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Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark

Volume 3 Article 2

April 2017 Religion and Morality in Tolkien's The obbitH Sophia Friedman Clark University

Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.clarku.edu/surj Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons

Recommended Citation Friedman, Sophia (2017) "Religion and Morality in Tolkien's The oH bbit," Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark: Vol. 3 , Article 2. Available at: https://commons.clarku.edu/surj/vol3/iss1/2

This Manuscript is brought to you for free and open access by the Scholarly Collections & Academic Work at Clark Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark by an authorized editor of Clark Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. MANUSCRIPT Religion and Morality in Tolkien’s The Sophia Friedman ‘16 | Comparative Literature

ABSTRACT Much research has been done on J. R. R. Tolkien’s works, but has been overlooked. Because of the time in his life that it was written, this particular can offer unique insight into the questions of religion in Middle Earth that have been continuously raised. The first half of this essay will seek to answer these questions. Though most scholars look for an allegorical representation of the author’s Catholic faith in the novel, it is not there. Instead, Tolkien found spirituality in the process of writing and in creating a believable Secondary World. Rather than trying to convert his readers to like some of his contemporaries, Tolkien asked his readers something more founda- tional: to practice spiritual growth by choosing good over evil. Through this plea and because of historical contexts, he used his didactic novel to promote moral absolutism simultaneously with multiculturalism. The second part of this paper delves into the contentious battle between Tolkien and his narrator, a character who agrees with Tolkien’s views on moral absolutism, but proves to discourage multiculturalism. The narrator flatly and irresponsibly organizes the spectrum of characters into a Good/Evil binary, to Tolkien’s displeasure. Though this article lays the groundwork, more scholarship is warranted on this novel.

INTRODUCTION of religious content in his longer Earth . John Ronald Reuel Tolk- works. The supposedly young ien’s Middle Earth started as a few target audience for this novel PART ONE poems, and grew to encompass is both a boon and a curse to Scholars have scoured an entire universe, becoming a scholars. In one sense, it clarifies Tolkien’s work for religious cultural fixture in his native many of Tolkien’s motives, yet in symbolism. Many have ascribed England and throughout the another it obfuscates his morals. metaphorical meaning to morsels world as he had intended. Because This essay, in trying to clarify the from the trilogy, often overlook- of the ’ popularity, many questions of religion and morality ing the act of writing itself as critics have dismissed them as in Tolkien’s work, has two sections. a spiritual undertaking. The having no real literary value. For The first explores the motivation author spent his life as a devout a time, the genre also behind the writing of the novel Catholic, never wavering from precluded many scholars from and the inherent Catholicism that his faith. His motivation was not taking them seriously. Yet, as suffuses it. The work is inextricable to convert his readers. He instead academia warmed to Tolkien’s from the author’s religion, though intended to create a “mirror of work, The Hobbit remains under- the relationship between the the national soul,”1 a national epic studied, and a dearth of academic novel and Christianity is complex. that would reflect and crystalize discourse continues to surround The second section will explore the morals of the British Empire. it. Dismissed as children’s morality in the work through the However, this motivation was fiction, the story’s importance is lens of the unreliable and abso- not a fully realized idea when he often overshadowed by Tolkien’s lutist narrator. The Hobbit is an wrote The Hobbit. Because of the more “adult” works. Of course, intrinsically Catholic in time in his life that he wrote it the novel is important to which Tolkien’s narrator imposes and its intended readership, the understanding Tolkien and the his morally absolutist views on novel does not so much “mirror” creation of Middle Earth. Because this world in opposition to some contemporary morals, as try to The Hobbit was written before of Tolkien’s own views. Together, mold them. His novel is written Tolkien’s narrative style was fully these parts will create an overall with a Catholic world view, and developed, it can offer important understanding of the role of the thus defines the notions of good insight into the ongoing debates author’s religion in his Middle and evil through that lens.

