Elves and Orcs
The land culture of the Ents in The Lord of the Rings differ greatly from the orcs, thus, providing readers a view of Tolkien’s, a perspective of agrarianism and current culture. These relationships to land correlate to modern views of the land. In the book The Good Food Revolution, the author, Will Alan, an urban farmer, has similar views of land.
Tolkien uses different species to represent different types of agrarianism. The two extremes are the feraculture of Ents, and the Orcs, who have little to no relation to the land. Feraculture is the idea of conservation and preservation of the wilderness. Tolkien also uses Hobbits and Elves as other examples of agrarianism. He makes distinctions between the agriculture of the Hobbits,
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They disliked everyone and everything. They are servants of the Dark Lord and Sauron, and don’t really have a relationship to the land. At first glance, Orcs seem to be pure evil, however they are not evil at heart. Their leaders corrupt them, making them into dutiful servants. The do as they are told, and fight, even if they do not understand the reason. Their main intent is to be loyal to their master and follow orders. Orcs were created from dead Elves many years ago. They were first corrupted by Melkor, and then more recently, by Sauron and Saruman. The orcs can be described as inhuman evils. In the end, the Orcs don’t care about …show more content…
It is what they consider the most ideal way of life. Agrarian societies aim to share ownership of the land with many people. There is a strong sense of community and identity, both inside and outside their work life. They value the independence of being a farmer. For them, farming is so much more than planting and harvesting as quickly as possible. Old traditions are used, and the hard work that is put into the crop, is done so with love. Agrarian societies practice subsistence agriculture, meaning they grow just enough food to support their families. This culture’s practices are done with the goal of being completely
Wendell Berry writes in his book, “What are people for?” a thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. He feels that technology is seen and used as the easy way to produce food faster and more efficiently. With this modern way of farming comes the idea that we need to work smarter not harder which is not always true. The goal is comfort and leisure and Berry feels that this is the reason for the down fall of the agricultural culture. He believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money. This was by no means a perfect society. The people had often been violent wand wasteful in the use of land of each other. Its present ills have already taken root in it. Even with these faults, this society appreciated the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today.
After reading McKibben and Hurst’s articles in the book Food Matters, both authors present arguments on “industrial farming”, and although Hurst provides a realistic sense on farming, McKibben’s suggestions should be what we think about.
“Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world,” states Aragorn upon his victorious return to Minas Tirith (Tolkien 946). This moment marks the culmination of years of trial and toil for Aragorn as he strived to regain his kingship; yet, throughout his existence, he remained the epitome of the chivalric hero and maintained his kingly qualities in secrecy. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the character of Aragorn is just one of many examples of chivalry Tolkien utilizes to create his “mythology for England.” Tolkien also does not just limit himself to this one example of medievalism in his novels. The concept of feudalism is also present at pivotal moments of the novels and aids in structuring the governmental workings of Middle-earth. Both of these aspects of medieval England can be found in numerous places throughout Tolkien’s works including in the bonds between characters, in the heraldry of the various kingdoms, in the sacred ceremonies and high language of characters, and in the personalities and actions of the characters, themselves. Together, in The Lord of the Rings, these two aspects of medieval England blend together beautifully to create the sense of depth, history, and weight Tolkien strived to achieve in his works.
According to The return of The Kings, “known as The Lord of the Rings, was so immediately successful that a new, larger printing was required, and soon another, still larger printing became necessary. The Hobbit, under wartime pressure of paper shortages, went out of print in 1942, and its subsequent popularity largely derives from the success of The Lord of the Rings” (Kroeber). According to The return of The Kings, The Lord of The rings was successful because people read it and liked it. JOHN RONALD REUEL TOLKIEN (always called Ronald by his family) was born on 3 January 1892, at Bloemfontein, South Africa, where his father Arthur had taken a position with the Bank of Africa (Firchow). The Tolkien family had been prosperous piano manufacturers, but the business had failed. Mabel Suffield, Arthur’s wife, was the daughter of a once successful drapery manufacturer in Birmingham, England, who had gone bankrupt and survived by selling disinfectant to shopkeepers around the city. According to the Background, Sauron always sought pleasure in whoever has interest in the ring and whoever had possession of the ring was called the ring Barer. Sauron is a giant eyeball sitting on top of a tower. From there, he watches every move anyone takes but he is mainly looking for the ring bearer. Once Sauron finally obtained possession of the ring, he then transformed into his omnipotent transformation meaning he makes all that is afraid of fear, fear him. He was then so powerful to the point that no man can defeat him only women. The first of Tolkien’s four children was born in November 1917. After the Armistice Tolkien joined the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary, and in 1920 he was appointed Reader in English Language at Leeds University, whe...
