Thank you, Squatter, for those links. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] They certainly do make interesting reading. One thing that they do make clear is that JRRT was not a racist and, indeed, deplored the idea of racism - as we can see from his angry reaction to the request from a German publishing house in the 1930s asking him to confirm that he was not Jewish.
I had not realised that he spent the early part of his life in South Africa. I think that it does him (and no doubt his family) great credit, considering the views to which he would have been exposed, that he rejected the idea of racism so firmly.
Having read the threads posted by Squatter of Amon Rudh, I think it is instructive to compare the following two links given in those threads:
The Shadow of Racism
and
Lord of the Rings labelled racist
The first is a thoughtful and well-written article by one Quickbeam which considers the case for racism in LotR, but rejects it on the basis of a more detailed analysis of JRRT's works. He cites many of the arguments discussed on this thread above. I particularly like the reference to Sam's musings on the background of the Southron who falls close to him:
Quote:
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He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from home; and if he would not really have rather stayed there in peace ...
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I wish I had read further when I made my earlier posting on this thread and rediscovered this passage, since it really confirms for me that there was no racist intent in JRRT's use of Men of the South and the East as servants of Sauron. It reminds us that, but for Sauron's lies and/or threats, these Men would in all likelihood be living peaceful lives in their homelands. They are not intrinsically evil, like the orcs (of whom, notably, no such stmpathetic view is ever painted).
The second link above is to a report of comments made by one Dr Stephen Shapiro, apparently an expert in "cultural studies, racism and slavery", accusing LotR of outright racism. I would recommend Squatter's excellent analysis of the report in the last thread given in his post above. Basically, Dr Shapiro relies on all the obvious passages in LotR where dark-skinned characters are portrayed as "evil" or wrongdoers. What he does not do is undertake any deeper anlysis of JRRT's works, as Quickbeam and most of those who have posted on this thread and the other threads on this topic have done. He may be an expert in his own field, but he is clearly no expert on the works of Tolkien.
There is one point that he seeks to make that is worth addressing. He argues that, because orcs are black-skinned, and because they are evil, that is clear evidence of racism on JRRT's part. He tries to suggest that the hordes of invading orcs represent JRRT's (alleged) concern that hordes of immigrants were flooding England. That is utter nonsense in my view. As has been pointed out, the timing is wrong for a start. LotR was long finished by the time immigrants were arriving in any numbers in England in the 1950s - largely at the request of the government of the time, I might add.
In any event, I can see no analogy (intended or otherwise) between the orcs and non-white peoples. The orcs are servants of the Dark Lord and it is therefore approriate that they are dark in appearance. I had not originally imagined orcs as black-skinned myself, but taking them as such, I picture their skin as black in the way that rotten flesh is black, rather than in any way like the ebony and olive colours of dark skin in reality. Orcs do not even figure in the argument for me.
All that I have read on these threads simply reinforces my view that there is no racist undertone in JRRT's books. If one looks at it on any more than a very superficial level (as Dr Shapiro fails to do), there is ample evidence to show that there is no analogy to be drawn in his works between the colour of a character's skin and that character's virtue.
[ January 29, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]