March 15, 2003

Yes, Keep Politics Out of Lotr!
Amy

I remember reading somewhere that Tolkien was questioned whether his books had hidden meanings in them. Tolkien said "NO", there is no alagory, no metaphor, no character stands for anybody. He could easily have made the characters, theme, etc. stand for current events at his time but he said it just wasn't so. It's just a GREAT story. Let's keep it that way, please, and not attach politics to Tolkien's work! Besides, many of the connections people have made are so off-base it's pathetic! Tolkien was a WWI vet and devout Christian. His values were very patriotic. He probably would not appreciate people using his works to spout anti-American rhetoric. Can we just enjoy this forum as a place to have FUN with the fantasy that LOTR is? Let's see more about the books and movies themselves and leave the rest to the hundreds of political forums that are already out there!