Tolkien's Tree in the Oxford Botanic Gardens
Re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy during my time in Oxford shed light on a number of the themes in the series that I had never quite understood. In particular, the themes of nature and a fraternal culture seemed to stem from Tolkien's time in Oxford.
Many of Tolkien's favorite "spots" in Oxford revolved around nature. The tree that appears in many pictures of the author, including the last one ever taken of him before his death, is located in the Oxford Botanic Gardens. In a small city of cement and academic documents, the small patch of nature and cultivated beauty is a refreshing relief. It is rumored that Tolkien did much of his reading beneath the tree. The theme of nature is also prevalent in his works. The antagonists Sauron and Saruman are known for their deeds of destroying forests. Tolkien's protagonists fight for nature, and the Ents are trees themselves: nature personified. Tolkien's value in nature is clear both in the novels and in his biography. This value could be seen and felt in Oxford as well. Tolkien's desire to escape from the asphalt sea into a shaded garden seems to be quite popular, judging by the regular visitors to the gardens.
Oxford has been recently criticized for its "laddish" culture. The school's historic reluctance to include females is well noted. Tolkien has also been criticized for excluding women from his writing. The Hobbit includes no speaking females, while The Lord of the Rings, in all 1357 pages, includes three speaking females. Tolkien supporters justify this by calling upon the culture in Tolkien's time in both the Army and in Oxford. If the traces of fraternal culture in Oxford are still lingering, one can only imagine how prevalent they were during Tolkien's time as a don. The author's environment clearly affected his work.
I love this post, Liana! I also visited this tree which inspired Tolkien's Ents. The theme of nature is very prevalent in Lord of the Rings and especially in The Hobbit. Tolkien was always very keen to represent nature as indicative of classic Catholic and British culture in the face of industrialization and technologization of modern society, represented in Lord of the Rings by Saruman and the Orcs. I also am very intrigued by your point about women in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit-very few powerful female characters exist within the main text. A good example is Eowyn. However, it has been posited by man scholars that Tolkien did not have a "modern" opinion of women in power and was actually quite chauvinistic. I am not sure whether or not this is true, but his works due lack powerful female characters anyway. I appreciate that you attribute this to his time period and environment rather than accuse him of being chauvinistic like many Tolkien female scholars do.
ReplyDeleteNone of the women Tolkien wrote of, Galadriel, Lúthien Tinúviel, Haleth the Hunter, Arwen, & Eowyn are weak, all are strong powerful women in their own right. Some are warriors, some are wise, all are courageous, some are very powerful rulers, and some with mystical powers - I won't disrespect Galadriel by calling her power "magic" - equating it to the magic of the enemy. There are others in the Silmarillion as well. I can't find a weak woman, or a faithless woman, or a stupid one, nor any cowards in the LOR or Silmarillion. There are plenty of nasty men though. Tolkien obviously had a deep respect for women. If anything he romanticized them and made them too perfect, or flawless. Even Rosie Cotton was portrayed as strong. His goal was to create a mythology for England, and a good mythology needs these kind of idealized women. His wife & he share a tombstone that name her as his Luthien, and him as her Beren. Let's give Professor Tolkien some of the grace he gave us:-) He was just a romantic at heart.
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