The Most Overlooked Dramatization of Industry Versus Environment and the Myth of Progress - Alese Cowardin

Lord of the Rings is well known as a story not only about the fight of good versus evil, but also a primarily environmental tale. Tolkien himself was famously obsessed with trees and nature, and he was increasingly upset when the development of industrial projects ruined the natural beauty of the environment surrounding him. His book highlights the tension of the myth of progress in industry with the destruction of the tranquil nature that people should cherish. In a scene that is alluded to in Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy (Frodo’s vision in mirror of Galadriel, and Merry’s comment to Pippin about the war inevitably infiltrating the Shire) but was ultimately only shown in the books, the scouring of the Shire dramatizes the conflict of industrial growth and natural beauty and freedom. In this climax of Return of the King, the hobbits return to their home following Sauron’s defeat to find that Saruman and Wormtongue have ravaged the natural landscape and disrupted the tranquil way of living that hobbits shared with their environment. Instead of continuing to live in harmony with the earth and trees around them, they have been made into slaves to industry and urbanization, and must now take part in the destruction of their home. The main characters eventually overthrow Saruman’s regime, but the scene still serves as a reminder that the myth of progress is just that: a myth. We should not give up our connections with nature so freely in the pursuit of advancement because ultimately advancement might regress human individualism and our way of life.  

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