discussion clubs and lit- King, the great battleisfought. The is so interesting and where can they get erary journals, of graduate theses on the weary Hobbits return to the Shire to a copy. If you've already sold your li- books, and of graffitiin subways and find the wizard Saruman has takenit brarian on hardback editions or if you elsewhere proclaiming "Frodo Lives." over, and they must deal with this final have the paperbacks to lend, the rest is One can buy buttons with that stirring problem without the help of Gandalf and slogan in English or in Elvish runes. The the others. easy. I have found the fantasies to be books have replaced such college favor- irresistible to high school students, even Any attempt to capsulize the important the usually reluctant ones. Students who ites as Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies on the college best seller lists. events and characters is doomed to fail- grimly fought anything else I offered in ure; indeed, one of the delights of the way of literature have surrendered RingsTrilogy Tolkein ishis complexity. This isthe to Tolkein. All of the books involve The Quest and story of a world and an age, and there Perhaps it has worked so well because the Rings of Power. In The Hobbit, Bilbo are many things about it to tell. Though I have kept him out of the formal class- Baggins, a quiet little creature, goes on the reader is aided by maps, geneologies, room, preferring casual discussions with a quest to restore the dragon-held king- histories and linguistic explanations, Mid- students who are reading him. Although dom of the Dwarves and finds a ring dle Earth cannot be absorbed at a read- The Hobbit is of convenient length,it on his journey. Gandalf, the wizard, who ing. It must be studied, pondered, dis- will not be adult enough in tone for most engineers many of the events in all the cussed and reread. And so I have had high school classes. The Lord of the books, begins to suspect itis the One discussions with students about such mat- Rings trilogy, while certainly worthy of Ring, forged in ancient days and having ters as the lineage of the Elves and the study, is probably too long and complex the power to bind all of Middle Earth (\for the time most of us have to devote under itsowner's domination. Sauron, language of the Ents. Nwto it. One could teach the first book of the Dark Lord of Mordor, learns of the There are those who claim nothing thetrilogyinclassandletstudents ring and wants it. more for the fantasies than that they '11.0Eontinuethe journeythrough Middle Hobbits are simple folk, half the size make a good yarn. Granted, there are Pr%Earth as they wish. Certainly teachers of men, who desire only to enjoy the few narratives more exciting. But this eNjwill have their own ideas on this matter. comforts of their homes. Because of their is rich ore, no matter what the reader But my main reason for avoiding class simplicity, they play a leading role in the is digging for, and the "deep readers" COstudy is not related to length or style: 1 fate of the Ring, for Gandalf knows the will find their satisfaction here too. CZAwould hate to rob the fantasies of their Ring can corrupt more sophisticated and Romantic Quest Theme Lxfharm by association with "real" litera- ambitious beings. So Bilb isallowed The theme of the corruptiveness of ture. As itis, the books carry some of to return to the Hobbit Shire with his power is central, and is easily seen by the thrill of the forbidden a kind of ring, knowing only that it has the power young readers. They know that the temp- under-the-counter feeling we Tolkein to make him invisible. The style of The tation to use the Ring reaches even in- readers share which might be spoiled by Hobbit is simpler than the books which nocent Frodo, and that greed to possess respectability. follow and easier for the younger reader. it causes thousands to die. Gandalf re- Fantasies Entertain The Lord of the Rings begins when fuses care of the Ring, even though he There is an absence of any "literary" Gandalf sees the Dark Lord closing in is the most powerful of the company, pretensions in the books. They are frank- on the Shire and decides the Ring must because he knows he would be too sorely ly fantasies, intended only to entertain. be destroyed in the fires which forged tempted. Its power reaches several others They are not the author emphatically it, those of a volcano located within the of the company before the quest is ended. states allegorical. More delightful still, they are not concerned with poverty, Dark Lord's kingdom of Mordor. Since The Romantic Quest itself is worth racial strife or the bomb; in fact, they Bilboistoooldforthisquest,his noting.Teachers of BritishLiterature nephew and heir, Frodo, becomes the may compare Tolkein's to examples of 1 take place in a land called Middle Earth, ringbearer. tlfe medieval romance. The women in which none of us has seen and only Tolkein are as ethereal and symbolic as Tolkeincouldhelpusimagine.Of The first book, The Fellowship of the course, Middle Earth hasits problems Ring, tells of the gathering of nine rep- any of the later romance heroines. There and the skilled reader will see relation- resentatives of the forces of good in is a great deal of poetry throughout the books which is like the folk ballads and 10ships to modern ones, despite Tolkein's Middle Earthfour Hobbits, two Men, a Dwarf, an Elf, and Gandalf. They be- other narrative poems of the Middle ' 'disavowalof allegory. But the reader e2) who does not can still find meaning and gin their journey as the Dark Lord's in- Ages. pleasureinTolkein's care fully con- fluence spreads ever farther in the land. But the trilogy is really more of an structed world. The second, The Two Towea, tells of Epic than a Romance. The survival of Li Tolkein, a Cambridge don and friend the scattering of the fellowship and their good in the Ivorkl is at stake, and the of C. S. Lewis and W. H. Auden, built separate adventures, Frodo and his friend events in the books change the whole his world for an interesting reason: As Sarnwise are guided toMordor by a histoq of Middle Earth. a linguist, he hadinvented an Elf Ian- creature named Gam, who is a former (Continued on page 3) FCTE NEWSLETTER April, 1968 Tolkein Trilogy Useful

