This first appeared in Second Spring
The Little Way Through Middle Earth
By Dwight Longenecker
‘In
a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ Tolkien
admitted that he wrote these words absentmindedly on
the back of an exam paper he was marking.[1] Such
spontaneous inspiration suggests the work of the subconscious
mind, and if the subconscious mind, then a more mysterious
source of inspiration may well be at work. Peter Kreeft
has suggested that The Lord of the Rings is
a divinely inspired work [2],
and in the broadest sense this has to be true. Inspiration
comes from earthly experience just as much as from
heavenly guidance, and Tom Shippey has shown how the
very word ‘hobbit’ emerged from the context of Tolkien’s
lifelong interest in words and language. a href="#EndNote">[3] The idea of little people who turn out to be
the greatest would also have sprung from Tolkien’s
devout Catholic faith. Not only does the gospel say
that we have to be little to get into the kingdom,
(Matthew 18:4) but the apostle John constantly refers
to the faithful as ‘little children’. (e.g. I John
2:28) Furthermore, Tolkien would have been well aware
that one of the Catholic saints most in the ascendant
during his lifetime was the apostle of the ‘little
way.’ Thérèse of Lisieux teaches that, ‘To be little
means recognising one’s nothingness, expecting everything
from the good God, as a little child expects everything
from its Father.’ [4]
Now
Tolkien was not writing a book about saints and going
to heaven. Apart from a minor character saying grace
before a meal, there is nothing in The Lord of the
Rings which is remotely religious in the conventional
sense of the word. Nevertheless Tolkien was clear that
his Christian faith provided the underlying matrix
for the story. In 1953 he wrote that The Lord of
the Rings, ‘is of course; a fundamentally religious
and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously
in the revision.’ [5] Tolkien
didn’t want to write a religious book, he wanted to
create a myth for the English people. But the myth
he has created is a very Christian myth. At the heart
of The Lord of the Rings is a Christian worldview
that gives a foundation for the entire story. David
Mills has observed that a story can be Christian to
the degree in “which Providence works as Providence,
that is, to which it includes the requirements of obedience
and the acceptance of permanent loss involved in the
Christian teaching of Providence and shows it at work
in the plot.’ [6] Frodo,
the hero of the Lord of the Rings, exhibits this obedience
to a full extent.
Shippey
has observed that Tolkien’s work, while set in an archaic,
fantasy world is unmistakably modern. [7] Frodo’s struggle to obey the call
of Providence is also modern. From the beginning of
his stewardship of the Ring, Frodo is filled with angst. He
is uncertain and disturbed by his destiny. After Gandalf
tells him of the Ring’s origins, ‘Frodo sat silent
and motionless. Fear seemed to stretch out like a vast
hand, like a dark cloud rising in the East and looming
up to engulf him. “This ring!” he stammered. “How,
how on earth did it come to me?”’ [8] and after Gandalf reveals what
must happen to the Ring Frodo cries, ‘I am not made
for perilous quests! I wish I had never seen the Ring!
Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?’ [9] It is this very reluctance to be a hero that
seals Frodo’s status as the most excellent modern hero.
His greatness is one that is filled with existential
self-doubt and a despair which is only punctuated from
time to time with glimmers of hope. The Lord of the
Rings is no easy fantasy with a sentimental, happy
ending and Frodo is no bluff super-hero who sets off
on an easy quest to defeat the bad guys. Frodo struggles
with his inner doubts and fears as much as he does
with the dreadful burden of the Ring and the dark power
of Sauron.
Frodo’s
reluctance to play the hero is not cowardice. It is
the mark of his humility, for humility is a simple
realistic assessment of oneself. In contrast, both
pride and false humility are unrealistic about the
self. In The Lord of the Rings Boromir is the
best example of pride. He really does believe that
the he would be able to use the Ring for a good purpose, ‘the
Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive
the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my
banner!’ [10] False humility also has an unrealistic assessment of the self.
Gollum exhibits the grovelling subservience of false
humility while all the time he is using his subservience
as a tool to manipulate others and regain the Ring.
Gandalf and Galadriel also have the necessary self-knowledge
to be humble. Like Boromir, they are both tempted,
to take the Ring and use it for good, but both of them
know they are not innocent enough to bear the Ring
without it corrupting them. Even Sam, for the short
time that he holds the Ring is tempted by the vision
of ‘Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age.’ [11] Frodo alone, while weighed
down by the burden of the Ring, is not tempted to use
it for his own long term glory, until at the last moment
he weakens and the Ring’s power infests his heart.
