Do hobbits understand what man does not?
October 28th 2009 23:38
JRR Tolkien
"I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the downfall of Mordor," Tolkien said, "but it proved both sinister and depressing. Since we are dealing with men it is inevitable that we should be concerned with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good. So that the people of Gondor in times of peace, justice, and prosperity, would be become discontented and restless, while the dynasts descended from Aragorn would become just kings and governors, like Denethor or worse. Not worth doing."
The words come from a letter by Tolkien written to Colin Bailey in 1964, and show both his humanity and insight. I like the comment on the livestrong.com blog: "Tolkien was a great man. To realise the worth of a story even before it was written and then abort the project speaks volumes to me. He was a story teller and not a mercenary."
The words in the Tolkien quote I find most interesting, however, are "... the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good".
Gondor in the Lord of the Rings is the land of men, and so Tolkien is saying that the worst thing about human nature is an inability to cope with the very things we seek. Tolkien thinks that the more we get what we want, the less content we are.
This is something of a conundrum. How can good be bad?
Father James V Schall, Professor of Government at the Jesuit Georgetown University in Washington DC, says in a fascinating commentary that Tolkien's idea is related to earlier philosophical ideas. GK Chesterton, for example, said we are more likely to lose our souls if we are rich than we are poor.
From a less religious point of view, Fr Schall brings together ideas by Plato and St Augustine. The first said the desires of man are unlimited. The second said all finite things are good.
It all makes a strong case for what most of us suspect, and what becomes slowly clearer as we get older: neither money nor material possessions guarantee happiness.
Peter Jackson's wonderful portrayal of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy begins and ends in the village of Hobbiton, the idyllic home of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam and their fellow hobbits. The hobbits have their foibles and their squabbles, but they are generally content in such serene surroundings in a way man, it seems, can not be.
If Tolkien could have seen Jackson's pictures, I think he would have nodded in recognition and appreciation.
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It does seem that way, doesn't it. Imagine if we expended all that energy trying to devise a better political system!