Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as a Catholic Epic
It will be the contention of this paper that much of Tolkien's unique vision was directly shaped by recurring images in the Catholic culture which shaped JRRT, and which are not shared by non-Catholics generally. The expression of these images in Lord of the Rings will then concern us.
To begin with, it must be remembered that Catholic culture and Catholic faith, while mutually supportive and symbiotic, are not the same thing. Mr. Walker Percy, in his Lost in the Cosmos, explored the difference, and pointed out that, culturally, Catholics in Cleveland are much more Protestant than Presbyterians in say, Taos, New Orleans, or the South of France. Erik, Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, points out that the effects of this dichotomy upon politics, attributing the multi-party system in Catholic countries to the Catholic adherence to absolutes; he further ascribes the two-party system to the Protestant willingness to compromise. However this may be, it does point up a constant element in Catholic thought---the pursuit of the absolute.
Here we must make an aside in regard to the U.S. Catholic culture in America is practically non-existent, except in attenuated form among such peoples as the Hispanos and Indians of Northern New Mexico, the Cajuns and Creoles of Louisiana and the other Gulf States, and the old English Catholic settlements of Maryland and Kentucky. Elsewhere the Faith was brought by immigrants, and its attendant culture has, like all imported ones in the States, veered between preservation and assimilation. This was exacerbated by the fact that Catholic leadership in the United States was early committed to a programme of cultural melding. In addition, this leadership was primarily Irish, a nationality which had been deprived of much of its native culture by centuries of Protestant Ascendancy. Hence it has been extremely difficult for Americans, even American Catholics, to understand or appreciate the Catholic thing (as Chesterton described it) in a cultural context. I am reminded of the astonishment of a classmateof mine (from a typical American Catholic High School) at seeing an anthology of Catholic poetry. This situation has been greatly accentuated in the past twenty years by the changes occurring after Vatican II.
This being so, it will be necessary to describe a little of the uniquely Catholic world view. In fine, it is a sacramental one. At the heart of all Catholic life is a miracle, a mystery, the Blessed Sacrament.
Baseball?s reputation has been painted with a red asterisk. The non-medical use of steroids has been banned according to the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. Many baseball athletes have been caught or presumed illegal users of HGH or Steroids since the act passed in 1990. All these athletes have one thing in common, they want to have an edge or advantage on the game. Some athletes even admit to administering the drug to other athletes and themselves. Jose Conseco testified to personally injecting the steroids into Mark McGuire (Cote).
Religion of the protestant church was an important factor in the pre-war timeline culture. The Second great awakening, which occurred in the 19th century, greatly impacted American society. This new point of view in terms and matters of faith led northerners to cherish the theory of Christian perfection, a theory that in fact was applied to society in an attempt to eliminate social imperfection. On the other hand, southerners reacted by cherishing a faith of personal piety, which focused mainly on a reading of the Bible; however, it expressed very little concern in addressing society’s problems.1
This journal article examines the issue of minor sex trafficking in the U.S and provides the reader with the results of the research that was conducted on the matter at hand. A data analysis consisting of 115 minor sex trafficking was thoroughly examined and studied. The information surrounding these cases was collected using two specific methods. One method included the reviewing of press releases of human trafficking cases issued by the Department of Justice. The second method was to obtain information via online searches of media reports.
Anabolic steroids have been abused by Major League Baseball players for years, it’s time to forever ban the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs before they ruin America’s past time. Why should athletes be able to cheat when teammates or rivals are competing with honest effort? Every year records are broken and new heights are achieved, the game of baseball is very simple yet very humble, and to deceive the game you love, forever will you be punished. Let me inform you with the origin in which PEDs were first used and where they came from, regulation, and a possible solution.
Walker-Rodriguez, Amanda, and Rodney Hill. "Human Sex Trafficking." FBI. FBI, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
...en put into the game of baseball and that is why it is referred to as “America’s pastime.” When you use steroids or any other performance-enhancing drug, you are blatantly disregarding what numerous generations of baseball players and fans have put into the game to make it what it is today. We may not know nowadays exactly how many players are using these horrible substances, but we do know one thing; they should not be allowed in not only Major League Baseball, but every single sport in the world, regardless of any excuse or reason the players have for using them. Steroids put our beloved players in danger with various health risks, they provide an unfair disadvantage which causes the game to lose some of its tradition, and they also provide a terrible influence on the young generation of children who aspire to one day become a very talented baseball player.
“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.
Thousands of women are currently held captive in America today. In 2006, it is estimated that over 300 thousand children are held in the sex trafficking business. Particularly, girls under the age of eighteen are forced into the sex trafficking trade. Sex trafficking is known as modern- day slavery. An estimate of 30 to 46 percent of juveniles in the trade attempt suicide. “Potterat et al., 2004 reports that women involved in prostitution have mortality rates 200 times higher than the national average) and are 18 times more likely to be murdered than their non-trafficked counterparts”, Cecchet (2014). Many girls will become abducted from their homes, schools, neighborhoods, and local shopping centers. Some of these young
Business in the domestic and global markets have become saturated with competition which laid claim from smaller producers of goods and services; that they were being left out of the markets for the reasons of competing prices. The concept of 'fair trade' was introduced to provide these individuals with a way to compete against the pressures of the big giants of producers of goods and have equal position to sell goods in the markets. This opportunity allows ...
Tradition in the United States of America.” Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 12, No. 4. (Winter, 1978): 140-177.
“Human Trafficking Statistics.” National Human Trafficking Resource Center: Polaris Project. 1-4, 2009. Web. 20 Jul 2010. .
Roebuck, J. (2010, April 2). Fourth charged in Mission bar sex trafficking case. Monitor, The (McAllen, TX). Retrieved from Newspaper Source database.
The key challenges facing Fair trade arise from the inherent contradictions embedded within this initiative between movement and market priorities. According to them, this divide can be understood as FT being between “alternative civic/domestic conventions rooted in trust, place attachment, and social benefits and conventional industrial/market norms, practices, and institutions ruled by price and efficiency.” Thus there comes to be two analytical approaches: 1) a social movement, or development orientation that sees FT as an avenue for empowering the poor and marginalised based on social justice concerns and 2) a commercial, market, or corporate reform orientation that sees Fair trade as an avenue that largely upholds the values and institutions of the market. (T.Raynolds & Murray, 2007)
A fantasy is an imaginary world where all things imaginable can be brought to life. J.R.R Tolkien portrayed fantasy through his use of skilled craftsmanship and a vivid imagination, which was presented in each piece of literature he wrote. In Tolkien's two stories The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings we see the theme of fantasy brought to life through three essential elements, heroism, magic and retribution. Heroism is shown through the character's courage and bravery in situations where conflict arises and this enables them to be seen in a new light. Magic is a form of extraordinary power seemingly through a supernatural force; it is used in a combination of combat and mystical items to aid the companions on their journey. Retribution is paid to the evil forces for the wrongs society had to endure while they were allowed to dominate. This system allows opportunity for physical and mental development in the characters and the aspect of fantasy to come to life.
The dangerous and major problem the environment facing today is “pollution”. It is a chemical and biological change, causing problems to all living beings on earth. These problems is created by man-made decreasing the lifespan of humans, animals and plant life. People should understand the importance of ecosystem which protects and being healthy. The three main pollutions caused by mankind: Air, water and soil.