The
humility of Frodo can be contrasted with the hubris of
the classical hero. Hubris is that overweening
self-confidence which eventually provides for the hero’s
potential downfall. This hubris is linked with
the tragic flaw in the classic hero. In a tragedy the
hero’s flaw combined with hubris brings about
the hero’s defeat or even death. Hubris is linked
with the tragic flaw because it does not allow the
hero to see his tragic flaw and change it. This means
the classic hero lacks that realistic self-assessment
on which real humility depends. Frodo is totally lacking
in hubris. Instead, throughout The Lord of
the Rings he is full of fear, dread, confusion
and self-doubt.
What
keeps Frodo from being a weak character is his obedience.
The word obey has its roots in the verb ‘to
listen’ and Frodo listens to the call of what can only
be called Providence at the crucial stages of his journey.
That he obeys the call is the mark of Frodo’s true
strength. True obedience is always linked with courage,
and Frodo constantly moves forward in obedience despite
his fear. Finally obedience is linked with faith—not
religious faith per se, but faith as a quality
of positive trust in Providence. For Frodo these traits
of obedience, courage and faith come to a climax at
the Council of Elrond. There he hears the voice of
Providence, and then he hears the real Frodo—almost
like a disembodied voice—respond in positive courageous
obedience to the call. After the Council had decided
that the Ring must be taken to the Cracks of Doom, ‘a
great dread fell upon him [Frodo] as if he was awaiting
the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen
and vainly hoped might after never be spoken….At last
with a great effort he spoke, and wondered to hear
his own words as if some other will was using his small
voice. “I will take the Ring,” he said, “though I do
not know the way.”’ [12]
In creating a character who
responds to the voice of providence with genuine humility
and obedience Tolkien has created a new kind of mythic
hero. Many writers have created Christ-figures and The
Lord of the Rings is not without its own (Aragorn
the triumphant returning King, Gandalf who returns
from the dead) but Frodo’s heroism is compelling not
because it typifies Christ, but because it exemplifies
the heroism of the Christian saint. Frodo steps out
even though he does not know the way and the saint
also, like Frodo, walks by faith not by sight. (2Cor.
5:7) Frodo goes through the utter darkness driven only
by his obedience and courage.
Compare
Frodo’s journey through
uncertainty and doubt to Thérèse of Lisieux who wrote, ‘Jesus
took me by the hand and brought me into a subterranean
way, where it was neither hot nor cold, where the sun
does not shine, and rain and wind do not come; a tunnel
where I see nothing but a brightness half-veiled…I
do not see that we are advancing towards the mountain
that is our goal, because our journey is under the
earth; yet I have a feeling that we are approaching
it, without knowing why.’[13] The path of the humble soul is always uncertain.
What seems to be progress may only be the advance of
pride. Up until the very last moment Frodo is unsure
whether he is making progress and doubts whether he
will succeed. Again Thérèse says, ‘I learned very
quickly that the farther one advances along this road,
the farther from the goal one believes oneself to be.’[14]
Even
Frodo’s failure at the
Cracks of Doom is a paradoxical sign of his saint-like
calling. He has advanced in genuine humility and sheer
dogged obedience, then when the final test comes Frodo
seems to fail. He who has never yielded to the temptation
to use the Ring for his own ends rises up and says, ‘I
have come, but I do not choose now to do what I came
to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!’ [15] He puts on the ring and disappears, only to have Gollum leap
for the ring, bite off his finger and plunge with the
Ring into the pit. It has often been remarked how
the turn of the plot at this stage is a sign of the
strange workings of Providence. Frodo seems to fail
the test in the last moment, but Frodo (and before
him Bilbo) had spared the life of Gollum, and this
act of humble mercy redounds for his salvation at the
crucial point.
