J.R.R. Tolkien and Fairy Stories

Hey everyone! Recently, I was flipping through a home-school magazine that we had received in the mail, when I came upon an article titled "How J.R.R. Tolkien Used Middle Earth to Reveal Who we Are". I was intrigued by the title, (hey, if that doesn't pique a Tolkien lover's curiosity, I don't know what does!) so I read through it. It was very insightful! One of my favorite sections (and the one that really sums up the article best) was probably this one:

"In his famous essay on fairy stories, J. R. R. Tolkien asserted that one of the most important facets of fairytales is that they hold up a “Mirror of scorn and pity towards Man”. The fairy story, Tolkien wrote, “may be used as a Mirour de l’Omme” (mirror of man), as something that shows us ourselves. If this is so, and it is, it means that the greatest fairy stories are not mere fantasies that serve as a flight from reality but are a powerful means by which we can see ourselves and others more clearly. In this sense, and paradoxically, the greatest fairy stories are also works of realism. They show us reality."

You can read the full article here

(Yup, that one made it to the commonplace book!)

What an amazing observation! I am in total agreement with it. I think that, many times, fairy tales are "set aside" for little kids who need to be entertained, instead of appreciated for what they are- stories that reflect us and our mistakes and this world.

After reading the article, I looked up the essay mentioned (which you can read here) and read it through. In it, Tolkien attempts to explain fairy stories and what they mean to us. He explains what a fairy story is not in this quote:

"Stories that are actually concerned primarily with “fairies,” that is with creatures that might also in modern English be called “elves,” are relatively rare, and as a rule not very interesting. Most good “fairy-stories” are about the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches. Naturally so; for if elves are true, and really exist independently of our tales about them, then this also is certainly true: elves are not primarily concerned with us, nor we with them. Our fates are sundered, and our paths seldom meet. Even upon the borders of Faërie we encounter them only at some chance crossing of the ways."

Then what is fantasy? What is it about?

"To make a Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible, commanding Secondary Belief, will probably require labour and thought, and will certainly demand a special skill, a kind of elvish craft. Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they are attempted and in any degree accomplished then we have a rare achievement of Art: indeed narrative art, storymaking in its primary and most potent mode."

And why do we read fairy stories?

Well, Tokien gives a few reasons. I will focus on two. One of them, he says, is an escape from reality, a place where we can go to forget our troubles. But the second reason is that it holds a mirror up to our lives (as Joseph Pearce says) and shows us the end. 

"Fairy tale does not deny the existence of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat...giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy; Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief."

If this is true, than fairy stories reflect our fight, the Good Fight. More than this, they show us that we will win, and that despite our grief on this earth, there is joy, and one day, we will be united with Him. That is true joy. That is the real purpose of fairy stories. 

I really enjoyed this essay, and its insights into Christianity, fairy stories, and how they correlate, and I think that I will definitely be reading it again soon (it was a lot to take in :).



My favorite quotes from the essay:

Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.

It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “turn” comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.