The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This time through, it occurred to me that there are some parallels between Gondor at this point in the series and the nation of England at the time Tolkien was writing. Both nations had fallen from their former glory, yet not because of external strife, but because of a declining sense of nobility and virtue.

Tolkien, as a Roman Catholic and a lover of Anglo-Saxon culture, saw England at its greatest in the early medieval period, when Anglo-Saxon culture was strong, Catholicism reigned, and the language was uncorrupted yet by the Norman invasion. In contrast, Tolkien saw the England of his own time as fallen from these things into greed and decay. In The Two Towers, and in the whole series, Gondor is portrayed similarly. Gondor is great, but it is fallen from the majesty it once had.

One passage in which Tolkien communicates this idea is one of Faramir's conversations with Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. Faramir tells them, "The old wisdom and beauty brought out of the West remained long in the realm of the sons of Elendil the Fair, and they linger there still. Yet even so it was Gondor that brought about its own decay, falling by degrees into dotage. . . . We are become Middle Men, of the Twilight, but with memory of other things."

This is a good description not only of Gondor, but of England and other nations who have a heritage of former greatness and but a state of present decay.

I could go on--it's a fascinating and thought-provoking theme worth exploring in more depth.

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