KidLit Forum

Tolkien is often accused of polarizing good and evil. Express your opinion by bringing arguments pro or against this critique

First of all we are led in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at the very beginning of man's history. (this gives me a feeling of "primitivism", the moment when the good and evil began to shape). Middle-earth is kind of dreamlike: a world of magic, fear and beauty where strange creatures work for the powers of good and evil, where landscapes become simple reflections of human fears or desires. We feed throughout the story with these oppositions such as those between light and dark, up in the trees and down in the caves/dungeons, the story moves us basically in way where our eye can determine fear and terror, beauty and glory.

I feel sometimes that we have a kind of map of the unconscious. The duality happens when you take a good look at the description of Bilbo's house (almost heavenly clean and organized) and when you fall into the stincky caves of some ugly creatures. Then again we are in the magical forest/castle of the elves and then back again in the wicked spider trees.

I really don't think this is a good and evil battle. It's a "journey" that you have to win against yourself, find those bad chambers of hell and lock them for your own safety.

There's a world unseen where all the wicked businesses are done by those who are good at it. This land is mostly downward where the light can't penetrate the dark. There's another world, filled with heavenly songs and creatures. Destination: upward. And here is a good example of duality (conscious vs unconscious).

The hidden dark side:

"Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted. They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones. They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble, though they are usually untidy and dirty. Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners and slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light. It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once..." (chapter 4)

And the peaceful side:

"So [the elves] laughed and sang in the trees; and pretty fair nonsense I daresay you think it. Not that they would care; they would only laugh all the more if you told them so. They were elves of course. Soon Bilbo caught glimpses of them as the darkness deepened. He loved elves, though he seldom met them." (chapter 3)