Was J.R.R. Tolkien a racist?

Question

Or just a huge fan of Norse Mythology? I mean, I don't think he ever describes the Dwarf's skin pigmentation, but all his Men, Elves and Hobbits are very fair. And in "Return of the King" Mordor is aided by "Dark men from the south". And there's a lot of talk about the "True West". So was it just an effect of being a British Catholic humanities professor, or was he really a racist?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Tolkien didn't define his races by a color scheme like we do in real life. He just created a completely different universe. We really don't have enough information as to skin colors. Did you read the same books I did?

Answer 2

yes. at one point he wanted to even discriminate against other minorities like blacks and foreigners by starting his own retail store.

Answer 3

JRR Tolkein was not a racist but a very intelligent man who wrote three of the most prolific pieces of literature creating an epic adventure, which can be embraced by many.

Answer 4

All the races in Tolkiens mythology don't really exist though elves and Dwarves hate each other and is shown as being over come when Gimli and Legolas become great friends.

I know what you mean though, I was raised to believe that colour is the only way to be defined as belonging to another race. When I met a white person from Africa for the first time it blew me away. No no NO sir a white person can not be African American and he said Your right I'm not. I'm completely and 100% African. Blew me away.

I understand what you mean though in to day's day and age findingracismm is a little bit more difficult. It isn't as easy as looking at the window and literally physical acts of violence or even bigotry in its full bluntness any more. We have to dig really deep and create our own allusions to keep racism alive.

You know there isn't a Black student at Hogwarts. How racist is that. No black people in the Jetsons eitehr...what did that creator just think a perfect future would mean no black people.Racism, Racism everywhere.

**Racism at Hogwarts** I was trying to prove a point that Racism accusations are out of control though I will admit that I missed the whole Harry Potter craze and only started reading recently to my young son. We are currently on Chamber of Secrets which is a bit slow but I am still enjoying it very much. Have not yet seen the films either but I hope they are good.

Answer 5

I agree with piccolo0122 except for the Harry Potter thing. There are black students and students of other races. Lee Jordan, George and Fred's friend, is black. It mentions that he wears his hair in dreadlocks. So is Angelina Johnson and Dean Thomas. :)

Answer 6

piccolo0122 should not talk about books he has not read. Pretend-reading does not count, boy.

Source(s):

HP fan

Answer 7

In the US in 2009, he would definitely be considered a racist. But in England in 1950 -- well, the whole culture was what we would call racist. If you didn't think about it, you'd just assume the attitudes around you. The opinions you might hold would be racist opinions, but the guilt of agreeing with them would be less.

Likewise, was he a misogynist? Not, probably, by the standards of the time, when even in the US, men casually told jokes the point of which was the stupidity of women. But by our standards, his beliefs were anti-female.

Answer 8

I think before we label things as racist or not, we should look at the intent of a book instead of micro dissecting it, looking to make sure it has so many black people as good guys and so many white people as bad people.

I can assure you JRR Tolkin's intent was not to rouse violence against blacks or to make the population think less of them.

Answer 9

He was a white westerner writing for a white western audience for a start. There's nothing racist about that.

There's also nothing racist about the phrase "Dark men from the south". They are dark coloured and from the south. So what. Tolkien was inspired by the old sagas which mostly feature Vikings and other people from around the Norway area (i.e. as white as it gets). Middle earth is a temperate environment, so people would naturally be mostly white, and is set in an age before modern methods of travel.

To suggest Tolkien is racist is absurd. Political correctness gone too far. Would a story set 1000 years ago in the depths of Nigeria or somewhere be racist for not including white people? No. Heck, if you deliberately wrote a white person into such a situation you'd probably be called racist by the PC nutters, for implying that every story has to feature a white person.