Technology and Coercion in LOTR

I watched a documentary on Youtube about J.R.R. Tolkien and the LOTR (I will include a link at the bottom). In it, his eldest son, Christopher Tolkien, spoke at length about his father's dislike for technology. It is not the use of tools per se that he disliked. Rather, it was the coercive power inherent in technology to bend reality to our wills and extract from nature what we would like. This notion is a distinctly modern one and can be found in the writing of Descrates. For example, in the Discourse on Method, Part 6, Descartes writes,

"For they—these scientific notions of mine—showed me that we can get knowledge that would be very useful in life, and that in place of the speculative philosophy taught in the schools we might find a practical philosophy through which knowing the power and the actions of fire, water, air, the stars, the heavens and all the other bodies in our environment as clearly as we know the various crafts of our artisans, we could (like artisans) put these bodies to use in all the appropriate ways, and thus make ourselves the masters and (as it were) owners of nature".

I think it was this sentiment which Tolkien so despised. For the One Ring is just that, a tool of great power to coerce all of reality to the desires and ends of whoever wields its great power. We catch a snippet of this idea in The Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf is retelling his capture by Saruman to the council of Elrond. Saruman says to Gandalf, "The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning. The time of the Elves is over, but our time is at hand: the world of Men, which We must rule. But we must have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see" (252 Italics added). Technology, or the Ring, is "power to order all things as we will". That is what it is, its essence. I think it is the mindset of the modern philosophers, and perhaps most modern people. And I suspect that us moderns have lost something of incredible value as a result of this sentiment that our ancient counterparts once had. 

But, this thing that we have lost I think can be seen in the other races of Middle Earth- the Elves and Hobbits. For example, the three Rings given to the Elves were not rings of power but rings of knowledge- I think. Because Galadriel still possess one of the three, the wonder and magic of Lothlorien is still so vibrant and present even in those dark days. But, I will speak of this perhaps in a furture post. 


Sources

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkmNHP58OhU
2. J.R.R. Tolkie. The Lord of the Rings. Harper Collins, 1991.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eye in LOTR

Why is the enemy, Sauron, represented as a great Eye? An eye represents sight, the ability to see. It represents attention and watchfulness. Of course, the enemy is ever watchful, ever searching, always seeking out and calling the Ring back to himself. Here, the imagery of a great Eye makes sense. Yet, there is nothing about 'watchfulness', 'sight', or 'attention' that is inherently evil. The city of Minas Tirith could have just as easily had the symbol of an eye rathern than a white tree- an eye to be ever watchful of the enemy in Mordor, as their towers and fortresses of old were built for on the borders of those lands. Yet the enemy is intrinsically evil. Why, then, does he take the form of an eye? Perhaps it has something to do with pride and power. One who covets power and control is ever wary of being usurped. Why were the Soviets so ruthless even to their own countryman? No dissent or originality of thought can be tolerated because such things pose a ...
Read more

Thoughts on Literature/Philosophy

Why does literature exist? What purpose does it serve? What do we gain from telling ourselves stories, and what do we lose from forgetting them? Potential answer: Our stories are external representations of the internal structure of the psyche- its fall, its journey upwards, and its end or union. In other words, our literature is the way it is because it reflects the way we are. How could it be otherwise? Western literature is obssessed with 'the journey'. It is so because it emmenates from our psyches. We cannot but help produce such literature. (What about Eastern literature, is there lack of this 'drama' or 'journey' literature? If so, doesn't this invalidate my claim? Perhaps one response is that philosophy and ideology are powerful things, and can be used to supress quite effectively). "Becoming simple and unified, the soul is "one with" the Good, all thought or awareness of duality having been left behind. Union with the Good is ...
Read more

An Inherent Feature of the Forces of Evil in LOTR

There are two excellent examples in LOTR of a specific feature that I think all corrupt or evil persons seem to possess, or are likely to possess. It is the tendency of a person to assume that all other people think in the same terms he does. One who is corrupt or evil in some manner, will assume that his ends and goals are shared by all, and that his way of viewing the world is everyone else's way of viewing the world. I cannot seem to find a word for this tendency. Such words as 'conceit' and 'intolerant' come to mind, but these are merely qualities that a person with this tendency possesses. These words do not pick out the quality or tendency in question. My first example is Sauron, the great enemy. Of him Gandalf says, "That we should wish to cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered into his darkest dream" (486). Sauron, being so absorbed i...
Read more