23 RELIGION AND MORALITY IN TOLKIEN’S THE HOBBIT: Sophia Friedman

Rather than trying to convert mythology of its own that could to take the novel seriously was his Protestant-majority country, preserve her “cultural identity.”5 further compounded by the fact Tolkien presents his readers with He dismissed the Arthurian that the narrative is explicitly a choice between good and evil, legends as tied to “the soil of moralizing in a way that many hoping that their choice will Britain but not with [the] English” adults and even children find prompt spiritual growth in an and strove to create his own that patronizing. The employment increasingly secular and difficult he could dedicate “to England; to of the narrator as a character, world. The novel is innately Chris- my country.”6 When he penned which will be much more fully tian, even if its purpose was more The Hobbit in the late 1930’s, this discussed in Section Two, is one fundamental than conversion. idea had not yet crystalized in notable example. The novel’s his mind. Though the workings overtly didactic qualities, while Why The Hobbit? of the concept were still present, extremely important for this Being one of the most he was instead preoccupied with essay, were another reason that it popular authors in the second the idea of stories, on which was overlooked so often. half of the twentieth-century, he gave a seminal lecture in 1939. Tolkien has garnered much criti- The Hobbit is a mixture of both: a Writing as a Christian Act cal attention, mostly in the past fairy story that creates a moral for The moral paradigm that few decades. The legendarium, its readers, and a mythology that Tolkien propagates to his young his term for writings about Middle works to “reflect basic behavioral audience is one that is based in Earth,2 has been labeled both structures related to values, morals Christian values. The actual writing Christian and secular, with much or attitudes.”7 Because it was of the novel was, for Tolkien, ink being spilled on each side of more didactic and came so long inherently spiritual as every act the debate. His shorter works of before Middle Earth was expanded, in his life was. His practice of fiction, for example, the work reflects England’s secular religion with a conviction akin to accumulate less controversy morality and actively hones it his mother’s was paramount to because of the all but explicit into a more explicitly Catholic him. Tolkien’s mother Mabel was Christian symbolism. The Hobbit one. The novel guides its readers to a convert to Roman Catholicism. is unique from these shorter works. moral truths with a heavier hand This left her alone, shunned by It was the first installment of his than Tolkien’s other works. her presumably Protestant family. legendarium and is, by virtue of Tolkien’s four children Poverty contributed to her early being first, quite different from were all under the age of thir- death in 1904, after which Tolk- trilogy. A teen when he wrote The Hobbit. ien and his brother were then left small, critical vacuum exists This was not new for them: their in the care of a Catholic priest, around this novel, even in relating father often made up both oral Father Francis Xavier Morgan for it to his later work. and written stories.8 His children nine years. They each considered The novel was written at were his “immediate audience”9 F. Morgan tantamount to their a time in the author’s life when and the work contains effective actual father, who had died in his motives had not yet concre- attempts at humor and silliness South Africa.12 Tolkien believed tized. J. R. R. Tolkien moved to to amuse them. In the opening his mother to have been a Birmingham from South Africa chapter, a tangential story martyr for Catholicism, and his when he was a child.3 His love illustrates the creation of the continued devotion to the faith for England blossomed over game of golf, which supposedly was his way of honoring the decades as he fought for her in started when King Golfimbul’s sacrifice that she had made for World War One and then became head was knocked off in a battle, him and his brother. It was omni- a professor of Anglo-Saxon at “sailed a hundred yards through present in his life, and his writing Oxford.4 In his studies and his the air and went down a rabbit was no exception. The content of personal reading, he admired hole.”10 This comical aspect, the book and the ethos of the the longstanding mythology of called “Hobbitry”11 by Tolkien’s characters are not the only the Greeks, the Norse, and the friend C. S. Lewis, was another elements that make it so. He Germans. He very much regretted deterrent for the critical examina- never wavered from it and was that England had no great tion of the novel. The reluctance passionate about converting his

24 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark University | Volume III wife Edith and raising Catholic between Tolkien and his God. sake of brevity. In one instance, children.13 Tolkien not only believed Bilbo cries “escaping to be One way that this the act of writing and inspiration caught by wolves!”23 According notion was manifested was in to be attributed to God, but he to the narrator, this phrase the language he used to discuss also related his creation of a “became a , though now the creation and inspiration for universe, an act of “sub-creation,” we say ‘out of the frying pan into Middle Earth. Tolkien’s often to God’s creation of the real the fire.’” Quotes like these give a repeated story about the first line universe, the “Primary Creation.”19 sense of shared time and heritage of The Hobbit is an epitomizing He wished to employ sub-creation between the Primary World and example. One summer, as he sat to form a Secondary World that Tolkien’s sub-creation. Persistent in his office grading exams, he the reader’s mind could enter and insinuations of verisimilitude in happened upon a blank page. On that would feel real “while you his fantasy novel are the founda- it, he wrote the first sentence: “In are, as it were, inside.”20 His tions of successful sub-creation. a hole in the ground there lived writing was not simply the Nicholas Boyle, quoted by Thomas a hobbit.”14 He noted that he had creation of an independent three W. Smith, qualified the incessant “never heard or used the word hundred-page novel, but instead emphasis on past ages, or, “[the] before.”15 Many other writers an entire universe, along with portrayal of the experience of would take credit for their own twelve accompanying volumes coming after a period in which a creativity. Tolkien habitually of history and mythology. This unified system of life and belief sidestepped it, instead attributing extensive fictional history, though held sway, of stumbling across it to a higher power. This theme it had not been put to paper survivals of memories or past of “divine source” is apparent in when The Hobbit was written, is meanings” as tangible and vital to the various ways that he talks palpably felt by his reader. In the story itself.24 While adding to about inspiration: “The Other having his novel enchant the a sense of realism, this ‘portrayal’ Power then took over: the Writer reader, Tolkien “as Secondary of Bilbo’s contemporary age as of the Story (by which I do not Creator imitates God as the coming after a more glorious or mean myself).”16 He believed the Primary Creator.”21 Though harmonious one also evokes a legendarium was “revealed to him Middle Earth’s genesis took much sense of “longing for the security over time”17 [emphasis added]. more than six days, there is a of imperial Christendom”25 The motif of a divine muse has a relationship between the origin that plagued many of Tolkien’s notable precursor that he would stories of Middle Earth and the contemporary Roman Catholics, certainly have been with: Primary World. Again, Tolkien though not his Anglican peers. St. John and the Book of never attempted to deify himself, Emphasis on past times is a Revelations. This is not to say that but he saw a relationship between persistent theme for the author. Tolkien thought of himself as a his creation of a world and his As part of the lost generation that saint, but only to highlight a God’s. He understood the immense fought in the First World War, his possible predisposition to his responsibility, and took his disdain for modernism was understanding of shared author- emulation of God’s actions seri- documented, and it is no surprise ship with God. His religious ously. To achieve this “imitation,” that he employs it here. This background facilitated the idea he needed constant reinforcement theme serves another purpose that he was not Middle Earth’s of verisimilitude. in his novels as evidence for the singular father: “Tolkien believed For him, the test of verisimilitude of his fictional that he serves as a poet-recipient whether or not sub-creation had universe. Few fantasy worlds of God’s secondary , that been achieved was “involuntary are as thoroughly equipped with he was a recorder rather than an [rather than willing] suspension historical backgrounds as Middle inventor” [emphasis added].18 of disbelief.”22 The constant Earth. Because he is not the ‘inventor,’ striving towards this verisimilitude The final means by which transcribing God’s, or ‘The Other is palpable in The Hobbit: the Tolkien understood his writing, Power’s,’ word is a devotional act. story often implies a rich cultural or sub-creation, as an act in God’s To write down the stories from background that the reader might service was through the process Middle Earth is an interaction assume has been left out for the of his reader’s “Recovery.” Bradley

