LOTR: Some Of The Best Lessons
Is anybody else as hooked on the Lord Of The Rings as I am?
Let me qualify that. I'm not hooked because I've read the books a million times. I'm hooked because I don't fully grasp Tolkien's messages in it. Mythology and euchatastrophe...lembas bread and redemption.
See, I get C.S. Lewis, who Tolkien is often paired with/against. I get analogy very very well. I can relate quite easily to Aslan being the Christ figure and so on. But Tolkien has such depth in his themes. It is such a Catholic work of art, much of which I'm very slowly discovering.
I'm using parts of LOTR tonight for our sponsor/candidate meeting. At first I thought I was going to use the scene in The Return Of The King where Aragon, at the last battle and against all odds turns to the army, the Hobbits, Gandalf, Gimli and Legolas and says "For Frodo", then charges into battle.
But what I really think I'm going to do is focus on Samwise Gamgee. He was Frodo's constant companion through this amazing and painful journey. Even in the end when Frodo wanted to turn and keep the ring Sam urged him, pleaded with him, cried out "No Frodo! Destroy the Ring!!" Sam was the faithful companion keeping his friend going, encouraging him, watching over him and in the end, helping to rescue him.
I know I should finish reading the entire series. Yes, I'm one of those people who only saw the movies-though I'm part way through reading The Fellowship of the Ring. I just love watching the movies and hearing the actos and directors give insights not only in to the making of the movies, but into Tolkien's thinking and intentions.
posted by TCYM Lounge @ 3:14 PM
2 Comments:
The great difference between C.S. Lewis and Tolkien is that Lewis intended to write alegory, where every element in the story represented and corresponded to something specific in Christianity. Tolkien eschews alegory; his vison was to create a new world in fiction (he called it sub-creation) where the moral truths of our world could be explore in a context liberated from facts. Alegory gets in the way of this project. So he is "more difficult to get" than Lewis, because Lewis set himself up specifically to be easy to get.
That being said, my favorite scene from any of the movies is the death of Boromir. It anticipates the action of the rest of the films, and the struggles of the other characters. Boromir sins, but then faces his fear, overcomes temptation, has a conversion, sacrifices his life for his friends, and dies with an oath of fealty to true King of Gondor on his lips, and this before the full transformation of Strider to Aragorn has taken place.
Ben Naasko
Denver, CO
Thanks Ben-
Say can you explain a bit more about Tolkien's work? I'm totally intrigued with it-again because I don't get so much of it!!
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