Was: Golden Compass and is, Eowyn, Narnia, etc.

[susanmcgee48176]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "sistermagpie" 
<sistermagpie at ...> wrote:
>
> > Kemper now:
>  
> > After I hit send, I remembered Eowyn and replied to myself with 
her as
> > the sole suggestion.  But no women were worthy of the Fellowship. 
> > It's been a while since I read the books, but didn't she pine 
after
> > Aragon?  I guess I see her warriorness as attempting to prove 
worth to
> > him.  
> > JMAO
> 
> Magpie:
> I don't think she was a warrior to prove herself to Aragorn. 
> 
> -m
>
No, I don't think so either. 

I'm not an expert on Tolkien's original sources.....the Kalevala and 
other Icelandic myths...but there were certainly a few 
shieldmaidens...and I see Eowyn as akin to them. 
The MOVIE shows her falling in love with Aragon, but the book is very 
clear that she desired to be loved by the King because she wished to 
be set apart from others and be valued and worthy. It is only when 
Faramir touches her heart that she truly allows herself to love.
She was a warrior to redeem her pride and her house, and to prove 
herself to HERSELF as someone who could fight on behalf of her 
beloved king and uncle.

I'm glad that Galadriel and Eowyn are in the LoTR.....and that they 
are strong women. I love Tolkien, and he was one of the wonderful, 
magical experiences of my young adulthood, and I still enjoy reading 
him. Women, however, were not integrated into the book as equal 
partners or equal human beings. The fellowship are all male. It's a 
man's adventure. I think that in Tolkien's world there was still 
quite a rigid separation in the view of men's experience and women's 
experience AND there was extensive documentation and dissemination of 
men's experiences. And, it was assumed that in documenting men's 
experiences, people were talking about PEOPLE'S experiences. 
Tolkien's horrible ordeal in the trenches of WWI is a good example.
Frankly, I'm not sure how much time he could have spent with his poor 
wife, with the Inklings, and his teachings, and his writings, and 
hanging out in the pub drinking and singing ballads in Icelandic.

JKR is quite different in that she is interested in relationships 
between humans, and is interested in love and marriage. Yes, we do 
see Sam and Rosie at the end, but both Bilbo and Frodo were 
single..they had to invent a lot of text for Aragorn and Eomer in the 
movie because there surely wasn't a lot of romantic interplay in the 
books! 

And I find C.S. Lewis' sexism very difficult to take (battles are 
ugly when women fight) as well as his discussions of how women must 
submit to men as men submit to Christ, etc. (very explicit in That 
Hideous Strength).

C.S. Lewis' books (and Tolkien's to a lesser extent) are obviously 
Christian. Yet, I have no problem with my children reading them. I 
find them far more pagan in feel and texture and spirit in some ways 
than JKR's works. I think that some people think that if their child 
embraced a different spiritual path then that would be a tragedy. If 
my children embraced a different spiritual path than mine, I might 
feel minor regret, but if they were sincere, and moral, I'd rejoice 
with them. I think that's one of the big differences among religions.
So, if you believe that your path is the only one that leads to 
salvation, you might not want your children swayed by a powerful book 
or movie. (Of course, I ALWAYS read the books my mother didn't want 
me to read).

My son is doing a book report on the Magician's Nephew (after he got 
a C minus turning in a book report on the Anomorphs or something, he 
and I have been working together to choose books. (Some of the books 
that the school requires has me puzzled..one is about a boy who runs 
away, goes off into the wilderness, lives on his own for a year, and 
THEN his parents finally come and find him, and they all live 
together in the wilderness?! Where were they before? I don't object 
to books showing difficulties and problems in life but I DO object to 
books that show things like parents neglecting their kids as being 
OKAY).

Anyway, it's wonderful..we read the Magician's Nephew out 
loud...alternating..and my son wrote this great report about how 
Lewis takes him into a different world, he can see and hear and smell 
the world, where candy is planted and grows into a toffee fruit tree, 
and dryads and fauns frolic, and animals wish you good morning with 
your breakfast (I'm quoting his report). 

The most joyful element of being a parent is when your children lead 
you back into the joy and wonder of being a child.

Susan