This sort of popped into my head yesterday, and I started to post on it, but there was a power surge, and I lost it all. I haven't spent much thought on it, and it may be nothing, but here's my general idea in short:
There seems to be a striking resemblance between the voyage of the elves to Valinor and the journey of the Pilgrims/colonists to the New World (being North America.)
Similarities:
- Both of the journeys were very long.
- The destinations were not completely known by the travelers
- Both were taken on ships over large seas.
- In each case, the traveler was leaving his entire life, everything he had known, and was going to start over in a new place.
- The journeys were one-way trips.
- The journey was made because the person saw no hope for the future where he currently was.
- Both voyages were limited in who could make them. Only elves could go to Valinor (exempting Frodo, Bilbo, etc.). Likewise, the colonists would have to be from the country that had established a colony, so only citizens from those countries could make the trip.
Differences:
- The elves did know some things about Valinor, like it would be good, but the colonists did not know what to expect about America.
- The colonists' journey was not very safe, storms and inadequate navigation made the seas deadly.
- The colonists could possibly come back, but were not really likely to.
- The new life was guaranteed to be better for the elves.
I would particularly like to point out the fact that both groups were tired enough of their old lives to completely start over. That's one very compelling reason behind the analogy, besides the ships across seas. Both the elves and the colonists were giving up on their homes. They saw no reason to stay, no good outlook for the future. They despaired and left to begin anew.
Well, that's about all I have for now. Feel free to point out any flaws in my analogy, like I said, I haven't spent a lot of time developing it.
