-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 On 08/08/2012 03:17 AM, Ramakrishnan Sundaram wrote: > On 8 August 2012 12:24, Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> wrote: >> Udhay (first encountered LotR and Rand in high school, disliked both on >> sight) > > I read them both in high school as well. I found Rand hard to read, as > you could see the point some 2000 words before she got there, but > slogged through all her fiction because they came highly recommended. > > Tolkien was a tedious read too, but the Peter Jackson movies made them > watchable, unlike the Rand movies. I read the books again with my son, > and realised that I had missed the racism completely the first time. > > Ram > Perhaps because of my own misfortune in being raised catholic, I always interpreted the colour symbolism to be more demons vs angels than any ethnic biases. Now one could make the strong argument that these colour choices are directly drawn from ethnic divisions, but I don't think of that as racist, just inheriting the dichotomy and symbolism of previous generations. That certainly hasn't changed even today, and tbh, introducing novel symbolism to address this seems beyond the scope of his writing, as well as tedious, because it makes the writing less accessible.
If I recall correctly, there also wasn't a discrete equation between good and evil, black and white. Gandalf was grey originally, which is, as I interpret it, a cross between his pursuit of magic, an unearthly power (thus white), and his constant involvement in ordinary affairs, that of mortals. So his purpose is mixed. Furthermore, there is Saurumon the White, who, if I recall correctly, was almost exclusively involved in the ethereal, but was ultimately completely evil. LOTR certainly was an epic, but I never felt that there was anything ridiculously deep about the symbolism. Then again, I haven't read it since elementary school. //landon - -- Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJQIhlBAAoJEDeph/0fVJWswfgP/j3gOWtw/bxV5DAHufPMvK/y T5L1IWYLxvQAts4DJJ41M8DhFIbyIgfs0x3tTrNpkXqV/uvUYmA1iJmpDxEqhgPV oLxHZdPYLUQFqtTFVrUPYCaXvQBCmwTb8didBNSvystChhC2mvu9kMLyh8g5NeAN 7yIfD5Enq6zNPPwN4MlT5jh1DiFsYKl5F2cV+etXimJ0rXTWaDDTZsuL50KPaj0Q f5dVH+Cg3kAhfeDW3xdGJIAsZ0YGJ8sSQe3U+kZngZ+I60M9uPAQKl4i6hsCy6St 4c/juvC+hmGt86xa++KFFUbRvCnyKTs1jogJf9atXOvzGDt5mOSlV7kvvWllHuer 6PK2Erohp/H3xmL8b68hK+kj+8iTOfNVLRJ6R1DkO+aj/kqlXD/ra1M2YMbXJRVl Za5JwcinzeFB5L2yzKzMInX13Izf+SBNqkPAPXFYedt4JHXxFX3nLwSmcsnCHXdG XdQcpCuTJS9cjUYiYIhRYiTH5RMrHPD5tsCIyLgxfTPkeoQmPrY1L8ALIG5GzZsb DlTd0Og7BsRoLqZvORaQsaiVkLuWuTkCrWgLZiFNwUiVUvyzNerUfLesSAY9lkrR W1Djn4w7vEw3lr7e4fnAOw6PTWT3YoimF+TVoJfuIHyilV9QJd5CukIKl27XlHhA 35UJOU8Q3C8JjK2JxPa5 =Rk07 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