25 RELIGION AND MORALITY IN TOLKIEN’S THE HOBBIT: Sophia Friedman

J. Birzer summarized the idea: inconsequential. Rather than engulfing power of Christianity,” “a new sense of wonder about looking for “a one to one rela- and finally the goal of the “con- things we have taken for granted tionship between his characters, version of [his] readers.”34 She or which have become common- events, or plot devices, on the notes that though he would have place.”26 The ‘Recovery’ of sight one hand, and his beliefs on the liked to convert non-Christians, might restore an adult’s view of other,” critics should seek to un- most of his “primary referents reality to one as awe-struck as derstand how a Catholic author are Christian,”35 which gives the a child’s. R. J. Reilly claims that might perceive the world.29 Smith sense that only the Elect can grasp fantasy and ‘Recovery’ can be asserts that religious people, his true message. Catholicism, as an antidote for the egotistical to specifically Christians, “see reality Tolkien interprets it, puts less em- recover their sense of humility.27 through a specific lens.”30 It is phasis on exclusivity, which may Yet, parts of Tolkien’s motiva- this “lens” that should be scruti- be one reason that Tolkien’s works tions are even less contrived than nized to understand The Hobbit’s found a greater fan base. changing his readers’ psyches. relationship to religion. Tolkien As a Catholic, Tolkien He hopes that the beauty of life himself disliked religious symbol- took an entirely different and in Middle Earth will inspire his ism that was too overt; he gave more demotic approach. F. Mor- readers to find the beauty in the Arthurian legends as one gan, Tolkien’s guardian, was a God’s Primary creation. His such example. In a 1951 letter to priest at the Birmingham Oratory desire is that his works will Milton Waldman, Tolkien wrote: and studied under its founder, become a prayer that highlights “I dislike – the con- John Henry Newman. Tolkien the work of the original Creator, scious and intentional allegory.”31 was consequently well versed in prompting a casual reader to He made it clear that delicacy his ideas. One of Newman’s revel in nature. Not only does a was important in such works, cardinal lessons was to successful sub-creation mirror that “ and fairy story must, acknowledge that “holiness and Primary creation, but it also as all art, reflect and contain in a destiny is [sic] prompts readers to find a new joy solution, elements of moral and God’s intention for everyone, in the Primary World. religious truth (or error), but not Christians and non-Christians explicit[ly].”32 A lack of explicit alike.”36 Thus, the characters of Is there religion in the novel? allegory also distinguished him Tolkien’s literature need not be Does it matter? from his contemporaries. Christian themselves to be holy. As evidenced above, the Tolkien’s success as a They can be used in God’s service act of writing the legendarium writer hinged on this point and regardless of a lack of in was in itself a Christian act. For a is most visible when juxtaposed the novel. Under this principle, so devout, there was no way against one of his colleagues: C. S. there is also no requirement for to separate writing from the sense Lewis, who was also a professor references to worship or sacra- of duty to God that pervaded at Oxford where he and Tolkien ments in the work. There need be his life. He not only used writing shared a long and complicated no sacred rituals in The Hobbit to honor God, but he felt that friendship. He was known for his for the preeminence of Tolkien’s the process of writing brought Chronicles of series, which God to shine through. Tolkien him closer to Him. However, rely heavily on Christian imagery. and Newman both recognized multitudes of scholars have still Though they were both Christian, “the potential for holiness of the attempted to find representa- Lewis was Protestant, a point that ordinary person doing ordinary tions of religion in his works. caused great contention between things.”37 Tolkien’s readers also Patricia Meyer Spacks asserts that them. Spacks imputes Tolkien’s do not need to be Christian to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy “cultish” following and greater absorb his opinion on morality takes place in a “pre-religious age,” relative success to the subtlety of from the novel. and she grasps at details hoping his “apparent moral purpose.”33 to prove that there is fodder in On the other side, Lewis always Tolkien’s Motivations Middle Earth for an organized wrote with “the clear and specific Despite the dearth of religion to come to fruition later.28 purpose of a Christian apologist,” explicit Catholicism, Tolkien This sort of investigation seems “the intent of demonstrating the believed that the novel can still

