The elucidation of truth

[The Silver-shod Muse]

Another reason that Tolkien may not have sent the letter is that he feared the bookshop owner would take him too seriously. Sometimes people that see themselves as morally upright become very stiff and uncompromising on the points in their religion that don't matter at all. They become barriers to the people that seek the truth. It may be Tolkien felt that some very "religious" people, possibly the bookshop owner, would not recognize the truth of his work and see instead some sort of parody or sacrilege.

I read the last page of RotK in tears. It wasn't that it was so sad, it was that I had never read anything so joyful and yet so melancholy and true. There is a very deep beauty and power that Tolkien wove into his books, and it isn't the Elves. To do what is right without heeding the darkness that surrounds you is a moral victory that can be found in many novels, but the far greater meaning is seen in Frodo's life afterwards. Doing the right thing rarely makes it all come out okay. It is knowing this that makes it a true sacrifice, and what lends LotR such timeless and moving significance. It recalled to me what I had long forgotten - it is when we act rightly of our own accord and with the knowledge that no reward is guaranteed us that we may glimpse some true meaning in life.