Essay Questions

Why does Tolkien go for three years without contacting Edith Bratt, the love of his life?

Tolkien and Edith Bratt meet as fellow orphans living in the same boarding house. She is three years older than him. One might think this would be of little consequence, but only because it is. Unfortunately, Edith had an even greater flaw in the eyes of father Francis, Tolkien’s guardian following the death of his mother. Edith was Protestant. The combination of being older, not being Catholic, and—most significantly—presenting a distraction to his young charge’s already illustrious academic career and the promise of a bright future meant that Edith had to be removed from the equation. Tolkien’s agreement to cut off all contact with Edith for three years until his 21st birthday has partially to do with not losing the support and influence provided by Father Francis. More integral to the overall narrative is that Tolkien agrees to these conditions out of respect for Father Francis and a sense of loyalty to all he did to help the orphaned young man attain his potential. Tolkien’s sense of loyalty will be expressed throughout the narrative of Lord of the Rings.

What were the circumstances by which Tolkien invented his world of hobbits?

One of the intentions of this biography is to portray the mysterious process of creative inspiration. This has historically proven to be one of the most difficult things to replicate as a means of drama or entertainment. From its opening sequence, this biography attempts to repeatedly do just that. One such example is the portrayal of the single most significant moment in Tolkien’s literary career. He is pictured sitting alone in his study grading student exams and being distracted by a page unexpectedly left entirely blank. Further distraction is provided by a sycamore tree situated outside his window. With nothing on the blank to actually grade, he instead puts his pen to paper and writes the sentence that will ultimately change not only his life, but the lives of countless others he will never even know: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” What makes this portrayal of the creative spirit so effective is, ironically, not the words written on the paper by Tolkien himself, but the follow-up. Having written the words that would forever alter the course of his life, Tolkien asks himself a series of questions that readers may not have expected.

Why is it significant that the writing of The Lord of the Rings stretched from the years just before the outbreak of World War II to the years just after it ended?

Tolkien’s groundbreaking trilogy is often considered an allegorical tale of the forces of democracy battling against the forces of fascism in which Sauron is analogous to Hitler. Tolkien always denied this interpretation primarily on the basis of being too narrow. In creating an entire imagined world filled with multiple races, cultures, languages, and histories, such an allegorical interpretation does seem severely limiting. Nevertheless, the very fact that Tolkien began writing his epic just a few years before Germany began invading its European neighbors and did not submit a completed manuscript until after the truth of the full dimension of Nazi atrocities came to light suggests that the real-world epic story of good versus evil had an irrefutable impact on the creation of his fictional exploration. The book contains many vivid battle scenes which almost certainly were inspired by battles raging across the continent. The central theme of being seduced by unlimited power may start with comparisons to Hitler and other fascist dictators but also speaks more comprehensively to the millions who supported those despots for purely selfish reasons having to do with acquiring greater power and influence over others. The Lord of the Rings may fail to qualify as an allegorical portrait of the war against fascism, but the events taking place while the manuscript was being written undeniably infiltrate the narrative.