Similarly,
Thérèse faced
the worst kind of desolation and trial during her final
illness. ‘Look!’ she cries to her sisters on her deathbed, ‘Do
you see the black hole where we can see nothing? Its
in a similar hole that I am as far as body and soul
are concerned. Ah! what darkness! [16] She was tempted not only to despair, but to
suicide. Yet it was her earlier unceasing habits of
faith, obedience and courage which enabled her to say
in her final terrible days, ‘What a grace it is to
have faith! If I had not had any faith, I would have
committed suicide without a moment’s hesitation.’ [17]
Frodo’s humility not only
leads to the triumph over Mordor, but Frodo himself
is transformed. The Frodo who returns to the Shire
is much more like the classical hero. He rides in and
takes command with confidence. There is no fear, confusion
or doubt about him. Frodo says to the ruffians who
have invaded the Shire, ‘I see that you’re behind the
times and the news here…. Your day is over…the Dark
Tower has fallen, and there is a King in Gondor. Isengard
has been destroyed and your precious master is a beggar
in the wilderness. The King’s messengers will ride
up the Greenway now, not bullies from Isengard.’ [18] In
his transformation Frodo shows that the authentic hero
is one who has gone through the darkness of doubt,
fear, rebelliousness and arrogance to conquer with
the weapons of faith, courage, obedience and humility.
The authentic hero attacks the enemy with his humility
intact, but with the added quality of real self-confidence.
Finally,
Tolkien presents us with a Christian hero and type
of the Christian
saint because Frodo, in his faithful obedience and
humility lives out the way of sacrificial love. Redemptive
suffering lies at the heart of the Christian way, and
like the saint who emulates the Master by taking up
his cross, Frodo is the wounded hero. Although he has
saved the Shire he cannot stay and enjoy it. As he
departs for the Grey Havens he explains to a tearful
Sam why he can’t stay in the Shire. ‘I have been too
deeply hurt Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it
has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so
Sam when things are in danger. Some one has to give
them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.’
[19]
In giving us
a humble hero Tolkien reminds us that it is the foolish
things of God which overturn the wisdom of the world.
Things are not what they seem. As Bilbo blurts out
at the Council of Elrond, ‘All that is gold does not
glitter/ Not all those who wander are lost.’ [20] The small ones turn out to be mighty while
the mighty are fallen. It is the secret agents of the
world who hold the key to final victory. The hidden
soul who overturns the power of evil is the essential
theme of The Lord of the Rings, and this theme
is echoed in the gospel and in the little saint of
Lisieux who writes, ‘To find a thing hidden, we must
be hidden ourselves; so our life must be a mystery.’[21] These are the secret ways of
the Spirit which eventually bring down even the worst
powers of Mordor. The triumph of the halfling Frodo
is an inspiration to every soul who attempts the little
way. Each one who does can be encouraged by the words
of Elrond, ‘The road must be trod, but it will be very
hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us
far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak
with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is the oft
the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world.
Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes
of the great are elsewhere.’ [22]
Dwight
Longenecker’s new book, St
Benedict and St Thérèse –The Little Rule and the Little
Way is published by Gracewing and Our Sunday Visitor.
[1] Humphrey Carpenter, J.R.R.Tolkien, A Biography,
London, George Allen&Unwin, 1977, p. 172
[2] Peter Kreeft, Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights
about Evil in the The Lord of the Rings, St Austin
Review, Vol. 2, No.1, p. 5.
[3] Tom Shippey, J.R.R.Tolkien,Author of the Century, London,
Harper Collins, 2000, pp.2-5
[4] Thomas N Taylor (tr), Saint Thérèse of Lisieux,
The Little Flower of Jesus, New York, P.J.Kennedy,
1926, p.232
[5] Humphrey Carpenter, The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien, Boston,
Houghton Mifflin, 1981, p. 172
[6] David Mills, The Writer of Our Story, Divine
Providence in The Lord of the Rings, Touchstone
Magazine, Jan-Feb 2002, p. 23.
[8] J.R.R.Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, New
York, Ballantine Books, 1965, p. 81
[11]J.R.R.Tolkien, The Return of the King, New
York, Ballantine Books, 1965, p.216.
[13] F.J. Sheed, Collected Letters of Saint Thérèse
of Lisieux, London, Sheed and Ward, 1949, p.
121
[14] John Clarke OCD, (tr); The Story of a Soul:
the Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux, Washington,
ICS, 1976. p. 158
[15] The Return of the King, p. 274
[16] John Clarke OCD, (tr.) St Thérèse of Lisieux,
Her Last Conversations, Washington, ICS, 1977,
p.173.
[18] The Return of the King, p. 351
[20] The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 325
[21] John Clarke OCD (tr), General Correspondence,
Vol.II, Washington, ICS, 1988, p. 809
[22] The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 353
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