Tolkien: an enemy of progress?

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I'm not really starting a new thread but responding to an old one now trapped in the archives. As per the instructions given by Mister Underhill in the Stickie, I will provide a link to the old thread and then just respond here.

Seems to me that Tolkien both was and was not an "enemy of progress" depending on how one defines progress. He is steadfastly against the increasing industrialisation and automation of human society and human relations. But this is not, I am sure, something that he would have regarded as "progress." To Tolkien's mind, such 'advances' were merely extensions of a very old and now archaic way of thinking about human beings into new realms. That is, the old and all too human desire to control and regulate has itself become technologised: now, instead of attempting to maintain control of nature through a participatory form of magic or ritual, we enforce our control through technology (mechanical, structural even theoretical). True human advance would, I think (according to the Professor) be something that is human-centred: that is, something that actually shows or develops some kind of progress in the human.

This is why I think he is very much against mechanisation and technologisation of human relations -- because it hinders human progress rather than fosters it. His look toward a world like the one he (re)creates in Middle-earth is not a backward gesture at all, but a reaching forward to a realisation in which human beings embrace that true progress and advance comes with the nurturing and development of the self and the community, not through the development of new techniques whereby self enforces control over the community, or nature.

He is not anti-technology. Magic is a form of technology, but one that operates in concert with nature not to dominate it. Technology, to Tolkien, seems to be amoral and outside considerations of good or bad. It is the application of that technology by humans, and in pursuit of human interests, that brings it into the realm of good and bad.

So I would say that, no, Tolkien is not an enemy of progress, only an opponent of the progressive erosion of human relations with each other and nature by the human attempt to control both with a technology that is committed to domination rather than co-operation. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Tolkien was himself as progressive as they come, in his ability to anticipate a world view and a value system in which human beings see themselves as parts of an organic whole (be that the ecosystem or human society) rather than as individual participants in some kind of competitive race with and against each other and the natural world.

[Neithan]

Let me start by saying that I do not completely agree with Tolkien's philosophy. However, I think it is unfair to say that he is against progress. In fact, isn't that the point of the Elves and their Rings. They wanted everything to stay the same forever but it just doesn't work that way. Things change and you have to accept that, whether you like it or not.

Here is an example from my personal experiance. I am a car enthusiast and particularlly love the old gas guzzling muscle cars. I hate the idea of electric or hybrid cars, they have no appeal to me whatever. It kills me to think that one day we will probably all be driving them, but I accept it. It is necessary and it is pointless to stand in the way of progress. I think he had a personal distaste for machinery (like my distaste for hybrid cars) because he preferred the old way.

That being said I think Tolkien had some reservations about some aspects of technology. Problems arise in society from being overly dependent on technology.

That's the funny thing about fiction though, everyone who reads it can interpret it in a different way.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Fordim

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Tolkien was himself as progressive as they come, in his ability to anticipate a world view and a value system in which human beings see themselves as parts of an organic whole (be that the ecosystem or human society) rather than as individual participants in some kind of competitive race with and against each other and the natural world.

Very well put! Firstly, there's another related thread about Tolkien's machine here. It's a very good question to raise as at first glance we might think that Tolkien was entirely opposed to progress in any way with his immortal Elves, the bucolic lifestyle of the Hobbits and the horrors of industrial Mordor. However, Tolkien is no simple Luddite, he's going deeper into the philosophies and effects of what is termed 'progress'.

Yes, Tolkien takes a strong view on ecological issues with the Ents leading their trees to war, to take a deeply symbolic act of revenge upon the factories of Saruman. He also shows us Elves working with nature, and revering it, and there is a general sense of a landscape very much 'alive' in Middle Earth. It can't be doubted that Tolkien was something of a proto-environmentalist, though as a conservative (with a small c) how he would react to Swampy setting up camp near his house I'm not sure!

Where Tolkien does go deeper into the issue is in regard to the mechanisation of humanity and society. A good contrast between an ideal society and a regulated society can be seen in the difference in The Shire both before and after Saruman. Before it appears to have a co-operative system of regulation, while afterwards it is regulated with officials, guards and what appears to be the beginnings of a factory. Tolkien also shows us the armies of Sauron's orcs; these are highly organised and the orcs have been brutalised to the point of acceptance to their way of life, even to cruelty amongst one another. You cannot imagine Hobbits behaving in this way. In The Battle of Bywater the combatants are 'roused' into action, but they are not forced or coerced into action, whereas the orcs are. It has become their culture to accept the grasping, Darwinian struggle to win at all costs.

Out of Tolkien's world we can see this taking place through history but particularly following the Industrial Revolution with the creation of factories, where people were grouped together and regulated for purely economic benefit. This intensified with Ford's production line concepts and has now got to the point where not only offices but also schools are assimilating concepts of the production line idea. Few products now are hand crafted; we have the 'things' made in Saruman's factories rather than the objects made by hand by the Elves. Even schools are geared to producing adults ready equipped to feed the greedy mouth of the business world's needs.

Maybe I'm a cynic, but when I read of Orcs, Saruman's machinery, the control exercised by Sauron over his 'people', I am reminded of the regulation we face every day.

Tolkien was most definitely an idealist and dreamed of a harmonious and beautiful world; his hatred of progress was where it harmed that world and brutalised its people.

[Linnahiril Tinnufinwen]

Although I don't think Tolkien was entirely against technological progress, I do believe that he valued simplicity over complication. The Hobbits, for example, were one of the simplest races in all of Middle Earth, yet the proved to be the hardiest against the seductive power of the Rings.

As seen with Sauron and Sauruman, technology can often times make things much more complicated, and therefore much more chaotic and brutal. It seems in Tolkien's books that the only races who are creating massive amounts of technology are those that desire power over all else. I believe Tolkien also valued the beauty of nature over the more hard-edged "beauty" of something technological.

As I said before, though, I don't think that Tolkien was entirely against progress, as even the Hobbits had their own simple machinery. However, it was just that; simple, and used for little more than to help them get along with their farming and brewing and cooking, etc. What he seemed to be against was complicated technology used for no other purpose but destruction. "Destructive technology" would therefore not be progress in his eyes, but rather a regression in the human race.

In today's world, where cell phones, computers, televisions, video games, and other such technologies are commonly used, often times people forget about thier own facilties. Their lives are ruled by technology, and they would perish, should this technology be taken from them. Not to say that there are not good uses for such technology, but many will abuse these things. Perhaps Tolkien wanted us to live "simple" lives, and use technology only for what would help us move forward, and not let ourselves be ruled by it, or use it for destruction.