Interaction and narration. Tearing Tolkien apart - CiteSeerX

[z]
[y]
[-]
[-]
15
tree-herd that desires to make trees grow and flourish; but Saruman cuts them down in order to provide
fuel for his furnaces, so Fangorn comes to hate Saruman:
‘Curse him, root and branch! Many of those trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut
and acorn.; many had voices of their own that are lost for ever now. And there are wastes of stump
and bramble where once there were singing groves. I have been idle. I have let things slip. It must
stop.’ Tolkien 1974, II: 67
In summary: If the A’s action obstructs the action desired by B, then decrease B’s sympathy of the
latter towards A. Increase B’s sympathy if A’s action promotes the action desired by B.
Agents → Events. However, likes and dislikes may not be caused by events, but conversely, events
may be caused by likes and dislikes. This seems to be the case with Caradhras:
‘Ah, it is as I said,’ said Gimli, ‘It was no ordinary storm. It is the ill will of Caradhras. He does
not love Elves and Dwarves, and that drift was laid to cut off our escape.’ Tolkien 1974, I: 279
In this case, the starting point is ill will from Caradhras towards elves and dwarves; this ill will makes
Caradhras obstruct actions whose Agent is filled by these types. Thus, the rule seems to be: If the A
does not like B, then A should generate an action that obstructs and action desired by B. I A likes B,
then A should generate an action that supports an action desired by B.
A good example is the events in Book 2 at Edoras: king Theoden has fallen victim to defeatism and
Gandalf tries to persuade him to enter into the war against Saruman. However, Theoden’s attitudes
towards Gandalf have changed since last time, and he therefore refuses to help him in his wars against
Saruman:
‘I greet you’, he said, ‘and maybe you look for welcome. But truth to tell your welcome is doubtful
here, Master Gandalf’. Tolkien 1974: II, 102
However, after Gandalf’s speech, accompanied by diverse theatrical effects, Theoden’s attitude towards
Gandalf changes, and he concludes by offering the requested help:
‘Every man that can ride should be sent west at once, as Eomer counseled you: we must first destroy
the threat of Saruman, while we have time. If we fail, we fail. If we succeed — then we will
face the next task.’ Tolkien 1974, II: 107
Relations between actants can be unstable and, as a consequence, contribute to the dynamics of the
story. As an example of such dynamics, let us take the theory of cognitive dissonance from social psychology
(Eskola 1973: 80 ff.). The theory is concerned with attitudes in a network of persons, and the
main idea is that certain configurations of attitudes are consonant and stable whereas others are dissonant
and unstable. Consider Fig. 5.1
C
Saruman
A [x] B
Fig. 5.1. Attitudes among three persons
Fangorn
[+]
Merry and
Pippin
Fig. 5.2. Consonant situation