Racism against Tolkien

[Stormrider]

www.academia.edu/1682508/On_Charges_of_Racism_against_J_R_R_Tolkien?email_work_card=thumbnail

Ok, we've heard enough about racism and I don't want to get into today's arguments about it. But Tolkien did live in more recists times

Anyway, in Tolkien's works, I always felt that evil is dark and good is white, not something to do with skin color or race ... Just good vs evil.

The orcs were corrupted elves (or men) who had lighter complexions to begin with. When I read LOTR the first time in 1969, I never pictured orcs as black/brown skinned ... More just plain dirty and grimy.

Also the Nazgul were Numenorian Kings mostly and they bacame dark and evil.

And dark shadowy people with squinty eyes never occurred to me as a racist jab against darker skinned or oriental people's. Again, just good vs evil. And many authors of other books have used similar descriptives.

Ok, I've got to read more of this paper before I say more. I've just started it and haven't gotten too far. This is my first reaction to what was written.

[Andorinha]

Thanks for the articles and updates on this important topic, Stormy!

Seems to come down to one's personal understanding/ personal definition of racism.

Tolkien grew up in a thoroughly racist culture, so, personally, I never had any great trouble with his being a racist; and his use of racist terminologies, ideologies and tropes in the ME works. While I think this situation is quite deplorable, I think it is also "understandable." I believe readers need to consider what was possible "back then," when even biological scientists were convinced that race was a valid concept and its stereotypes were accepted as universally legitimate. I can still read F. Scot Fitzgerald, Jack London and Hemingway despite their use/ acceptance of the background racism of their times, so why not Tolkien? I try not to let what I perceive as Tolkien's racism "ruin" the majestic sweep of his tales -- though it still angers me when I run into some of its more blatant examples like his Letter comparing Middle-earth, Dwarvish personality characteristics to those of the Jewish people he knew...

[Stormrider]

The Pukelmen seem to be the only dark skinned people on the "good side" and they are primitive. Having his early life in Africa, back in those days, what did the young Tolkien see as far as how the people lived? Were the natives primarily primitive? The Pukelmen did help the Rohirrim get to the Pelennor fields.

It would have been nice to see other darker people in a helpful good people roll in LOTR. Perhaps as another region in ME along the Misty Mtns. People who would want to help destroy Sauron.

The Southerns and Harradrim were not known in the ME where the story takes place. They didn't know the history of Sauron and his Ring. Sauron must have duped them with slick talking emissaries. Even Sam wondered about them and their families and life back home, whether they really were evil. I think this gives Tolkien credence in trying to give them a human side besides just being evil

But as Andorinha said,

"Tolkien grew up in a thoroughly racist culture, so, personally, I never had any great trouble with his being a racist; and his use of racist terminologies, ideologies and tropes in the ME world".

It does seem to me prejudice was more prejudiced back then. While still not gone, I think prejudice has gotten less so. Schools have all different races now, there are inter-marriages, special months dedicated to specific races, more races in movies and commercials. Just to name a few.

But I don't think racism will ever completely go away. It could be people fear others because they don't understand the backgrounds or challenges others face. Racism is a touchy subject.

[Andorinha]

RE Stormy's: "It does seem to me prejudice was more prejudiced back then."

I have the feeling that fascism and racism wax and wane. During periods of culture crisis, xenophobia and extreme polarization of the affected populations seem to explode. We are in another global Malthusian Crisis right now, very close to the desperate times Tolkien's western European culture faced with its Great Depression -- in fact a crisis that, by 1935, soon became fully global and led to the rise of German Nazi racism, Japanese racism, etc, etc. This culture crisis was resolved only by a global war. We seem to be heading that way again, right now...

Were the Druedain "dark-skinned?" I'll have to do some research here! I always thought Tolkien was trying to work the Neanderthals into his ME "races," with these people. Most depictions of Classic Neanderthals of northwest Europe are shown as light skinned, covered with furs in the glacial era snows, and consequently requiring much less melatonin, or dark skin pigments so that they could absorb the vital vitamin D even with limited skin exposure to the sun.

[Stormrider]

Perhaps PJs movies and LOTRO gave me the idea the Pukelmen were dark skinned.

