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Originally Posted by Lalwendë
It was a Hobbit. supposedly the 'lowliest' of Races. It's at that point of realisation that we realise Tolkien's point that no Race was mightier than any other!
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And yet, do we see any elves getting really excited that they will travel and perhaps see some hobbits along the way? Or do we hear Merry saying "To sheep other sheep may look different, or perhaps to a Shepard, but we hobbits haven't had time to concern ourselves studying immortal beings"?
I think there was some inherent superiority by the elves, and one isolated case may just be the exception that confirms the rule.
After all:
All women but one stayed at home during the war, in fact it was a
very special one that went to fight, not just any woman.
All hobbits but four never did anything "great". As a matter of fact, two of the four did their parts but did not go to Mordor, and the two that did, one was the servant of the other, thus it's only one "leading" hobbit that changed the world.
I think that, in Tolkien's work, there
is a distinct class and racial hierarchy. But you know what? that is not a bad thing on itself. In spite of my apparent point before, we
are given some examples that show that there is hope even for a hobbit gardener in The Shire. I don't think that these examples belie the very real and very present hierarchical structure of Middle Earth, both between and within races, but at least they show that there is hope for some change.
It's not even Meritocracy, as it doesn't really seem that Lotho S-B was very merit worthy... and yet, he
did manage to buy-out many things and eventually become the chief. Sure, he was played by Saruman, but Lotho did raise through the standings of The Shire.
So, as I said before, I think there is a distinct class hierarchy in LoTR, and there is nothing wrong with it. We are talking about a story that takes place in a semi-medieval time, when Absolute Monarchy was the rule and there was no such thing as democracy. How would you feel if you read a book with a story in the medieval ages and the king said "Yo, homie... whadda think we gotta do with those Orcs? I wanna cap them all, but I ain't got no bling-bling to pay for the bang-bang"?
Quite a turn-off, eh? Same thing here, if the Steward of Gondor was elected it'd raise some eyebrows.... and, furthermore, if during the secret council Elrond would spend half a day giving a speech on why they should re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re... elect him as the leader of Rivendell, I think we would all have been mightily put-off.
To say that LoTR is classist because there is a clear class structure is akin to blaming violence in society on the music youth listens to. If anything, that music is a reflection of the violence that is already present, but the point of the music (at least the way I see it) is to provide a non-violent escape to that kind of impulses. Same thing here, the point of the class-system in LoTR (which to me
IS a class system) is to show that, even in a class system, there is hope.
So, to wrap up everything I said in a couple words. Are there clear hieararchies both between and within races in LoTR? YES. Is there hope, in the LoTR world, for individuals in any rung of the hierarchy ladder to transcend their 'limits'? YES. Does that mean that the hierarchy structure is any lesser because there is an allowance for the eventual exception? NO.
At least, in my humble opinion.