Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Blog Post 4: Heroes before Hobbits

If you've read The Hobbit, you know that one of the most attractive aspects of the story is the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins. He is eminently familiar as an example of perfectly average humanity: he loves food and comfort, he tries to avoid danger, and for the most part, he behaves exactly as we might expect any average person to behave. Bilbo's behavior is one of the most obvious ways that Tolkien ensures his faery story remains focused on humanity.

This is, perhaps, not the case for the heroes we've in The Silmarillion. In our encounters with Feanor and his sons, or with Thingol, Turgon, Barahir, Beren, Luthien, Turin, and Isildur, we meet characters who are bigger than life in almost every way. How, then, does Tolkien manage to maintain a focus on humanity in a way that is recognizable? Is it possible to identify with these heroes in a meaningful way? And if the heroes don't invite our identification with them, how do we make any meaning out of the mass of myth and legend presented in The Silmarillion?

23 comments:

  1. I think that even the heroes in The Silmarillion are still focused on humanity. As we talked about in class, The Silmarillion is eminently about the Fall. All of these characters fall in some way. They have some aspect of their character that is distinctly human. Like Feanor and his sons, they deny the powers and do what they want anyway. This is just like every teenager who does what they want over their parents. Or like Turin, who accidentally kills someone, but won’t accept the pardon. That is like us as humans holding onto our guilt beyond where it needs to be held onto. Even characters like Beren and Luthien are still focused on humanity. While they don’t have a Fall aspect, they are about love, and doing whatever you can to stay with that love. While the epic love story like Beren and Luthien isn’t quite how it plays out in real life, the idea of love and fighting for that love is something we see all the time, and it resonates with us. All of the heroes of The Silmarillion, while not as obviously about humanity like Bilbo, are still eminently about humanity in different ways. Whether it is about the Fall, love, or other parts of humanity, the heroes from The Silmarillion can give us a glimpse into our humanity.

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  2. I would have to agree. One thing I do believe that these larger than life heroes do for us is really make it clear on the emotions they are dealing with. The situations that they are dealing with are so large that it is really easy to see what they are dealing with and their problems.

    That being said it makes it easy for me to sympathize with someone like Turin. It is one of the reasons why I hoped that at some point Turin would turn his life around because I saw in him the same emotions that I would have. So some how I wanted to see him do good so there would be hope if I was in some similar situation of say loosing a family member.

    In the end I think that is how we connect to these situations. Larger than life problems really get you to think about what would you do. Through that is how we see good or bad in a character or how we relate to them. Allowing us to feel great pity for Turin and his misfortunes, or seeing Beren and Luthien's triumphs that more special.

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  3. While these characters are not all humans and are larger than we are, I believe Tolkien still kept them recognizable to use by giving these individuals characteristics that we can easily relate to. Feanor seeks revenge on Morgoth for killing his father and stealing his jewels, which we can understand. We love our family and if any harm befell them, it would be instinctive to seek revenge, the same is true for something that we create and treasure very highly. Beren and Luthien have a love that the reader can understand because we feel love, perhaps not to the extent of overcoming death as we see from them, but we can relate. Despite most of these characters not behaving exactly like the average human would, Tolkien included certain characteristics in each character that are immediately recognizable to us.

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  4. I agree with the posts above, especially with the idea of the Fall of many of the characters in the Silmarillion being very relateable to humanity. We as humans make mistakes, and it is clear that in Tolkien's world the elves are not exempt from this either.
    I also think that the elves being very similar in looks, and sometimes personality, helps us to identify with them more. Even though they live a lot longer, we can see in them a part of ourselves that is more graceful than the hobbits or dwarves. It is almost like Tolkien took a specific trait of humanity and applied one to each of his races, so that all of the races in his world could apply to us in some way.