26 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark University | Volume III do his God’s work, just as discussion of good and evil’s side has won irrevocably, and the Newman would have expected. definitions will be reserved for implication is that evil and good Tolkien sets up a universe much Part Two, but it is the existence of will struggle forever, like yin and like the one that he experiences the choice itself that is pertinent yang. Christopher Garbowski in Primary Creation. The here. The struggle to make this asserts that this view is decidedly characters each act according to choice is essential to the under- anti-utopian: “in the context of a their free will, not even the standing of the message that the twentieth century that wrought narrator has a say in the outcome. author wishes to impart on his great evil in the name of various Spacks notes that this freedom is readers. In his later fiction, this utopias, that is saying not a little.”43 another instance of verisimilitude choice is evident to the characters This lack of final judgment and for Tolkien: “freedom of the will themselves. Sam, a hobbit in the reckoning is also notable for both implies a structured universe, a trilogy, comes to understand a Christian novel and a fairy universe like the Christian one in “that heroism, in legend and in story. The twofold purpose is that only through the submission fact, consists of making repeatedly thus extremely important. First, it to the Good can true freedom be the choice of good.”40 That choice adds to a sense of verisimilitude, attained.”38 In the closing pages of is Tolkien’s ultimate lesson for his which has previously been the novel, makes that readers because “in this world as established as having great explicitly clear to the hobbit: in the Christian one, the result of importance. It allows the readers “Surely you don’t disbelieve the repeated choices of good is the to identify with the characters, prophecies, because you had a spiritual growth of the chooser.”41 and induces ‘Recovery’ in the hand in bringing them about Tolkien does not share C. S. service of Tolkien’s God. The yourself?”39 That freedom to act Lewis’ motivation to convert his second reason is spiritual growth. is more important than Bilbo readers to Christianity and In Middle Earth, this choice is recognizes; he has not spent time instead asks something more repetitive; generations on from contemplating it. In The Hobbit, foundational. By writing novels Bilbo, the same opportunities for unlike The Lord of the Rings, the that illuminate the “perennial choice will arise. For the charac- presence of this choice between Christian struggle between good ters specifically, it is a reminder good and evil is not expressed and evil …[Tolkien hopes to that one is never done. In other explicitly, mostly by fault of the enroll] his readers on the side words, there is endless poten- narrator. Though it still exists of good.”42 Again, The Hobbit tial for spiritual growth in each for them, The Hobbit’s characters is neglected by academics. It is person. are less aware of this choice for obviously pedagogic: the reader Though each reader is themselves than those in his is invited to experience spiritual expected to seriously undertake “adult” fiction. The growth in tandem with Tolkien’s the prospect of spiritual growth, makes clear distinctions between characters. However, most that journey is not exactly the “good” side and the “bad” scholars fail to see this particular open-ended. Tolkien had specific side, with characters appearing choice between good and evil in intentions for the moral progress firmly committed to one or the the work. The capacity for growth of his readers, emphasizing other. However, the apparent lack is present in The Hobbit,but its qualities he found appealing and of this choice for The Hobbit’s availability is limited to only those demonizing others. He was a characters, the lack of dynamism, characters on the ‘good’ side. moral absolutist, believing that is an illusion. As Part Two will Tolkien’s aspiration to catalyze his moral “truth is universal”44 discuss, by hiding the choice, the spiritual growth in his readers is and should be applicable to narrator seeks to strengthen his consistent throughout his career everyone in both the Primary moralization of the characters. as an author. Creation and sub-creations. Tolkien implicitly asks his readers At the end of the novel, Tolkien, quoted by Leslie A. to make this choice for themselves. all is well for those characters Donovan, noted that “frightful The characters in The on the ‘good’ side. However, evil can and does arise from an Hobbit, just like those living in Middle Earth has not become apparently good root, the desire the Primary world, can choose an Eden: the potential for evil to benefit the world and others.”45 between good and evil. The still exists in the universe. No This quote exemplifies his disap-

27 RELIGION AND MORALITY IN TOLKIEN’S THE HOBBIT: Sophia Friedman

proval of relativism and denial harmony of species in his works dwarves in The Hobbit, Tolkien that conflicting views can have reflects this coveted paradigm. celebrated their individuality from relative merit. Given his unshak- Bilbo lives among the dwarves the other Middle Earth species, just able belief in the reality to benefit for some time, but they never as he did in the Primary World. the world and others.”45 This quote attempt to change him, instead exemplifies his disapproval of accepting him for who he is.51 Conclusion relativism and denial that conflict- Birzer quotes one of Tolkien’s enduring popu- ing views can have relative merit. Tolkien’s contemporaries who larity as an author can be mostly Given his unshakable belief in the stated that the detrimental effects attributed to the subtlety and reality of his God, Tolkien’s view of nationalism could be genocide simplicity of his motives. He used is not surprising. However, his or enslavement of those “deemed his fiction to create the world that subtle pursuit of moral absolutism inferior.”52 Although his views he wanted to see: “For Tolkien, does not negate his desire for were morally absolute, Tolkien mythology was a profound tool either the real world or Middle and other Roman Catholics for shaping the goals, world- Earth to remain Catholic. extolled multiculturalism, views, and actions of men.”56 As a Like many Roman Cath- probably because of their favorable Catholic, he hoped that his novels olics of his time, the early decades view of the Holy Roman Empire. would inspire his readers to of the twentieth century were Thomas W. Smith eloquently follow a distilled version of difficult for him. Historically, the explained Tolkien’s emphasis in Christianity: choosing good over erosion of the British Empire’s his prose: “If Tolkien’s characters evil, a process of spiritual growth. power coincided with “rising discover anything on their , Given the historical context for nationalism uncomfortably close it is that their own customs and his views, a time when tradition in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.”46 ways of thought come from long and empire seemed to be threat- T. S. Eliot, another British Roman gone and often foreign cultures ened, it is not surprising that Catholic, published his poem, that existed for the most part Tolkien’s promotion of moral The Waste Land, in 1922 as an beyond their awareness. All this absolutism via Catholicism and overt display of his similar fears. is to say that for Tolkien tradition eulogizing multiculturalism are He “saw the disintegration of [the can be a gift that opens us to the present in his novels. The Hobbit, British] empire as decay, rather plurality of the world.”53 This though understudied, is an than the growth of nationalism as lionization is one reason that so exemplary model. However, Part progress.”47 Eliot grieves “the end many coexisting species within Two will detail how Tolkien’s of a projected Roman paradigm Middle Earth have their own motivations are at odds with his of imperial universality: the ideal unique and sumptuous cultures, commitment to successful of limitless linguistic cultural many of which are only hinted at sub-creation. heterogeneity without national in The Hobbit. frontiers.”48 He makes it clear The dwarves are again PART TWO that the antidote, or rather the a good example of applauding As previously discussed, panacea, to rising nationalism pluralism. Tolkien affectionately a sense of verisimilitude in the is a political system the closely based their “warlike passions,” novel is essential and serves many mimics the tolerance of the Holy language, diaspora, and “love of functions, both for the author Roman Empire. Undoubtedly, artefact [sic]” on medieval .54 and the reader. In the expansion Tolkien agreed. In a 1967 letter, He repeatedly denounced anti- of Middle Earth, Tolkien attempted he wrote that the ending of his Semitism and condemned a to create a realistic fantasy trilogy is “like [the] reestablish- German publisher for inquiring universe in which any reader ment of an effective Holy Roman into his heritage. He wrote in a could be fully immersed. Along Empire,”49 a time known for its 1938 letter: “if I am to understand the journey, the hobbit Bilbo diversity of ethnic groups uniting that you are enquiring whether meets characters of a variety of under Roman Catholicism. In an I am of Jewish origin, I can only different species. The narrator, in essay titled Nationalism, he reply that I regret that I appear to his own right, seems less mentions, “Christianity rejoices have no ancestors of that gifted enthusiastic about Tolkien’s love at the mixture of races.”50 The people.”55 Despite the flaws of the of plurality. Regardless, he assigns