Yes, racism seems to fluctuate back and forth from getting more tolerant to getting racist again. Right now, while there are still many people being more tolerant and accepting, there are still those who aren't.

[fanuidhol]

I have not read the article and I don’t want to hijack the thread. But, it is interesting to me how we have each perceived the Drudain differently. I imagined them to be close to “Faerie” type beings, not rooted in an actual human group. As far as skin color, because they were close to the earth and nature I imagined light to medium brown skinned, but whether it was from “tanning” or not, was not at all important.
Today, I looked up what they could be based on. Not what I pictured but, it seems somewhat likely that Tolkien would use the stories as a basis for his Woses.
mattsalusbury.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-woodwoses-of-suffolk.html?m=1

You and I can sit here as white people and say that whatever racism is within the mind or story of Tolkien, doesn’t affect our enjoyment of the story because that was what it was like back then. I’ve used that argument myself. I would hope that if the man was alive and the story was written today, many of his thoughts and words would be different.

However, if I try to put myself in the shoes of a person of color or other group that seems to be disparaged, I can see the charge of racism as being valid no matter where or when it was written. I cannot and will not defend Tolkien.

I can only look at how words matter. In trying to put myself in another’s shoes, I asked myself, ‘what discrimination have I faced?’ ‘What was the origin?’ Rightly or wrongly, I did come to a source. Paraphrasing perhaps - Females are misbegotten males. Sexism has its roots right here and in The Bible. Plus other places, no doubt. We’ve been struggling against these words for thousands of years.

[Andorinha]

Lots of deep stuff to ponder here, Stormy and Fan...

RE Druadan: "The Ride of the Rohirrim," chapter V of RotK, pp. 812- 831, would seem to be the best for understanding what the "Woses" of Tolkien looked like. They looked like the carven Pukel-men stones leading to Dunharrow, LOL, if only JRRT had seen fit to draw some! But, whether light skinned, tanned, or black, I cannot find a mention of actual skin coloring.

Fan, very interesting that we all seem to have a different mental image of the Druadan... the "mattsalusbury" article is a great source, thanks Fan! Passed it on to Maria who was already working with secondary images in Medieval Church decorations, lots of Greenmen, Woses, Wild-Men of the forests all over Europe!

More later -- when I've time to think on some the deeper issues you two (Stormy and Fan) present.

[Stormrider]

LOL! Not much to go on from ROTK, is there! I'm going to look in some of the other books I have, now that I have them handy and out if storage.

[Stormrider]

Unfinished Tales The Druedain

So much info here!

Small tribes, stumpy, 4ft tall, broad with heavy buttocks and short thick legs, wide faces, deep set eyes with heavy brows, flat noses, wide mouths, very black eyes that glowed red when angered, no hair below eyebrows except for a few men wno had a small tail of black hair in the midst of their chin, deep gutteral voices but rich rolling laughter.

No mention of skin color though. But a note later in chapter says historians in Gondor believed first men to cross the Anduin were Druedain. Possibly from lands south of Mordor and settled in the Vales of the White Mtns and wooded lands at their feet.

"Further notes on the Druedain"
Christopher makes note on how JRRT "took pains to emphasize the difference between Druedain and Hobbits". Druedain sparce lank hair and none on legs or feet, merry at times but sardonic and ruthless, frugal and ate sparingly. Christopher says they were more Dwarf-like in build and endurance & stone carving skills (this also corroborated in People's of Middle Earth, chapter X)

Lots more info in this chapter. Too much to add here! Please refresh yourselves with this chapter.

[Stormrider]

Getting back to racism and prejudices, it seems women were very limited in Tolkien's works. There is Galadriel, Luthien, Arwen, and Eowyn (and I am sure I have omitted more, especially from The Sil).

Aside from Eowyn, I would have liked to have seen more women warriors. If Eowyn was a shield maiden, why weren't there more riding to help save Gondor? I know there is the excuse that someone had to protect the elderly, women, and children who had to stay back.

My recollection of The Sil is very foggy. What females were strong and willing to fight? Luthien and Galadriel come to mind, but I don't recall what impressive things they did. Luthien and the Silmarils? For Galadriel, I seem to remember some travel and bad weather and some fighting? I better go do another reading of The Sil or review our study forum!

