Likenesses in Middle Earth

I suppose this can be found in the movies as well as the books, but, I've noticed that certain civilizations in ME correlate with civilizations of the world. For example, Rohan seems to be a much more Nordic, Scandinavian state. It could be guessed that Tolkein designed it after his studies of Beowulf. Minas Tirith has a more regal, Roman feel to it. What are your thoughts?

[burrahobbit]

This is a ground beaking discovery, I think. Would you care to expound more upon your thoughts?

[Lindolirian]

Don't mind burra and his trademark sardonicism, he's just trying to tell you that it's not a new thought. Some threads that I found like this one and this one shed light on the subject, but they're rather old and I don't think anyone would mind discussing it again here. Tom Shippey makes quite a case for it in his analysis of the LotR in Author of the Century, especially the contrast between Rohan and Gondor.

[Gurthang]

That's something I've thought about a little, too.

It seems to me that folks like the Haradrim or Easterlings would be much akin to native Africans, or perhaps Middle Easterners. Or the dwarves of the Iron Hills would be cold dwelling people, much like Russians.

[Luinalatawen]

I most definitely agree - there are many similarities between the races of ME and the races of our world. But this then brings up the issue of racism in the works of Tolkien, which I presume has also been discussed at length here somewhere (yes, it has). I wonder if this was intentional or not. Perhaps Tolkien made the Haradrim slant-eyed because humans seem to tend to consider their own race 'good' and other races that they don't understand 'weird,' etc (not necessarily 'bad'). But is the fact that they sided with Sauron saying something else? If each ME race is truly representative of a race in our culture, what does that say about the sides of good and evil in the war of the ring?

[Shelob]

It could just be to ground the novel for his readers too. Most people don't enjoy reading something if they feel completely at a lost as to how to picture/see things. By having the different cultures 'resemble' (sorry, but I can't think of a better phrase than that or 'harken back to') cultures that everyone is already familiar with the reader is able to focus more on the story without worrying about what everything is 'supposed' to look like. By giving the cultures 'familiar faces' it guarantees that the more important parts of the novel (the story, the history, the characters, the good vs. evil...what-have-you) aren't ignored by a reader trying to make sense of the world.

The other thing to consider, and it kind of works in with the idea of racism and considering other races to be 'weird', is that the Lord of the Rings was written as if it could be a history/mythological-history of Europe and that any history of Europe would need to include expanations for the hints of other cultures they (the common people) would have. This is especially true if you have got a Roman-like civilization that expands across many cultures and trades information/goods between them.

And finally...
Originally posted by Luinalatawen

If each ME race is truly representative of a race in our culture, what does that say about the sides of good and evil in the war of the ring?

Or the sides of 'good and evil' in our own world? No?