It's 1984 in the Third Age

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Alatar

And it's not only the environment that is affected, but the hobbits as well. Surely the Chief's Big Men make one fear to say too much, as one doesn't know who may be a spy, but it seems that even old friends who should know better still maintain an emotional distance. Like in Winston Smith's world, where he is cautious as anyone and everyone would turn him in for heretical thoughts, the hobbits in the Shire at that time are afraid to do anything that might arouse interest, and worse, a trip to the lockholes and/or a beating.

I think Orwell and Tolkien both played up on two distinct and seemingly contradictory elements of Englishness. Firstly, that side which is restrictive and tells us that we must not, above anything else, 'make a fuss' or draw attention to ourselves. That's seen in how easily despots like Big Brother or Sharkey can take control and maintain control. You see it in everyday life all the time - I was watching a video on Youtube today where a woman has an argument with a girl who has her feet up on the seats on the bus, you see a lot of passengers hurriedly getting up and getting off, to avoid the 'fuss'.

But some stay on and join in. And that's the other side that both Tolkien and Orwell make use of, the unreasonable side. Had England just been a nation of people who never made a 'fuss' it would never have produced infamous stirrers of the status quo like Tom Paine, Blake, Scargill and even Thatcher. The world of Big Brother is agitated by Winston Smith as though he simply cannot help himself by going against the grain, and Sharkey's new society is shaken up by the appearance of these Hobbits, who notably have returned from war unwilling/unable to tolerate for more than a day or two this new system (note that this is similar to British history in which WWI and WWII were closely followed by big political shifts - notably Churchill, the victor, being booted out by returning soldiers from WWII in favour of Attlee and his promise of the welfare state).

You can even see this seemingly contradictory nature of 'no fuss please'/'let's kick things up a bit' in the very nature of Hobbits. It's not just Bagginses who go off on adventures but there's also a Brandybuck, a Took and most notably, a Gamgee. Something stirs them up, awakens something that they all had the potential to do anyway. After that, like you say, alatar, they are the 'same persons, different spirits'.

I dare to say you can even see it in Tolkien himself who cannot be categorised as one minute he says he was a conservative and the next an anarchist (note he took newspapers of all shades: The Times, The Telegraph and...The Observer!), was on one level an intellectual in an ivory tower but who also had a relish for pranks and loutish behaviour (he stole a bus when he was a student) - I'd say he was a fairly typical Englishman, refusing to be put into a little box when it didn't suit him to be that way.

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I think the emissary of Sauron at the black gates threatens that Frodo may be released when broken byt hte torments of Mordor. At the end of 1984, Winston is not killed immediately by the Party but is released as an example. Whether portrayed allegorically or mythologically, both writers well understood how absolute power works...

Good point! And of course, releasing the thoroughly brain-washed out into the world makes for a good, powerful weapon. In a similar vein, that's why the executed traitor would have his body displayed on the city walls as it rotted, to serve as an example to the people. That's why today, the converted zealot is extremely powerful and vociferous, as any smokers out there might know if they ever get cornered by an ex-smoker.