28 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark University | Volume III them to either side of a static not been rushed, I should have As Nitzsche discerns, he is a social binary, good or evil, based on corrected.”57 The presence of the conformist.63 He does not like views of Catholicism. The narrator narrator is simply another reason disturbances, as evidenced by his shares Tolkien’s view of moral that the work had not been taken dwelling on the poor treatment absolutism and neatly organizes seriously by critics. of Bilbo’s door by Gandalf.64 He the Middle Earth species into his Nitzsche “dislikes signs of immaturity,”65 paradigm; he moralizes all the is one of the only scholars who and denounces the Tooks as “not characters with his prose, despite has examined the inclusion of entirely hobbitlike,” nor “respect- the fact that few characters can the narrator. She draws parallels able.”66 He addresses his readers objectively fit wholly onto one between The Hobbit and Chaucer’s as though they are the same as side or the other. He treats those Canterbury Tales, in which him, “folk like you and me,”67 on opposite sides of his arbitrary “Chaucer the poet creat[es] the and condemns anything out of binary very differently. Tolkien’s character of Chaucer the the ordinary or “abnormal.”68 world was so realistically created pilgrim.”58 Just as in that novel, Tolkien reveled in the plurality that the moralizing of the narrator The Hobbit’s narrator becomes and distinctiveness of Middle does not fit the author’s story. In an independent character, telling Earth’s creatures; the narrator Middle Earth, as in the Primary the story to a presumably scorns them. His preference is World, superimposing moral younger audience. He, as any obviously for the Baggins family, absolutism over a variety of character in the book, must be rather than the adventurous unique species is not successful. examined for his biases. Once Tooks, presumably because they, they are understood, the reader like him, more closely resemble The Narrator can understand his filtering effect the late Victorian English of Tolkien took great pride on the story. Nitzsche describes Tolkien’s childhood.69 Just like in his ability to create a successful him as “arrogant, unimaginative, the Baggins side, he is slightly Secondary World, as evidenced and very ‘adult.’”59 There is ample xenophobic, relishing the by his continued expansion upon evidence throughout the story of sameness of people. it until his death. In The Hobbit, his belittling of both the reader Although Bilbo learns to appreciate the reader experiences everything and Bilbo. When recounting the differences in his multicul- in Middle Earth through the Bilbo’s taunting of the tural world, the narrator never bizarre and limited lens of the nar- spiders, the narrator sneers that acquiesces. He laments Bilbo’s rator. The novel follows Bilbo Bag- Bilbo’s rhyme is “not very good.”60 sustained friendship with , gins and could easily have been He also has a habit of patron- , and dwarves because it from his first-person perspective. izingly trying to reassure his came at the price of his respect- However, Tolkien includes a audience that the outcome will ability.70 narrator whose perceptions and not be too upsetting. He clearly This difference of opinion opinions are inextricable from the feels a sense of stewardship over with the author creates tension story; the reader is dependent on his readers, trying to mitigate between the two men. The narra- his information, regardless of their emotional responses. When tor’s constant disapproval is often reliability. His existence has been suspense in the story builds, he at odds with Tolkien’s thoughts. the cause of much of Tolkien’s is quick to diffuse it: “luckily for Nitzsche eloquently summarizes regret about the novel. In an him that was not true, as you the relationship in which the unsent 1959 letter, he noted that shall see.”61 He takes this job narrator acts “as a critic who when he wrote the novel, he had seriously, “prid[ing] himself on denies the artist’s intention by still been operating under the his superior wisdom and status as misunderstanding the story and misguided notion that children an adult.”62 He hopes to be a guide its characters[;] the narrator also and fairy stories were linked, an for the readers, earning their trust personifies the critic … against idea that precipitated the pres- by protecting them from whom Tolkien, as heroic ence of the narrator. He states: uncomfortable emotions while defender of the poem of a work “It had some unfortunate effects also sculpting their opinions into of art, must battle.”71 Tolkien’s on the mode of expression and those that mirror his own. later comments about wishing narrative method, which if I had So what are his opinions? that he could eliminate the narrator

