Jack musings
17.6.18
The power of the Internet is like the ring of power in Tolkien’s middle earth …
It has a similar effect to the ring of power in the sense that it is compulsive and addictive, and allows people in a sense, to hide from the outside world and other people. Furthermore, to hide using the internet in fact exposes you to a dark side of humanity, rather like the sixth sense the black riders seem to gain when the ring is put on. I suppose Tolkien is touching on quite archetypal themes such as guilt and the false/unnatural pleasure associated with excessive and unmoderated pleasure seeking. Further exploring the theme of guilt, the hobbits are rather like innocent children or angels. Their innocence means they experience no real existential guilt and thus do not need to hide from any kind of retribution, and do not fear the devil (Sauron), or his all-seeing eye. However, as the story progresses, unlike Sam who remains utterly unchanged by his experiences, Frodo becomes to connected to the ring and can no longer stay in Middle Earth at the end and must leave the childhood home, as he has lost his innocence. It is very Biblical in it’s themes, isn’t it? However, there is something about his approach to this theme that just seems odd and out of touch with reality, as if Tolkien regards the act of growing up, sexually awakening and accepting the amorality of existence as somehow evil or perverse. This touches on some quite Freudian themes of sexual shame and trauma. Freud would probably say that Tolkien’s attitude to innocence comes from kind of early trauma. I think it comes from the Christian way of thinking and our strange attitude to nakedness and sex in western Europe. Take the story of Adam and Eve, where the turning point of the tragedy is where they realize their own nakedness. Not that the message the writers of the Bible intended is that nakedness is bad, but there is definitely a connection there. This was my break from the not so exciting world of maths homework, which I actually turned on this computer to do.
July 2019
Fury
I am a wave.
Try and fight me!
I will toss you over yourself like
a child with its rag doll
or an orca with a seal pup.
Or perhaps, as I wash
over you,
through you,
you catch me instead.
How far could I take you?