It's Time to Scour the Shire!
In the final set piece in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings, the four hobbits return to their beloved Shire to find it overrun by ruffians. (For some reason, the scouring of the shire was omitted from Peter Jackson's otherwise wonderful movie version of LOTR, which proceeds more or less directly from the defeat of ultimate evil and the coronation of the new king to Frodo's departure overseas with the Elves.)
The four hobbits are the protagonists of the epic novel. They are Frodo Baggins, Samwise ("Sam") Gamgee, Meriadoc ("Merry") Brandybuck, and Peregrin ("Pippin") Took. (I won't go into the question of class relationships between Sam and the other three, or the possibility of an erotic attachment between Sam and Frodo, as these are topics for another day.)
Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin return home to the once bucolic Shire. The Shire is the home to slothful, boring, stuck in their ways, but kind hobbits with surnames like Grubb, Chubb, Burrows, Hornblower, Bolger, Bracegirdle, Goodbody, Brockhouse, and Proudfoot. Hobbits like to eat, sleep, gently party, and smoke "pipe weed." Inside most hobbits, however fun loving and lazy the exterior, is an inner core of strength.
The four heros have returned home following their date with consumate evil. In the process, Frodo and Sam have destroyed the one ring, the ultimate embodiment of the ability of evil to corrupt (in the sense of Lord Acton's dictum, that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.) The hobbits are not the same as when they left home on their great adventures; for better and for worse they have been changed by their experiences.
The Shire has changed, too, while they were gone. In some sense, the Shire of their carefree days is gone forever (at least for Frodo). The new Shire has been touched by evil. Trees and gardens are gone. Rivers are polluted and dying. Great red-brick factories belch stink and smoke all day long even though there is nothing for the factories to make. There are new ugly buildings, and lots of rules.
The ruffians who run the Shire are mean, petty, greedy, and self-righteous. These thugs have taken power in collaboration with a few rich hobbits. But the ruffians have forgotten the courage and core of steel that lies within ordinary hobbits. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin raise the Shire, and assemble an army of the people. The thugs are easily thrown out of their country, and the natural order is restored.
J.R.R. Tolkien knew evil. He served in the trenches in the First World War (most of his friends died). He wrote the LOTR during the Second World War. The question for us: where in 1930s Germany timeline are we? Have we passed the point of no return?
It's time for us to scour the Shire! Let's get rid of these greedy, self-righteous, mean, theocratic, anti-constitutional thugs who are running our country. Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake!
Related link: House majority leader Tom DeLay says the judiciary has run amok (New York Times account)
Posted by Harold Davis at April 9, 2005 04:21 PM
