Close Reading Essay Based on Novel Passage (254)

Lauren Huff
AP Multicultural Literature
Ms. Nichole Wilson
14 February 2013

The Deeper Meaning of a Passage

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, the passage on page 254, “The face of Elrond,” through “save a girdle of leaves wrought in silver.” uses ambiguous language when describing the Elves and a ‘wandering eye’ structure to emphasize the Elves mysterious qualities but ultimately their goodness. This gives Tolkien’s audience an image of the forces of ‘good’ in this story so that his ultimate point, the struggle between good and evil and the initial victories of evil is strengthened when contrasted against the forces of evil.
This twisting thesis deserves some clarification. What is day without the presence of night? What is darkness without the presence of night? what is a cell phone without the presence of not-a-cell phone? The true nature and blessing of something cannot fully be appreciated without the intervention of it exact opposite. When the audience experiences Frodo and the rest of the Company’s first sight of the Elves the evil they have just gone through is better appreciated and better emphasized as being evil.
The Elves goodness is emphasized linguistically when Tolkien describes them in ambiguous terms. Elrond and Arwen are neither “young nor old” (Tolkien. 254). They are neither “glad” nor “sorrowful” (Tolkien. 254) These descriptions make both characters in the story and audience alike a little mystified. This mysterious quality goes directly against the image Tolkien presents of the forces of ‘bad’. The orcs which are evil are shown as simpletons, stupid, easily killed and blindly raging. There’s nothing very complicated about them. They are described as “swarming and raging” (Tolkien. 370) Their blind rage contrasts sharply with Elrond’s and Arwen’s knowledgeable glances and carefully calculated motions. In this way the ambiguous terms used to describe the Elves are effective in separating the forces of evil from that of good.
The absolute wonderment the Company feels when in the presence of Elves adds to the Elve’s ‘goodness’. This wonderment is experienced transferred from the characters in the book to the audience by way of a ‘wandering eye’ description. Structurally this means that the audience sees things in the order in which they would naturally see something in real life. In the description of Arwen Tolkien describes the “canopy” she is under and the “chair” she is sitting in (Tolkien. 254) before the characters and audience finally lays eyes on the “lady fair” (Tolkien. 254). This functions to bring the audience further into the story to observe the pure and beautiful world of the Elves and, by doing so, to increase the contrast between the forces of good and evil so when the two come to blows the initial victories of evil are more dramatic and poignant.