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  5. In the Silmarillion Tolkien stays true to the rule that states faery stories should deal with humanity. .” Clearly demonstrated throughout, Tolkien displays his groundings in human concerns and togetherness in most of his chapters, and among these chapters with the tale of Beren and Luthien. Love is primarily a human concern demonstrated beautifully within this sub-story. We, as humans, are always in search of love, trying to get over love, completely wrapped up in love, or fighting against its mighty pull. Tolkien shows, with Beren and Luthien that love truly conquers all things, the wrath of the devil, the bite of a ferocious hound, and even death.

    maggie meiners

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  6. I think the Silmarillion is still focused on humanity because although we are talking about elves who are fair and wise and learned more than all the other folk in Middle Earth, they are still just more of a demonstration of man than all other races. We see that the elves can do immense good but even great mistakes. The greater the man the greater can be his fall,and with the elves this is certainly true. Feanros fall is most evident of all because of his many gifts of skill and wisdom, but fall he did and to the ruin of many. Men are the same yet they just don't do as much evil and can an elf.

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  7. I think that there is humanity to be found in the stories of The Silmarillion, but I doubt that conveying humanity is the ultimate goal of the book. You can identify with the love of Beren and Luthien or the pride of Feanor, but ultimately we are supposed to be seeing the humongous scope of the history of Middle Earth. That said, I think that stopping to focus on specific characters is very interesting, particularly because these instances occur when an important part of history is being covered. It caused me to understand these events on a personal level.

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  8. While the characters in the Silmarillion that we come in contact with are larger than life, Tolkien still manages to keep a focus on humanity that helps us as the reader identify with them. They may be a lot different than we are and make much larger and more important decisions than we will ever make, but they process what to do about them in a very human way. In doing this, the reader can identify with the Elves and such of the Silmarillion. Yes the legend and myth of it are larger than life, but with how they make decisions like we have mentioned in class that any of us as humans would make, we can make it seem so real to us. This is where he keeps us tied in with the land of Faery.

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  10. For me personally. I believe that many elements of humanity are constantly being brought up in The Silmarillion. There are many examples that pertain to this concept. For instance, there is the story of Feanor and his greedy love over the Silmarils. His character I find displayed many human characteristics such as revenge, defiance, stubbornness, which all in the end causes the Fall of the Elves. This relates to the Fall of humanity as well. I also agree with some of the above posts which discuss that some other characterics of humanity are displayed through each kind of race in Middle-Earth. Elves represent a certain gracefulness and beauty whereas Dwarves are crafty, hardy, and stubborn. However, each of all these races aren't perfect. They all make mistakes in certain parts of the story. I believe that this not only relates to how as humans, we all make mistakes, but even the most beautiful, immortal, skilled of creations in Tolkien's Middle-Earth are just as prone to making the same mistakes and misjudgments. No one in either world is perfect. Both our world and Tolkien's world, despite the difference in time era and people and places and reality, are very much alike in that both have succumbed to they ways of evil and darkness. However, in each there is lightness and goodness which fails to diminish even among the darkest of times.

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  11. I have no trouble seeing humanity in The Silmarillion. In the Hobbit and in the Lord of the Rings it's easy to see. While there are still "larger then life" characters like Gandalf, Galadriel, the Balrog, and even Aragorn, the books are riddled with average people. The hobbits dislike change and enjoy comforts like food, ale, and smoking pipes. The humans we encounter in these stories are not all like Earendil or Beren; most of the humans in the third age as we see them are struggling right along with everyone else against such a terrible evil.

    Humanity, then, in the Silmarillion, does not take the same form as it does in Tolkien's later works. The character's in the Silmarillion are larger than life and their humanity follows suit. Turin's pride is not the same as the pride we find in Gimli. The love between Beren and Luthien is not the same love as we find with Sam and Rosie or even Faramir and Eowen. The very humans qualities, feelings, and flaws that we find in the Silmarillion are blown up on a massive scale. Human qualities aren't worked into the characters slowly and in (sometime) amusing ways like in the third age. The Silmarillion takes these larger than life character's, creates larger than life humanities, and smacks the read in the face with them. The Silmarillion is not gentle.

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  12. Tolkien uses quite a few different aspects of humanity to try and connect the reader to the character. Just about every character has a fatal flaw: pride, greed, depression, anger, jealousy. We can all relate to those one way or another, though we can also relate to the positive side: love, bravery, strength, cunning, humor. Whether positive or negative, each character is distinct, and it's easy to pick out what qualities they have, and it's only a step further to compare ourselves to that character. If we cannot relate to that character some way, then we can at least learn from them, either from their mistakes or their victories.