29 RELIGION AND MORALITY IN TOLKIEN’S THE HOBBIT: Sophia Friedman

are part of this “battle.” She is friends like go astray The implication here is that Bilbo writing here about their differing sometimes.” 72 and his friends would indeed have views on plurality. Tolkien of been in danger of being eaten if course celebrated it, while the This quotation is the first of many Gandalf had not known the Lord narrator denigrates it. The two that sorts species into opposing of the Eagles, though the narrator do share similar absolute views sides. The same lines are drawn would not like to dwell on that on morality, yet they differ again during the Battle of Five Armies: fact. This is the first of many in how they like to present them. elves, hobbit, wizard, dwarves, instances that the narrator at- Tolkien’s Secondary World creates eagles, men, and all unite tempts to neatly fit an ambiguous multiple species that successfully against an army of goblins and and morally dynamic species interact, despite moral differences. . However, the ‘evil’ side into a condensed idea of ‘good.’ His organic universe mimics the of this battle does not include It is the narrator’s folly to try to Primary World so realistically various other creatures that Bilbo moralize the eating habits of non- because many unique characters comes into contact with. , anthropomorphized beings. As do not abide by the same stand- giant spiders, , and the in the Primary World, no animal ards of good and evil. Tolkien are also, according could be deemed selfish or evil for did not intend for his work to to the narrator, classified under eating their prey. To call Wargs be explicitly Catholic; he only this heading. “evil wolves,”75 or spiders “brutes”76 hoped for the spiritual growth of When dividing these is markedly unfair. Feeding on his readers. The narrator would thirteen species, the one of most their natural quarry should not prefer every character to comply tangible qualifying factors for be moralizing. The narrator’s with the Catholic principals of ‘evil’ is the threat to eat Bilbo and overlay of these ideas obfuscated good and evil. His intention is to his allies. The narrator wishes to the author’s nuanced world. distill the complex morality of the make this characteristic a litmus Another species unneces- work down into a strict binary. He test for categorization. However, sarily vilified is the goblins. They takes the authority to make those this Secondary World echoes the threaten to eat the dwarves, and moralizing simplifications. Primary, where nothing is ever as are thus classified as ‘evil.’ They or white as one might hope. are flatly labeled as “cruel, wicked Evil Though the eagles later fight on and bad-hearted.”77 All of these The narrator takes liberties his side of the Battle, Bilbo initially qualifiers come from the narrator. with the pedagogy of the novel, fears that they will eat him and By labeling them this way, he has but he ultimately agrees with the dwarves. In the face of this negated all chance for them to Tolkien about the nature of good ambiguity, the narrator looks to change. In his view, they are fixed and evil, the roots of which come minimize Bilbo’s concerns. Bilbo creatures and their evil is biological from Christian ideas of virtue compares himself to a “piece of and therefore unchangeable. From and sin. That there is an bacon” about to be cooked, then the narrator’s lens, there is no distinction between the good and wonders “what other nonsense he choice in the matter and therefore evil characters is highlighted in had been saying, and if the they show no capability for spir- the beginning of Bilbo’s journey. would think it rude.” The narrator itual growth. The narrator tells his readers that, pejoratively tells his readers: “you The goblins do not ought not to be rude to an eagle,”73 deserve such harsh treatment “Dwarves had not passed that implying that Bilbo should stop from an overly zealous narrator. was for many years, but Gandalf being nonsensical and start think- The dwarves were discovered by had, and he knew how evil and ing rationally. the goblins in their , their danger had grown and thriven in Bilbo’s fear is not un- “Front Porch,”78 with a sword the Wild, since the had founded. The narrator and other that had a history of being used driven men from the lands, and characters often compare Bilbo to against them. They dislike Thorin’s the goblins had spread in secret a rabbit. Bilbo himself makes the people specifically because of after the battle of the Mines of comparison only a page before the a war, not because they hate all . Even good plans of wise eagles bring his troupe of rabbits dwarves. The Great calls wizards like Gandalf and of good and hares to cook for dinner.74 them “thieves” and “murderers,”79