. Some will see in these events parallels know more, and Tolkein aims to please. with modern history, although, I repeat, Not only are there the books mentioned Tolkein denies it. The Dark Lord Sauron earlier; there are also The Tolkein Reader and his terror tactics make one think of and The Silmarillion, a forthcomingcon- theFascist powers;Saruman'sf a Ise tinuation of the Epic of Middle Earth. promises of economic equality are rem- So the initiate of 1967 may look for- iniscentof theRussian and Chinese ward to years of enjoyment in Middle revolutions. The Hobbits seem to repre- Earth, none of it practical, at leaston sent the simple values and moral strength the surface. He will be able to geta of the peasant, the Dwarves the ambition job without it,find a mate without it, for wealth of the Middle Class, and the do nearly anything without it. I contend, Elves the brilliance and responsibility of though, that he will be muchmore with an idealized aristocracy. And it's difficult it. to avoid comparing the Ring tothe For one thing, the love of Middle Bomb. Earth is contagious. If we can be fasci- All of this is unnecessary, unlessit nated by the Elven tongue, why not pleases the individual reader. Tolkein's Latin, or French, or English? Ifwe can world is not an allegory for our world care deeply about the restoration of the because it doesn't need to be; it is com- Shire, why not freedom anywhere? If plete in itself. It is so complete that the we can lose ourselves in one book, why reader may lose himself in it. This op- not another, and another? portunity to escape helps explain the Tolkein boom. Encourage Heading There is also the clear conflict which But even if the experience proves not exists in the books. The War of the Rings to be transferable indeed, then most pits' good against evil and there is no of all thc books are to be cherished. question which is which. The reader may To some readers,it may be the only lust for the downfall of Sauron in a way books they ever loved. How wonderful, which is not fashionable in modern af- then, to have loved them. fairs. The relativity of good and evil has The English teacher has, I believe,a no place here. One does not conciliate splendid chance here first to know the or negotiate with Sauron because one books himself, then to share theirtreas- knows he is ever deceitful. I suspect this ure with students. For some students, it may be the imal inative .clear moral conflict is a relief to a genera- xper;encc of a tion nurtured on thethinbrothof twentieth century values. My wife recently acquired the "Hobbit habit." Stealing a few minutes with The Lingidstie Aspects Hobbit the other day in her junior high The linguisticaspects of the books library, she noticed a girl looking curi- will fascinate some students. Tolkein dis- ously at her. Finally, the girl approached cusses the Elvish influences on Westron and said, "I read that. That'sa good or Common Speech as seriously as if he bock," as if to ask, "Why areyou reading were speaking of the influence of Latin it?" The girl was right; it isa good book. on English. For that matter, the compari- And I think it's time we recognized and sonisvalid. Students who carelittle took advantage of its appeal. about the development of their own lan- guage can see the same principles at work on a language which intrigues them. They can learn, for example, that Hobbit Two New Books is a corrupted form of an old Westron word, Holbytla, meaning hole-builder. Honor FCTE Editor Hobbits have no language of their own, A new book, Not For Glory, What .having learned to adopt the speech of Makes a Great Teacher?, writtcn by Wil- whatever land they inhabit. The Elves liam Jeremiah Burke, devotes fourpages speak High Elvish, an ancient and poetic to Mrs. Mabel Staats, teacher of creative tongue, or Gray Elvish, a conversational writing, English and journalismat South- version. The Dwarves have a secret lan- west Miami High School. Mr. Bu:ke in- guage of thcir own. Ents, the most an- terviewedher whcn shewas named cient race, speak an ornate and terribly Florida Teacher of thc Year in 1963 and complicated language which only their subsequently was among thc top tcn in long lives and quick minds allow them the nation honored by the U.S. Office of to learn. Ores, the servants of Mordor, Education. speak a Black Speech invented by Situ- Sheisalso one of the few women ron. But the Lingua Franca of all Mid- whose activities are included in thencw dle Earthis Westron, the language of volume of the Encyclopedia of Ameri- Men. All of thisis explained in great can Biography, along with an'article detail both in the text and in indexes for about her late husband,Dr.J.Riley readers who want to know more. Staats, Chairman of the Geography De- Almost every reader does want to partment, University of Miami.