Leaf by Niggle - Allegory??

[Estelyn Telcontar]

doug, the story is indeed allegorical, but less about outside issues than about inner personal issues. Tom Shippey calls it an 'autobiographical allegory' and I agree with that opinion. There is more about that in the thread to which Belin linked, but I would like to answer the main question you asked here.

The place to which Niggle comes (and later Parish) is the afterlife, since the journey he had to make was death. At first he comes into Purgatory, a Catholic concept which involves penance for sins. After that he 'graduates' to Heaven, in this case, seeing the results of his lifelong work come to fruition.

This story was written at a discouraging time of Tolkien's life. The second 'autobiographical allegory' he wrote in the last years of his life is Smith of Wootton Major. It has quite a different outlook on his life. It is also discussed in the above-mentioned thread, the Autobiographical Tolkien, which I recommend reading.

I also highly recommend Tom Shippey's book Tolkien: The Author of the Century. It explains much of the background of Tolkien's works and gives some interpretations as well.