[Bêthberry]

*takes a deep breath and with some hesitation begins to explain her use of "gated community."

This is not a flippant beginning, for I really do fear that my way of considering LOTR might offend those for whom the book is a sacred story. Please read no further if you wish only accolades for the Professor's work.

I begin by clarifying what I am not doing.

I am not concerned with equating the book with our world or our communities. That is, I am not seeking to explain or justify Tolkien's text by reference to something outside it. Our own experiences and witnesses are valid and significant, but for the purposes of my argument, this witness does not automatically or axiomatically justify or explain what happens in LOTR.

I am not interested in determining Tolkien's intention. I mentioned that in my addendum above, and that was an unfortunate misdirection. This is not a rejection of authorial intention, but rather a wish simply to step outside that box, for the time being.

I do not wish to deny the personal witness of those who have used religious retreats, nor to deny the value of meditation, retreats, or any form of renewal. Once again, these forms of personal experience are outside the text and in this argument, do not act as validation of the narrative.

Nor does my discussion revolve around determining whether the hobbits and Aragorn were right or wrong in limiting access to The Shire in the Fourth Age. That is, I am not here engaged in interpreting LOTR so much as trying to understand how it works as literature.

What I am here attempting to say is that I don't want, at this point, to consider LOTR a mirror of the world or my world. It isn't mimesis (the representation of reality) I am trying to use to explain Tolkien's work. I am trying to priviledge the work of art as literature.

A long preamble. Forgive me.

I used the term 'gated communities' because it has a special function. That function is often negatively connoted, unlike other specialized communities such as the university or the monastary. That function is not simply retreat from the world, but a rejection of the conditions of the world. The community within the gate protects itself by creating an opposite which the gated community believes might taint it. Inevitably, the gated community becomes priviledged when the opposition becomes hierarchical. That other term, those outside the gate, ultimately become alienated from the positive values which the gated community uses to describe itself. The gated community can then project onto this 'other' many kinds of fantasies and descriptions. Thus, the values of the gated community no longer need to be applied to or respected in its relationship with this oppositional other.


Edit: My argument beyond this point was over-generalized and abrupt. I need more time to elaborate on this before I consider whether or how this relates to LOTR. Be back tomorrow to finish this. My apologies to all.

Bethberry

[ April 02, 2003: Message edited by: Bethberry ]