Re: Eowyn
Brian M.

Greetings, Edmund C.

If you got the feeling I was insinuating that you were a feminist, I apologize. I try to keep my post as brief as possible, in the hopes that people might actually read it, so I don't get to put in all the arguments and disclaimers I'd like! :) All I meant with that last paragraph was this: Many people, myself included at one time, are so inundated with that viewpoint from TV, books, conversations, etc., that alot of times we're subtly influenced by it without thinking. Then we react out of habit, because it's supposed to be what "everyone else" thinks.

Also, I didn't mean that Eowyn literally wanted to BE a man. Rather, battle (ie. acting like one) was how she sought to be freed from her hellish existence. What I think Tolkien was trying to say was that stepping across those lines, being something she wasn't, was not, and could never be, the answer to her troubles.

After reading your post (as tired as I am), I don't think that our viewpoints are mutually exclusive. In fact, they could be complementary. Wormtongue's bewitchment (though I honestly don't remember actual magic being involved, just slick language), was what put her into her predicament. She tried to answer it in the wrong way, which frustrated her further. Faramir managed to rescue her from both.

What think ye?