30 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark University | Volume III neither of which are untrue; the of Thorin. prepared for Thorin’s charitable dwarves even kill him later. It is retraction at the moment of his no wonder that they were Good death.”85 aggressive towards Thorin’s The rightful King under It is in Thorin’s last words group. When the dwarves had the Mountain, , that the narrator and Tolkien find intruded onto Bilbo’s home, the lives with a tendency towards common ground and can together narrator made sure to comment greed. One of the Thorin’s oddest praise him for simply choosing on what a rude imposition they complaints about Smaug is that ‘good’ over ‘bad.’ Thorin’s ultimate were. Yet here, when Thorin simply he has the treasure, but refuses recognition does nothing to save states his name, the narrator stubbornly to use it: “[dragons] his life from battle wounds, even notices it and cheers him: “it never enjoy a brass ring of it.”82 if it does rejuvenate him spiritually. was merely a polite nothing.”80 The narrator knows that the This instance is one of the only Though goblins who systematically dwarves also have a predisposition true examples the reader sees of enslave men are not saints, the toward avarice, and resents them growth, Tolkien’s ultimate goal. narrator here takes liberties with for it. He sees it as a moral system Yet it is simple a small precursor his choices. In this situation their that conflicts with his own to the most important exhibition. aggression is more than justified. absolute views. Two personified The most telling episode However, the casual reader would moral systems confront each of spiritual growth is Bilbo’s, perceive them as lacking gradation. other when Bard threatens which the author applauds. The Tolkien crafted this species with Thorin for . The narrator, narrator is ambivalent because intelligence and a remarkable hoping to avoid any discussion his growth causes him to sacrifice culture that the narrator wholly of a world where morals might his reputation. On the first page dismisses in the name of flat be relative, sidesteps explication of the novel, the narrator lovingly moralization for his audience. of the two sides. He later echoes details Bilbo’s hobbit-hole under The narrator’s intimation Thorin’s words about Smaug, The Hill: “bedrooms, bathrooms, that the evilness of the goblins is trying to highlight the hypocrisy: cellars, pantries (lots of these), immutable is also applicable to the “when the heart of a , even wardrobes (he had whole rooms other species that he reviles. He the most respectable, is wakened devoted to clothes), kitchens, notes that Smaug has a “wicked by gold and by jewels … he may dining-rooms.”86 He is adamant and wily heart”81 as well. Smaug’s become fierce.”83 He resents their that it is the envy of all those preeminent crime is greed. In differences and flaws, two around him and a status symbol in almost all circumstances, the characteristics that he feels the respectable hobbit community. spectrum of good and evil is, at should have no part in creatures This extensive dwelling is a micro- its core, a measure of selfishness. on the ‘good’ side. Having been cosm of Thorin’s under the Lonely However, more than just the sorted by the narrator onto the Mountain. Just as Thorin is King goblins and Wargs descend on the ‘good’ side, Thorin is presented under the Mountain, Bilbo is the mountain when they discover with an opportunity for absolution king of “Bag-End, Under-Hill.”87 that Smaug is dead: the elves and from this sin. In his verisimilar He “hoards his wealth – food men also intend to share in the world, Tolkien believes that every in the hobbit world – against bounty. However, the narrator, person should have an opportunity depletion by strange intruding again making gross over- for spiritual growth. Though dwarves.”88 Gloin even comments simplifications, offers redemption the narrator dislikes the dwarf, that he looks “more like a gro- for greed only to those that he he cannot deny this fact. He cer than a burglar,”89 cementing deems to be ‘good,’ and thus begrudgingly recounts his final Bilbo’s preference for food as a deserving. This action is in direct realization that “if more of us form of wealth. Bilbo joins the opposition with the Catholic valued food and cheer and song dwarves because of their promise tenet of loving thy enemies and above hoarded gold, it would be for adventure, not treasure, and offering compassion. The narrator’s a merrier world.”84 Because of his his relationship with gold stays selectivity is not in keeping with dislike of dwarves and their almost stagnant. The narrator Tolkien’s religion. This can be dissimilarity from the familiar suggests that he is not totally most clearly illustrated in the case , the narrator is “not immune from monetary greed,

31 RELIGION AND MORALITY IN TOLKIEN’S THE HOBBIT: Sophia Friedman

but it always is fleeting: “the a character that has experienced World. Instead of being an advan- enchanted desire of the hoard real spiritual growth by choosing tage, the narrator’s unsuccessful had fallen from Bilbo.”90 Unlike not to cherish wealth, but to flattening of the characters is an Thorin who would rather starve share. The narrator is of another obstacle the novel’s intentions. than give up gold, Bilbo would opinion: “I am sorry to say he did Tolkien’s universe prefer a hot meal to the wealth. not mind.”92 For him, the loss of outgrew his vision of it as a Gluttony is the hobbit’s personal Bilbo’s ordinariness and reputation ‘mythology for England,’ instead version of greed. is more important than his growth. becoming a mythology unto The manifestation of itself. The Hobbit was Tolkien’s Bilbo’s personal growth comes at Conclusion first published piece of writing a moment that parallels Thorin’s Tolkien as an author about Middle Earth, done before experience. As he returns home wanted his sub-creation to be he realized that fairy stories and from his adventure, he finds an believable because he felt that it children did not necessarily estate sale underway; the hobbits would serve God’s more effectively. need to be linked. His stylistic of the Shire had presumed him In order to accomplish that task, approach was one of his later dead and were all vying to he set out to create an intensely regrets, not only because the novel possess his treasures: “many of detailed world that would mimic was relegated to children, but also his silver spoons mysteriously the complexity of Primary Crea- because he found the narrator disappeared and were never tion. He revels in the multicul- himself to be patronizing. The accounted for.”91 Though he stops turalism that permeates Middle content is no less ‘adult’ than the auction, Bilbo does not panic Earth; each species is an opportu- his later trilogy, but the narrator with the same intensity he had nity for him to develop a history inhibited serious consideration at the thought of running out of and a culture. The narrator serves of the work. However, once the cakes during the dwarves’ first as the enemy of Tolkien as an artist. reader learns to see the narrator’s intrusion. Instead, he exhibits a Instead of celebrating the varia- biases, Tolkien’s underlying goal new propensity for sharing. His tions, he scorns and deprecates of writing a work that would parting words to the dwarves are them for being different. Though ameliorate the reader was mostly a standing invitation to tea and he and Tolkien diverge here, they effective. Because Middle Earth hospitality. He spends most of his share a common goal of applying was essentially but not explicitly gold on presents, and is pleased absolute morality to Middle Earth’s Catholic, it reached a wider to host Gandalf and when creatures. The narrator is brusque audience. Perhaps because of they arrive unannounced. This with complex moral interactions the conversion of the novel into final instance of growth is in that deserve delicacy. Though a film trilogy, The Hobbit seems sharp contrast to the deathbed his methods for the moralizing to have piqued new interest in proclamation of Thorin. Bilbo is of the story might be too harsh recent years. More critical work is living out his newfound values. for Tolkien, they ultimately have certainly needed about this novel, The author has created in the the same ambition. The binary, encompassing the unfortunate hobbit a surrogate for the reader restrictive language that the nar- narrative choices that Tolkien to see benefits of a life lived with rator employs denies the authentic made. less greed; Bilbo is an exemplar of nuance of Tolkien’s Secondary

FACULTY SPONSOR: Louis Bastien, Ph.D.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Professor Bastien and Matt Rice for helping me organize my thoughts, and everyone who helped me with edits. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | Sophia Friedman Sophia Friedman graduated with honors from Clark University in 2016 with a major in Comparative Literature and a minor in Art History. Her interests are mostly in literature and art, though she dabbles in agriculture.

