I always read the Scouring of the Shire chapter as an allegory, in the same vein as Animal Farm, about the threat of slow-creeping fascism in the wake of world war, and the price of liberty being eternal vigilance. But since Tolkien disavowed any and all real-world parallel interpretations of his work, I guess it's really just a chapter about the hobbits kicking some a--. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
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