國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
“On Fairy Stories” 146). Although fantasy is often opposed to the real-life scenario, it
provides us a different perspective to discover the underneath truth and crisis in our daily life. In this respect, the function of fantasy is very similar to Lovelock’s
metaphor of Gaia, which also uses non-anthropocentric imagination as a critique of the anthropocentric objectification and oppression of the nonhuman.
Most important of all, according to Tolkien, fantasy eases the sense of
separation between human and nature. In the imaginary world, “the primordial human desire of holding communion with other living things” is satisfied (Tolkien, “On Fairy Stories” 117). This gap between human and other living things is particularly bridged
by the creation of various talking creatures and sentient beings, along with characters that possess the “magical understanding of the proper languages of birds and beasts and trees” (Tolkien, “On Fairy Stories” 117). In the fantasy world of LotR, the sense
of separation of ourselves from other living things is reconciled through the power of understanding others’ speech. Furthermore, the previously marginalized nonhumans
are given the voices to reclaim their subjectivities.
4.5 The Power of Preservation
Women and nature are oppressed under the same human obsession with
domination and possession. Furthermore, the modern materialistic worldview reduces
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
everything into resources that are valued only by their material worth. In this way, nature and women are often being objectified and their individual freewill easily ignored. However, as resistance to the anthropocentric exploitation is found in the counterattack of sentient nature such as the Ents, human characters also find agency and regain their autonomy in LotR. For instance, É owyn challenges her defined social role as the domestic angel by secretly going to war. Nonetheless, she went through several psychological stages on her path to find her own subjectivity.
In her book, The Heroine’s Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness, Maureen Murdock argues that the heroine often went through the stages from renouncing femininity and pursuing patriarchal values to reconcile with her femininity and
embrace both sides of herself. At first, É owyn felt trapped by her gender and struggled
for the opportunity to prove her valor and battle skills. She dressed as a knight and named herself “Dernhelm”. At this point, her agency seems to depend on her
performance of being a valiant male knight. This performance somehow implies that
she suppresses her femininity in order to access the power that is traditionally limited to the masculine. According to Murdock’s theory, at this stage, the heroine identifies
with the external masculine values because the driving force in a patriarchal society is power and control (Murdock 26-27). However, É owyn acknowledges her femininity when the Witch-king of Angmar told her “No living man may hinder me!” and she
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
replies: “But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin” (Tolkien, The Return of the
King 841). This is the moment that she reconciles with her own femininity and
embraces both the feminine and masculine sides of herself. Her transformation is best summarized in Merry’s observation: “Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also” (Tolkien,
The Return of the King 841).
In LotR, there are two prime powers: the power of preservation and the power
of domination. While Mordor and the Ring represent the power of domination, the Free Peoples, especially the Elves, represent the power of preservation. Éowyn’s
transformation is also related to the struggle between these two powers. Just as she pursues the masculine power that is represented by the valiant knight, her admiration
of Aragon is only a reflection of her desire for the dominant power. Aragon is aware of this when he tells Éomer: “In me she loves only a shadow and a thought: a hope of
glory ad great deeds” (Tolkien, The Return of the King 867). Later, Faramir also tells the similar observation to Éowyn: “You desired to have the love of the Lord Aragorn.
Because he was high and puissant, and you wished to have renown and glory and to be lifted far above the mean things that crawl on the earth” (Tolkien, The Return of the King 964). Faramir’s words and the struggles that she went through eventually changed her mind, in the end, she decides to be “a healer, and love all things that
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
grow” (Tolkien, The Return of the King 965). Eventually, Éowyn understands her
obsession with the power of domination does not make her stronger. On the opposite, the power of healing and preservation is what she and the world really need.
Moreover, her decision of becoming a healer is also significant because a healer can be the bridge between the domestic and the public space. Once É owyn is free from the limited definition of power, she longer has to prove herself through pursuing the dominant power under patriarchal ideology. She then has more choices of what she can do to protect her beloved people and country. Instead of struggling between choosing to become a warrior or a homemaker, becoming a healer allows É owyn to make connection between these two social roles and to protect the things she loves in her own way.
The power of preserving and the power of dominance is a constant struggle in LotR, and this struggle can also be seen in the contrast between Boromir and Faramir.
Although both of them have the same desire to protect their city, Boromir is driven by the desire to gain glory and is consequently tempted by the dominant power of the Ring. On the other hand, Faramir seeks only the power to preserve the things he loves and will not use the power that oppresses others. This is also why he is one of the very few that can resist the temptation of the Ring. He assures Frodo:
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling
in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs […] I do not love the
bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. (Tolkien, The Two Towers 671-672) Consequently, the key to resist the dominant ideology represented by the Ring is to differentiate the desire for preservation from the obsession with possession and domination.
It is the desire of preserving the land they love that reminds the Free Peoples of the interconnection between different species. It is also this common desire to
preserve the Middle-earth that allows them to overcome their differences and learn to communicate and understand each other. By portraying nature as sentient and offering the nonhuman characters the power of speech, the anthropocentric and binary
opposition between human and nonhuman is challenged in LotR. Furthermore, the marginalized groups regain their agency and voice their subjectivity through collaborating with others. Therefore, LotR is a story about forsaking the dominant desire and recognizing that we are a collected whole in this living Earth. Only when we recognize the interconnection between Self and all will the marginal voices be recovered and separated eco-community reconnected.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.6 Conclusion
In this chapter, we analyzed the representation of sentient nature in LotR to
exemplify the different aspects of nature and to subvert the simplistic separation between the human and nonhuman. Tolkien’s depiction of the sentient nature in LotR
emphasizes the similarities between human and nonhuman and challenges the modern human-centered worldview which is heavily influenced by Cartesian philosophy. As the natural characters such as Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow, and Treebeard show us, nature does not exist as a passive background but actively plays a part in the story of LotR. Moreover, in contrast to stories that are narrated from the human-centered perspective, human is portrayed as just one of the species of the eco-community rather than having a superior status in the Middle-earth. In this respect, fantasy is subversive to the dominant worldview since it is essentially non-anthropocentric. Moreover, fantasy enables the communication between human and the nonhuman world and thus challenges the strict separation between human and nonhuman.
The voices of women are often as marginalized as the natural creatures in LotR.
Women in LotR are seldom given active roles, most of them are housewives and silent companion of the male characters. However, Tolkien voices the unjust suppression of female individuality through the story of Éowyn. Moreover, Éowyn’s journey of
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
finding her own voice not only represents female independence but also echoes the eternal struggle between the power of preservation and the power of domination in LotR. Just as É owyn eventually renounces the power of domination for the power of
healing and preserving, many characters such as Galadriel, Faramir, and Frodo also went through the same struggle of renouncing the temptation of the dominant power.
Eventually, the once separated community in LotR is reconnected through the
realization of the interconnection within the community and identification of the Self with the collective whole.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Chapter Five
Conclusion