Post by Stormrider on Jan 25, 2009 10:52:48 GMT -6
From: Algamesh_of_Arnor (Original Message) Sent: 3/9/2003 11:29 PM
As Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their way to the dead city of Minas Morgul and the pass beyond, we come across the following text:
There they lay for a while, too tired yet to eat; and peeringout through the holes in the covert they watched for the slow growth of day.
But no day came, only a dead brown twilight.
Tolkien is now throwing a different color at us - brown. Previously, we took some time to track the color Grey. Tolkien makes use of it in many situations throughout the span of the epic. But, it is rare that we see brown. What is the significance of brown, what does it symbolize, and why is it such a rarity in the epic?
Your Thoughts?
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 3/10/2003 4:01 AM
Tolkien grew up in Birmingham, UK Untill very recently, that region was one of heavy, dirty industry. The towns on the edge of Birmingham to the north and west were know collectively as "The Black Country", for good reason. His first job took him to Leeds, another grimy industrial city.
With his love of the countryside and his suspicion of technology, Tolkien would have regarded the smoke and air polution he was forced to breathe as one of the worst aspects of our modern society, so it would be natural for him to associate clouds of vile, dirty smoke with Mordor. But why brown? The pall of smoke over his home town was black, not brown.
Brown is the colour of earth. Is tolkien suggesting that, by taking that colour into the air, Souron is making a statement that he intends to stand the whole of world on its head and remake it in a different way?
Selmo.
* * *
From: Ruscosenda Sent: 3/11/2003 2:24 PM
What about Radagast the Brown? Is there any connection in the symbolism? Radagast did not fulfill his mission to help the people of Middle Earth because he lost his focus. He allowed his mind to become distracted with thoughts about the birds and beasts of Middle Earth. The brown twilight may indicate that the air was full of ash and earth spewed out of Mount Doom. This polluting of the air is what aided Sauron's forces allowing the to fight during the daytime. Maybe brown is symbolic of things that have been polluted or distracted from their original purpose . While not trully evil, they are helping evil because they have allowed themselved to be corrupted.
-- Ruscosenda
As Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their way to the dead city of Minas Morgul and the pass beyond, we come across the following text:
There they lay for a while, too tired yet to eat; and peeringout through the holes in the covert they watched for the slow growth of day.
But no day came, only a dead brown twilight.
Tolkien is now throwing a different color at us - brown. Previously, we took some time to track the color Grey. Tolkien makes use of it in many situations throughout the span of the epic. But, it is rare that we see brown. What is the significance of brown, what does it symbolize, and why is it such a rarity in the epic?
Your Thoughts?
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 3/10/2003 4:01 AM
Tolkien grew up in Birmingham, UK Untill very recently, that region was one of heavy, dirty industry. The towns on the edge of Birmingham to the north and west were know collectively as "The Black Country", for good reason. His first job took him to Leeds, another grimy industrial city.
With his love of the countryside and his suspicion of technology, Tolkien would have regarded the smoke and air polution he was forced to breathe as one of the worst aspects of our modern society, so it would be natural for him to associate clouds of vile, dirty smoke with Mordor. But why brown? The pall of smoke over his home town was black, not brown.
Brown is the colour of earth. Is tolkien suggesting that, by taking that colour into the air, Souron is making a statement that he intends to stand the whole of world on its head and remake it in a different way?
Selmo.
* * *
From: Ruscosenda Sent: 3/11/2003 2:24 PM
What about Radagast the Brown? Is there any connection in the symbolism? Radagast did not fulfill his mission to help the people of Middle Earth because he lost his focus. He allowed his mind to become distracted with thoughts about the birds and beasts of Middle Earth. The brown twilight may indicate that the air was full of ash and earth spewed out of Mount Doom. This polluting of the air is what aided Sauron's forces allowing the to fight during the daytime. Maybe brown is symbolic of things that have been polluted or distracted from their original purpose . While not trully evil, they are helping evil because they have allowed themselved to be corrupted.
-- Ruscosenda