[Stormrider]

Going back to my question about African life in JRRT's youth:

www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50166/j_r_r_tolkien/1584/about_jrr_tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was born in Bloemfontein, an Afrikaans-speaking area of South Africa, on 3 January 1892. His father had become a bank manager there. In 1895, when Tolkien was three, his mother brought him and his younger brother Hilary back to visit their grandparents at Ashfield Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham. They never saw their father again; he died of typhoid fever in February 1896

Tolkien was only 3yrs. Old so he probably didn't remember much back then! And they lived in one of the capitol cities of Africa and his father was a banker. Not likely he came in contact with the rural natives or even remembered what they would have been like.

[Andorinha]

Thanks for tracking down that bit on Tolkien's stay in South Africa -- yeah, Stormy, age three or so would be very early for him to have much memory of the place and its people.

I'm reading vol X ("Peoples of Middle-earth") now, will review our earlier studies here as well...

[Stormrider]

Check out our TR Thread on Wild Men in our People's of ME Forum, too. Freddie had some interesting comments there, too.

tolkiensring.proboards.com/thread/236/wild-men

[Andorinha]

Tolkien knew about Neanderthals, that "sub-spieces" was "discovered" in 1856, and received wide publicity throughout Europe. I would like to be able to say that JRRT incorporated the Neanderthals into his Middle-earth as the Druadan, as his Wood-woses. Alas, I have no such statement from Tolkien himself, even looked into his Letters, so it is more likely that the much later European concept of the Greenmen, and the Woses was his proximal source for his Pukel-men. Too many years intervene between the living interactions of Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neaderthalensis (some 20,000 years?) for me to posit that the European Woses were a memory of those days when the two species met and mingled.

Here I now, reluctantly, tend to agree with the following review: the physical description of Tolkien's Druadan certainly tallies with the perceived conceptions of how Neanderthals looked -- but we have no statement from Tolkien himself as to whether or not he had these ancient folk in mind when he wrote them into Middle-earth...

askmiddlearth.tumblr.com/post/87022132588/the-druedain-and-neanderthals

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

I think Tolkien likely had some unconscious biases, as did many people of his time. As you noted, racism and prejudice were more prevalent and accepted in that era. Tolkien may have had some opinions on other races that he didn't realize were incorrect or problematic.

I don't really see the orcs as being a racist stereotype. They're warrior goblins, a non-human species straight out of folklore. The only slightly racist statement I've seen from Tolkien regarding the orcs was a mention in his letters of orcs resembling "degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types". That's a racist comparison but I don't think it means that the orcs were meant to represent any actual ethnicity. Tolkien disliked allegory so the orcs were not a stand-in for a real-world race.

Where Tolkien's biases are more obvious is with the Haradrim and the Easterlings. The Haradrim are dark-skinned, come from the south, and ride giant elephants. They thus appear to come from Africa. The Easterlings, as their name implies, come from eastern Middle-earth and are portrayed much like Asian "barbarians" such as Huns or Mongols. Taking real-world inspiration for these peoples isn't racist in itself. But it's telling that the non-white races are all allied with the Dark Lord. This seems to stem from the Eurocentric approach of the story. Middle-earth was meant to be a mythology for England and was inspired by the Norse and Anglo-Saxon legends that Tolkien loved. As such, it was written from the perspective of white, European-like characters, and anyone from beyond those lands was seen as a dangerous outsider.

Sam does wonder if these folk were really evil at heart or if they had been lied to or threatened by Sauron. But we never see any good Easterlings or Haradrim in the story so it's left ambiguous. Tolkien at least left the possibility.

As far as the Druedain, I don't think they're a racist stereotype at all. Woodwoses are a staple of medieval folklore and art. They were hairy wild men that lived in forests. The depiction of the Druedain draws from those traditions and, as you pointed out, they also somewhat resemble Neanderthals in their squat, broad build and appearance.

Side note: There are some Tolkien fans that really don't like the Professor being accused of racism. There was a similar thread in a Tolkien Facebook group a while back and I posted about his likely unconscious biases. I got attacked and accused of overreacting or of being racist myself! White fragility, what can I say?