In Tolkien's main works he expounds upon the effect that losing loved ones has on a person.
In The Hobbit Bilbo loses dwarves with whom he had been traveling for a long time. Thorin, Fili, and Kili had become his friends and he loses them in battle. In the text it says that Bilbo "turned away, and he went by himself, and sat alone wrapped in a blanket, and, . . . he wept until his eyes were red and his voice hoarse. . . Indeed it was long before he had the heart to make a joke again" (312).
These descriptions of red eyes and a hoarse voice cause us as the audience to feel an echo of that pain and I can't help but feel that it is an echo of Tolkien's pain. That is one of the greatest parts of writing and reading, you can get to know people who have long since past away. Their writings are a door into their heart and soul which you often can't even get when you've met a person face to face. I never had the opportunity to meet Tolkien or even live on the earth at the same time as him, but through his books I feel like I know him. I can feel a portion of the grief he had for his friends he lost in the war.
His descriptions of grief are relatable to everyone who has lost someone or who has felt profound sorrow. I know the feeling of isolating myself, sobbing and screaming until there is nothing left. Tolkien's words bring that all back for me. I also know the pain that tears at your throat when you watch helplessly as someone you love is carried away in a hearse.
I guess, in a way, authors use the reader's experiences to help them understand the emotion they are trying to convey through their work. If I had never had those experiences then I wouldn't understand the grief Bilbo feels at the end of The Hobbit, I wouldn't understand why the Fellowship is so despondent after they lose Gandalf. I could guess but I wouldn't really know.
Clearly, the act of writing and reading is a two-person activity, the author comes to the table with their experience and we come to the opposite side of the table with our experience and we try to meet somewhere in the middle.
Tolkien describes grief so well, probably since he applies his life experiences directly to his work. As a class we all noticed the effect that WWI had on him, where he surely saw many gruesome deaths. I think this is why he is able to write such a relatable description of Bilbo's grief, and also why Frodo does not feel like himself ever again after the trauma of his journey to destroy the Ring. Perhaps this is one of the greatest reasons for why Tolkien's works are so popular: they relate to the good and bad things experienced by all people.
ReplyDeleteI also really appreciate the way that Tolkien portrays different styles of grieving - and the process of grieving. He doesn't just stick to the crying alone that Bilbo deals with, he also brings in the Fellowship mourning Gandalf together in Lothlorien ("Now as the companions sat or walked together they spoke of Gandalf, and all that each had known and seen of him" pg 403). He shows us the different ways that the Fellowship and the Elves deal with and feel their grief - the Elves singing songs, Frodo speaking verses, and even Sam thinking up a verse (although his is much more lighthearted - mentioning Gandalf's glorious fireworks). He gives us a much more nuanced version of death and the reactions to it than almost any other book I can think of.
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