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The Platypus Reads Part V


Knowledge plays a key role in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Eomer troubles over questions of moral knowledge, to which Aragorn replies: "Good and evil have not changed since yesteryear, nor are they one thing among elves ... and another among men." Gandalf puts his skills in archival research to use in Gondor where he discovers the scroll containing the description of the One Ring. The Council of Elrond fills a whole chapter with historical narrative and debate. The desire for knowledge leads both Saruman and Denethor to use the Palantiri to their doom. Frodo discovers the limits of knowledge in Gandalf's admonishment: "... do not be too hasty to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

After living for nine years in Southern California, I can say with some confidence that people in Connecticut place a higher value on knowledge and education (Southern California has its own virtues that Conn. lacks and could learn from). This is backed up by the fact that Connecticut boasts some of the best schools and highest test scores in the nation. Even the boy whose father pumps your gas feels the pressure to get into Harvard or Yale.

As a son of that state, then, I feel a strong resonance with the value Tolkien places on knowledge and learning. More than any fiction writer I can think of, Tolkien makes facts, history, ethics, poetry, oral tradition, an inextricable part of the plot and beauty of his work. His heroes are not only warriors, lovers, and adventurers, but also academics, poets, historians, "lore-masters." He makes strong minds, and not merely strong bodies, attractive and beautiful. The "why" of this can be found in the motto written over the entryway of my old high school: "In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

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