32 Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark University | Volume III

END NOTES 1 Lee, S. D. (2014). A Companion to J.R.R. Notre Dame Press. 144. 56 Birzer, 43. Tolkien. 95. 28 Isaacs and Zimbardo 89. 57 Tolkien Letters, 297. 2 Birzer, B. J. (2002). J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying 29 Smith, 74. 58 Nitzsche, J. C. (1979). Tolkien’s Art: A Mythol- Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth. Wilming- 30 Smith, 74. ogy for England. London: Macmillan. 46. ton, DE: ISI Books. 24. 31 Tolkien Letters, 145. 59 Nitzsche, 32. 3 Lee, 448. 32 Tolkien Letters, 144. 60 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 159 4 Tolkien, J. R. (1982). The Hobbit, or, There and 33 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 96. 61 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 207 Back Again. New York: . 307. 34 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 96. 62 Nitzsche, 47 5 Lee, 95. 35 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 96. 63 Nitzsche, 47. 6 Tolkien, J. R., Carpenter, H., & Tolkien, C. 36 Lee, 448. 64 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 10. (1981). The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: 37 Lee, 448. 65 Nitzsche, 47. Houghton Mifflin. 144. Letter was written in 38 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 86. 66 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 3. late 1951. 39 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 305. 67 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 2. 7 Lee, 96. 40 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 91. 68 Nitzsche, 47. 8 Letters, 145. 41 Isaacs and Zimbardo, 91. 69 Irwin et al. 46. 9 Lee, 127. 42 Lee, 447. 70 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 304. 10 Tolkien, The Hobbit. 18. 43 Lee, 429. 71 Nitzsche, 32. 11 Lee, 393. 44 Birzer, 43. 72 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 56. 12 Birzer, 48. 45 Lee, 93. 73 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 109-110. 13 Birzer, 47-48. 46 Lee, 279. 74 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 109-110. 14 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 1. 47 Roessel, David. (1989). “”Mr. Eugenides, the 75 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 101. 15 Birzer, 26. Smyrna Merchant,” and Post-War Politics in 76 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 158. 16 Birzer, 26. The Waste Land.” Journal of Modern Litera- 77 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 62. 17 Birzer, 24. ture 16, no. 1: 171-76. Accessed December 3, 78 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 62. 18 Birzer, 26. 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3831380. 79 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 63. 19 Tolkien, J. R. (1989). . New 171 80 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 63. York: Ballantine Books. 60. 48 Nayak, Srila. (2011). “Citizenship in Heaven 81 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 225. 20 Tolkien Reader, 60. and Earth: Contesting Nationalism in The 82 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 23. 21 Lee, 419. Waste Land.” Modern Philology 109, no. 2: 83 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 239. 22 Lee, 87. 221-44. Accessed December 3, 2014. http:// 84 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 290. 23 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 99. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/663189. 236. 85 Nitzsche, 48. 24 Smith, T. W. (2006). Tolkien’s Catholic Imagi- 49 Tolkien Letters, 376. 86 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 1. nation: Mediation and Tradition. Religion 50 Birzer, 43. 87 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 16 & Literature, 38(2), 73-100. Retrieved April 51 Irwin, W. (eds.), Bassham, G., & Bronson, 88 Nitzsche, 40. 17, 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/sta- E. (2012). The Hobbit and Philosophy. John 89 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 18. ble/40062311. 76 Wiley & Sons. 50 90 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 237. 25 Smith, 77. 52 Birzer, 43. 91 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 303. 26 Birzer, 38. 53 Smith, 85. 92 Tolkien, The Hobbit, 304. 27 Isaacs, N. D., & Zimbardo, R. (1968). Tolkien 54 Rateliff, J. D., & Tolkien, J. R. (2008). The His- and the Critics: Essays on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The tory of the Hobbit. London: HarperCollins. 80. Lord of the Rings. Notre Dame: University of 55 Rateliff, 87.

REFERENCES Birzer, B. J. (2002). J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Rateliff, J. D., & Tolkien, J. R. (2008). The History of the Hobbit. Middle-Earth. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. London: HarperCollins.

Flieger, V. (2012). Green Suns and Faërie: Essays on Roessel, David. (1989). ““Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna Merchant,” and Tolkien. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press. Post-War Politics in The Waste Land.” Journal of Modern Literature 16, no. 1: 171-76. Accessed December 3, 2014. Isaacs, N. D., & Zimbardo, R. (1968). Tolkien and the Critics: Essays http://www.jstor.org/stable/3831380. on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Smith, T. W. (2006). Tolkien’s Catholic Imagination: Mediation and Tradition. Religion & Literature, 38(2), 73-100. Retrieved Irwin, W. (eds.), Bassham, G., & Bronson, E. (2012). The Hobbit and April 17, 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40062311 Philosophy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Tolkien, J. R. (1989). The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine Books. Lee, S. D. (2014). A Companion to J.R.R. Tolkien. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley- Blackwell. Tolkien, J. R. (1982). The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. New York: Ballantine Books. Nayak, Srila. (2011). “Citizenship in Heaven and Earth: Contesting Nationalism in The Waste Land.” Modern Philology 109, Tolkien, J. R., Carpenter, H., & Tolkien, C. (1981). The Letters of J.R.R. no. 2: 221-44. Accessed December 3, 2014. http://www.jstor. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. org/stable/10.1086/663189.

Nitzsche, J. C. (1979). Tolkien’s Art: A Mythology for England. London: Macmillan.

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