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  13. I agree with a lot of the first comments in that during the stories in the silmarillion, the larger-than-life characters offer us a look at humanity in really obvious ways. Humans are all very complex, and while these characters dont necessarily reflect that aspect of humanity, they do offer really good insights into certain aspects of humanity. The desire for honor or fame, overwhelming guilt, family issues, power struggles, love; these things are all seen in the Silmarillion in exaggerated ways that we as humans wont usually get to (thank god). However, we can relate to the more simplistic versions of these challenges, and perhaps view them on a larger scale.

    Just as Tolkien himself wrote an epic version of his own relationship with his wife, we can look at these stories and place ourselves in these situations and have a nice allegory for our lives.

    Also, in learning that the Elves were very human-like in their erroneous ways has helped me understand the Elves more. From just watching the movies, you see elves as just better versions of humans. almost faultless. They are more in tune with nature, they are better at seeing, hearing, combat, basically everything. But now, instead of seeing them as what "humans could be," I see that they too have faults, and they too have a reason for being this way. They've had a LOT of time to practice.

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  14. The characters in the Silimarillion are larger than life and the feats they accomplish are far beyond human capabilities. However, the characters have human characteristics especially in thinking and in emotions. Beren and Luthien was a love story similar to Romeo and Juliet. The love was forbidden, but in the end love triumphed. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, Beren and Luthien live happily in the end, but readers were able to connect to this story because of a want for love and good to win. Other characters display emotions of anger and jealousy and joy. These emotions draw the reader in and help them to make connections to the characters. So even though the characters do not complete human tasks, the characters still act enough like humans for the readers to connect.
    I believe that the reader can identify with the characters in a meaningful way because of their human flaws. The reader wants the character to succeed and do well and is happy when they do. However, when the character is falling, the reader can associate with the flaw such as pride with Turin. Tolkien was able to make larger than life characters have enough human in them for the reader to connect.

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  15. We identify with the heroes of "The Silmarillion" because of thier very human flaws. These heroes might be stronger than we will ever be but they share with us the same weaknesses that make up the very nature of humanity. I can understand the pride of Feanor because I have been proud myself. I can understand the foolishness of Turin because I have been foolish. I can understand Turgon's connection to his home and his desire to stay there because I have love my home and have felt homesick. It is not in the amazing acts of heroism that the heroes become human and understandable no it is in their weakness and in their mistakes.

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  16. The way that I feel Tolkien was able to focus on humanity in The Silmarillion is by having the larger than life heroes make very human mistakes. Greed often overtakes several of the characters, a characteristic that Tolkien makes evident is a human trait. Love is also present, which we as individuals can relate to, as being loved is one of the foundations of being a human. We are not solitary creatures, regardless of what any person may try to tell you. Despite the often magical powers of some of the heroes, the humanity aspect is clear in their actions.

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  17. Despite the fact that the majority of the characters in the Silmarillion accomplish a vast number of superhuman deeds, they are also mostly not even of the human race. But I think that Tolkien allows the reader to relate to these characters through their flaws. Pride, obstinacy, deceit and more are common human flaws that are repeated throughout the stories of the Silmarillion. We might not be able to relate to the actions of these individuals, but we can certainly relate to their character. Even their heroic actions can be, to some degree, related to. Although we can't conquer some evil angelic power, we can overcome the obstacles and evil that we find in our own lives. Humanity is evident in the Silmarillion, not through the exact actions of the characters, but through the characteristics that make them and their world.

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  18. The heroes mentioned in the Silmarillion seem to be larger than life. Even though this may seem to detract from their reliability, it can also serve a purpose by inspiring readers. Though we feel that we could never achieve any of the feats of heroes like Beren or Earendil, these heroes aid us in the effect of recovery, where we see things as we are meant to see them. They renew us in the fact that we can aspire to greatness, and perhaps when we are motivated by these stories, we can endeavor to achieve more than we think we can. If you think “I want to be like Beren”, and look up to these larger than life heroes, you may change the way you think about heroes. Though you might never really be like Beren (slaying giant werewolves and all that), you can get down to the essence of what to true, good hero is and live according to that belief.

