The Significance of the Shire - Community in LotR

[lindil]

H-I is dead on.
Although I have come across realness in a few other places it is indeed rare [ironically enough, Williams' Otherrworld centered mostly in Virtual Reality had that sense of the real world].

We see 3 communities up close in LotR.
The Shire, Minas Tirith, Lothlorien. With the Shire being by far the most intimate and fleshed out.

I think clearly it functions as the 'earth element' in the story. The center point around which the Airy Elves, the Metallic Dwarves, the Watery Men of Dale and Coastal Gondor, the Woody Ents all revolve.

Not the most important but the touchstone and measuring stick for the story and even more importantly ourselves and our relationship to our own communities.

[ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: lindil ]