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comes from her disruption of the gender dichotomy and the action of entering the predominately male space.
Nevertheless, gender dualism also oppresses men. Faramir, for instance, is
emotionally abused by his father because his personality does not fit into the
traditional standard of “masculinity”. The alienation occurs when the Self is at odds
with the traditional definition of their social roles. In this sense, Faramir experiences similar alienation with É owyn. Unlike his brother, Boromir, Faramir does not take pleasure in fighting and seeking glory on the battlefield. Instead, he is modest and full
of compassion. However, his merciful nature makes him look less brave and manly in his father’s eyes. Faramir is somehow marginalized and silenced since his father puts
all his attention on his brother, Boromir.
3.5 The Desire of Domination as a Force of Marginalization Women in LotR are often connected to the natural world or described with
natural imagery. For instance, Goldberry is the “River-daughter”, Arwen is the
“evening star”, Galadriel represents the Earth Mother (Neumann 48), and É owyn is
described as the “white flower”. The association of women with the natural world is not only notable in LotR but also common in literature. However, the stereotypical association of women and the natural world sometimes complements and enhances
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each other’s subjugated status as they are both depicted as passive and assigned the
role as life-givers and nurturers and thus reduced to resources for manipulation.
Therefore, the parallel between the exploitation of nature and women is linked by their objectified and dominated status in the patriarchal structure.
The historical association of women and the natural world reinforces the oppressive structure that exploits the “others”. Therefore, environmental exploitation is connected to social injustice and the agency of women is inseparable from the agency of the nonhuman. The marginalization of women and non-dominant groups is a form of oppression that highly resembles the oppression of nature. Both of these oppressions are results of our limited way of understanding the world. While anthropocentrism is a human-centered belief that stresses on the human superiority and downplays the intrinsic value of other living beings on earth, androcentrism is a male-centered belief that values the masculine traits over feminine traits and
reinforces the patriarchal values. These two belief systems are similar in that they are both established on the dualistic ideologies and the strict separation of Self and Other.
In terms of the oppression of women and nature, androcentrism and anthropocentrism are different forms of oppression but similar in their conceptual ideology of
domination. In the patriarchal discourse, women are objectified and both men and women are reduced to their functional roles in society. In the anthropocentric
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discourse, nature is seen as the Other and is valued merely as a material resource. In
both discourses, power is related to domination. These mindsets can be found in the traditional ideology of the human conquest over nature and men’s domination over
women. Furthermore, nature is often characterized as feminine, such as the Earth
mother and virgin land, and this characterization helps to justify both oppression.
It is also the association of power with domination that results in Boromir’s submission to the temptation of the Ring. Similarly, Saruman’s exploitation of nature
is also fueled by his desire for the dominative power of the Ring. Furthermore, the human obsession with dominance is closely connected to the oppression of nature and
non-dominant groups. In Deep Ecology, Devall and Sessions posit that the human exploitation of nature is “part of larger cultural patterns”:
Ecological consciousness and deep ecology are in sharp contrast with the dominant worldview of technocratic-industrial societies which regards humans as isolated and fundamentally separate from the rest of Nature, as superior to, and in charge of, the rest of creation. But the view of humans as separate and superior to the rest of Nature is only part of larger cultural patterns. For
thousands of years, Western culture has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of dominance: with dominance of humans over nonhuman Nature,
masculine over the feminine, wealthy and powerful over the poor, with the
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dominance of the West over non-Western cultures. (Devall and Sessions 65-66)
The human obsession with dominance is, therefore, a force of separation of the eco-community and the marginalization of the non-dominant groups. Moreover, the marginalization of nature, women, and other non-dominant groups implies the suppression of diversity in the eco-community.
