Pacifism in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

Since I really ought to be working on my thesis, I have gotten sidetracked for the last hour contemplating the place of pacifism in Tolkien's work. The thought that originated this digression from feminist film theory was the realization that the Ring itself represents war as a concept. That is to say that, like war, even if wielded in the name of a worthy cause it ultimately brings ruin. This is a point reinforeced by the terms in which Gandalf, and later Galadriel, refuse to take the ring from Frodo. While Tolkien may or may not have been a pacifist himself, it is interesting to note that it is not the war waged by Aragorn and men of Minas Tirith and Rohan that claims vicotry over the evil of Sauron, it is the small act of Frodo, his destroying of a weapon, that ends Sauron. What struck me was the similarity between Frodo's act and the "Plowshares Actions" of the Catholic Worker Movement.

A line that I hadn't really thought of includes Tom Bombadil. Bombadill really is the only completely pacifist charachter in the story. Though I think that Frodo, in terms of his actions if not his ideology is also within the bounds of pacifism.

Hmmm....I may have to come back to this.

BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Feeling OK? Have a 'pint'

BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Feeling OK? Have a 'pint'

I knew it!! It makes sense to me anyway. There's nothing like moderation and variety in the diet to keep you healthy. A beer a day, especially good beer, has got to be good on some level.

So...Blogs...

Apart from ellipses, blogs seem to be my new thing. Despite html being a language that (like French) I can almost read, but really can't approximate, I am really enjoying playing with this. I just finished a paper on using blogs in the "First-Year" Composition course I've been teaching these last two semesters. The paper itself wasn't that great I feel, but it was a good experience as far as reflecting on my teaching and the educational use of blogs.

My highly informal findings were:

a)like anything in the classroom using a blog to teach writing needs to be done in a very controlled and deliberate way

b)Those who, despite my lack of guidance and ill disguised inexperience with the technology, used the blogs as I had hoped they would, did get a lot of good writing practice and flexed some metacognitive muscles that weren't apparent in their early posts

c)a subtext to "b" whether the blogs were responsible for improvement or not they did at least provide a place where the student could see their improvement

d)oh yeah, and those who used comments got to see what I meant by "audience" in a more real life way.

And Done...Sort of...

My second and last official semester at MSU done. Summer here at last! And...plenty to do. I never cease to be amused by the amount of work that I--and everyone else on an academic schedule it seems--plan for thier summers. As it stands I have four weeks to write the first three or four chapters of my thesis. This is followed by a blessed two week hiatus while I get married. Then it's another two weeks to work on the thesis, quickly followed by two weeks of summer graduate seminar. A week more of thesis then anohter wedding which is currently sharing its weekend with our move to Chicago. The fun never ends.

Actually I'm rather excited. I don't have a million things to work on at once, and with the car mothballed with the end of my commutes to school I can withdraw from the world and the nausea inducing debacle of our national politics. The connection may be unclear, but the radio in my car, and concurrently NPR, are my only regular source of news these days. For the summer I will be content to ponder my vote for "not Bush" to be made in November and support my local food coop and community garden. If there is something I really need to know about (other than the fact that the country is making a solid attempt at going to hell in a handbasket of which I am already keenly aware) the food coop will put up a sign about it. Ahhh summer.