    ~Hannah Cruze

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  19. The Silmarillion takes very broad strokes in regards to humanity. The heroes are ever so good and brave, but also have some rather outstanding flaws to counter that. Feanor is great, and creates the Silmarils, and makes the Tengwar, and is a very charismatic speaker that everyone loves, and goes on a rampage of revenge while dragging the elves and eventually the rest of Middle Earth into it. There is not a lot of subtlety here. Certainly there is complexity, but not subtlety. Grand heroes are not subtle. Otherwise they would not be grand heroes. What we identify with is the potential. They are inspiring. Either in the "this is how great we could be" way, or the "this is how badly we could screw up" way. I do not find myself identifying with the characters as much as my longing for there to be some greatness in the world.

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  20. Tolkien relates the problems of his characters to the audience in a way that is easily sympathized with. We may never have to deal with large scale battles of giant monsters, but we do know about war itself. We also understand soldiers so when we hear these stories of battles and how there were many lives lost we can relate. We identify with the heroes and their relationships with other characters; best friend dynamics, love and romantic relationships. All things that aren’t so foreign to us. Tolkien has to make his writing easy to relate to or else no one would even want to attempt the Silmarillion. But since we can see key characteristics and can at least empathize with characters and their actions it makes the myths seem more interesting.

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  21. Although the characters in the Silmarillion are not as we may think of humanity, they still posses many human characteristics. Feanor is the most obvious example. He is proud and willful. However, because he is so willful I do not think that he is the best example for identifiable or sympathetic characters. There is too much focus for his love of the Silmarils and not enough on the love for his father. People can understand revenge for killing a father but revenge for stealing some strange magical objects is a little less identifiable. For this reason I believe that Turin is one of the more identifiable characters. While Turin is proud his proud comes out in a slightly different manner than that of Feanor. The best example of Turin's pride is when he refuses to knock down the bridge that he built. This is something that everybody has done sometime in their lives: done something that we should have taken back but we did not because we were to proud. So, although the characters are larger than life, heroic, and superb in battle, they still portray many characteristics that people do and are identifiable because of them.

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  22. Even though the characters in The Silmarillion may be larger than life in almost every way, they are still characters we can relate to. The reason for this is becuase, though they aren't strictly speaking "human" most of the time, the choices they make are. The motivations behind the characters and their decisions are one that we as humans can empathize with. Regardless of the scale of their actions, the emotions that drive them are ones that we are eminently familiar with.
    Revenge is a common theme in the Silmarillion, and it is most assuredly one that is within the grasp of our spectrum of emotion. Love is another theme, and those of us who are lucky enough to know what it is, and to have felt it can speak as to whether or not they can relate to the characters in the Silmarillion.
    I do not think that Tolkien really has to take any special pains to make his characters recognizable. Being a human, i think its unlikely that he himself is capable of creating a character that is outside the scope of human understanding. It is in that way that i think that there is always some kind of underlying pattern or theme with every character by which we can recognize and identify the characters in the Silmarillion and Middle-Earth

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  23. I think Tolkien keeps the human aspect of the Silmarillion in focus for the reader due to the personal stories told regarding individuals such as Feanor, Turin, Beren, and Earendil. However, I think that it’s their flaws primarily which invite us to identify with them and how we might exhibit those flaws or the powerful emotions which drive us to fall prey to these flaws. I think Feanor is a good example, with his desire to seek revenge for the death of his father and the theft of his life’s work. He also exhibits our stubbornness and our unwillingness to be patient and accept that some things might be out of our control. The story of Numenor, I think, is particularly relevant since a large part of it deals with our fears regarding our own mortality, our desire to control things and have power, and perhaps most potent our curiosity and desire to have what we cannot possess. Even though the story of Numenor is a bit larger in scope (dealing with a culture/civilization rather than an individual), it’s notable that this is a race of men that we can identify with fairly easily and can be seen as a reflection of mankind at large, not just the flaws we find in individuals.

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