In LotR, the dominant power is represented by the One Ring. In the Third Age of the Middle-earth, the relationship between nature and the Free Peoples is often driven by the desire of dominance. The dwarves of Moria are devoured by their desire
for mithril and their ambition to build a great city under the mountain. However, theys
“delved too greedily and too deep, and disturb that from which they fled” (Tolkien,
The Fellowship of the Ring 317). They awoke the Balrog when they went too deep in
the Moria and eventually brought destruction to themselves. Although the dwarves are not human, the Dwarves can also be seen as representing some aspects of us just as the Elves represent the better part of the humane. The story of the dwarves of Moria
can be interpreted as an allegory of the excessive human desire for domination over nature. Furthermore, the Balrog can be seen as nature’s counterattack against human
exploitation.
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While the story of Moria shares similarity with the Fangorn Forest in terms of the excessive exploitation of nature, LotR also shows how the eco-community of the Middle-earth is losing connection within itself and how certain groups are
marginalized by the dominant groups. The loss of the ability to understand the language of others is a direct reflection of this lost connection. The Elves are passionate about communicating with other species, they can talk with many
creatures, and they even taught the Ents to speak. If the Elves represent a part of the
humane, they exemplify the interconnected relationship between human and nature.
Nonetheless, the Elves’ presence and influence are fading in the Third Age, which
signifies the change of the relationship between nature and human. Moreover, in the Third Age, some of the Ents become “sleepy” and forget how to talk. In The Hobbit,
people of the Dale used to have the gift to understand the speech of thrushes;
however, this gift is also lost. These portrayals of the lost communications all reflect the modern separation between human and nature. In the Age of Men, the Elvish desire to understand and communicate with other living things is lost. Nature now stands in front of us as an Other that is distinctly different and even opposed to us.
Thus, we separate ourselves from nature while objectifying and marginalizing everything that is considered “not us”.
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3.6 Conclusion
In conclusion, the force of marginalization exists not only in the human-nature relationship but also within human society. The parallel between the oppressions of nature and women in LotR are rooted in the same fear of the Other and the
oppositional dualisms in the discourses of anthropocentric and androcentric
ideologies. Women and nature are thus objectified and marginalized under the same human obsession of domination, and the oppression of nature and non-dominant groups somehow reflects our limited way of understanding the world.
The next chapter will investigate how the marginal groups find their voices to resist oppressive ideologies and how the separated eco-community of the Middle-earth is reconnected. The creation of sentient nature in LotR will be argued as a subversive power to resist anthropocentric ideology and female characters will find their autonomy through recognizing the power of preservation rather than pursuing the power of dominance.
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Chapter Four
Reconnecting the Eco-Community
4.1 Introduction
In the previous chapter, we discussed how Descartes’s concept of the material and immaterial world established a human-centered worldview and enhances the dualistic separation between human and nonhuman in modern ideology. Although the Cartesian reductionist thinking still triumphed in the modern world, some authors such as Tolkien try to subvert the mechanical view of the world and to demonstrate that the Earth is greater than the sum of its parts. This can particularly be seen in the depiction of sentient nature in The Lord of the Rings, which resists both the Cartesian reductionism and the anthropocentric ideologies that are established in Descartes’s
several works such as Treatise on Man and Discourse on Method. In LotR, nature is not an “automaton” or inanimate object in Descartes’s worldview but an active
co-actor in the story. In this chapter, we will investigate how the anthropocentric
worldview is challenged in LotR by analyzing different aspects of nature represented by the Old Forest, Lothlórien, and Fangorn Forest. James Lovelock’s Gaia theory will
also be borrowed to help us understand the interconnected relationship between human and other species in the ecosystem. Furthermore, Tolkien’s essay, “On Fairy
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Stories” will be used in this chapter to shed light on how fantasy stories such as LotR function to bridge the differences between human and nonhuman and satisfy “the
primordial human desire to hold communion with other living things” (Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories” 5). Finally, we will analyze how the marginal groups such as natural creatures and women recover their voices and autonomy through resisting the dominant ideology and acting out their agency. In the last part of the chapter, the mental struggle between dominant desire and communal responsibility will be argued as the main theme of LotR. The once separated eco-community of the Middle-earth is eventually reconnected after the Free Peoples finally overcome their differences and recognize the interconnection between them.