Was Middle Earth Created or Discovered?

[Jessica Jade]

The following is the intro to my IB Extended Essay:

J.R.R. Tolkien has characterized fantasy as “the making or glimpsing of Other-worlds.” (Fuller, The Lord of the Hobbits: J.R.R. Tolkien). His achievement is astounding—-not as a maker, but as a discoverer. His world of Middle-Earth was not a mere creation.Instead, the fantastic realm was discovered and brought to life through the archetypical quest exploited in The Lord of the Rings. The issues that arose in the epic trilogy mirror Tolkien’s own passion, concern, and opinion for the issues prevalent during his time; questions which the human race will continually be confronted with as long as the world remains in existence. Themes such as life and death, love, war, heroism, and good versus evil touch on many different levels of the human psyche because they are thus insightfully realistic. The chief appeal of The Lord of the Rings lies in its causal and omnipresent construction of the basic struggles of mankind—-matters already inherently present in the world, but pieced together, or “discovered” by Tolkien in a creative new light.

I hope that made sense, since that definitely wasn't one of my top-notch writing samples (much revision needs to be done on my part). Maybe i'll post more of my 3000-4000 word essay when it's complete, but I'm interested in knowing your thoughts. Created or discovered, and why?

[ April 24, 2003: Message edited by: Jessica Jade ]