The two cultural extremes are the feraculture of Ents, and the Orcs, who have little to no relation to the land. Tolkien also uses Hobbits and Elves as other examples of agrarianism. Hobbits use agriculture to provide food for themselves, while Elves use horticulture for aesthetic beauty. Will Alan incorporates a combination of these agrarianist cultures.
“The Lord of the Rings is racist. It is soaked in the logic that race determines behavior.” (Ibata 2). Many people have tried to perpetuate the myth that J.R.R. Tolkien was racist. They cite various scenes in The Lord of the Rings, in both the books and in the movies. These people are lying or ignorant. J.R.R. Tolkien was not a racist, nor did he ever intend for his novels to be viewed as such. There is plenty of evidence to defend Tolkien from these claims such as: the themes of his novels, like The Lord of the Rings; the clear messages in his personal writings and his upbringing; and the characters from his novels.
At first he discusses why many believe that the introduction of agriculture was a positive step. Many believe this because they think of our ancestors and how we are now better off than them in many ways (Diamond, 1987). This is true when it comes to various aspects such as technology and the simplicity of obtaining food and shelter. Then he states how an agricultural based society is healthier, easier, and is less time consuming than a hunter-gatherer society because they lived on a day to day basis. It is easier but it proves to not be healthier and is more time consuming. The primary reason why humans converted to an agricultural society is because of the growing numbers in population; there was no possible route to feed so many people while being hunter-gatherers.
Farming is the main supply for a country back then. The crops that farmers produce basically was the only food supply. That makes famers a very important part of society. Farmers back t...
J.R.R. Tolkien’s desire to create a mythology for Middle Earth led him to draw inspiration from the mythologies of the world he was raised in. This assembly of various parts from earlier myths and works formed the basis of what is known as The Silmarillion. The creation story as outlined by the story of Ilúvatar draws its origins from the creation story of both Catholic and Pagan lore. Here, Tolkien’s own personal beliefs draw him to lead the fate of Eä down a path reminiscent of the biblical lore. Also, the narrative structure of The Silmarillion hearkens back to the old myths and tales of Gilgamesh and Beowulf. Tolkien’s desire to build a realistic mythology drew him towards analyzing and understanding what made those tales endure and be accepted as a part of the mythology of Britain. A close analysis of The Silmarillion will help illuminate these ideas.
Habermann and Kuhn discuss J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings is one of the creation texts of fantasy writings and the focus of a number of writings about the history, geography, and mythology of ‘Middle-earth’, which has long become an unusual phenomenon. The authors try to argue that Tolkien texts offer a fictional study of sustainability where they try to combine an application of geographic information system technique with documented analysis and understanding text to show that there is a systematic fluctuating distance between our real world and Tolkien’s secondary world as a respect to climate.
The Good Food Revolution by Will Allen is about creating a healthy and safe community. It describes the process of growing fresh food in an urban environment, and also how doing so can be used to improve a community. It also describes the blessings and hardships of life as an an urban farmer.
Agriculture is the science and practice of producing crops and livestock. The primary aim of agriculture is to use the land to produce more abundantly to feed and clothe the world at the same time protecting it from deterioration or misuse. Humans had to improve agriculture as they became more dependent on food, creating a solitary evolutionary connection between plants and animals (Campbell and Reece, 2001). In this day and age, so many people have forgotten the authentic premises of survival. It is easy for some to believe that the grocery stores produce food and clothing is produced by shopping centers. These inaccurate presumptions are being made due to the lack of knowledge of how agriculture truly works. There are also significant differences in the levels of understanding between rural and urban communities.
Nature plays an important and powerful role in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Often, it is used to Shakespearean effects, in order to foreshadow doom. At other times, descriptions of the “green earth,” in particular, are used to render Middle-Earth into an almost maternal, life-giving persona. One could argue that these descriptions of “green earth” take on a life of their own, treating place as character. After all, places in Lord of the Rings often possess multi-dimensional qualities and are capable of change. In Aragon’s words, the “green earth” is “a mighty matter of legend” (The Two Towers 424). “Mighty” is not always the most appropriate word for places or objects, except when they hold power—perhaps even autonomously so. For example,
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
The Neolithic Agrarian Revolution was the world’s first historically confirmable revolution in agriculture. It was the progression of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, which was supported with a big increasing population. This agriculture involved the domestication of plants and animals, which developed around 9,500 B.C. During this age various types of plants and animals derived in different locations all over the world. It converted the small groups of hunters and gatherers into more intelligent agricultural people. Those groups then formed into sedentary societies that built towns and villages, while they also altered they natural environment around them by food-crop fertilization. Therefore, allowing them to have an abundance for their food production. Just these few developments have provided high population density settlements, complex labor diversification, trading economics, the development of portable art, architecture, culture, centralized administrations and political structures, hierarchical ideologies, and systems of knowledge.