: : : : : : Now I don't mean this to get too personal, but how does Tolkien apply to your life? We all know Tolkien's aversion to allegory, and how he favored stories that allowed readers to draw their own conclusions and lessons.

: : : : : : Which lessons have you drawn?

: : : : : : I spoke a bit (and very vaguely) about how Tolkien affects one aspect of my life, my political activism (I didn't expand on it here because I get the impression I shouldn't; which is a shame, because I think Tolkien's words reach out into the farthest corners of human experience, even politics).

: : : : : : How do you apply his words and tales to your life? Do you at all? Do you just take it as a story? Or do you see yourself as a character? Why? Or do you pull all the threads and themes of his work and live according to those ideals? Or do you take it literally (c.f., the religious discussion below)?

: : : : : : Respond however you feel is appropriate.

: : : : : : Dave C-Q

: : : : : It isn't.
: : : : : Don't get me wrong :I really love Tolkien's works, I've read it more then 10 times, I'm very interested in it's land, peoples, and histroy and I can discuss it for hours with other people.
: : : : : Tolkien wrote a magnificient work, a very large and interesting story, but other then loving it as a story, a story with many deep and interesting ideas in it, I don't think it should affect my, or anybody else's, way of life.

: : : : I think because it is such an intricately woven story with complex characters and decisions of "global" importance that it can be applicable in almost anybodies life.

: : : : Whatever decision you're facing or psychological problem you're having there should always be some way in which somebody acted or something somebody said in LotR that pertains to that problem or decision.

: : : : I think part of what makes a great story is the fact that in can apply to everyday "real-life."

: : : It can, but the fact that in there someone acted in a certain way doesn't says someone in real life should do the same. That would be simple stupidity.

: : True, but remember that a story, fiction or not, is still written by a person who has had real-life experiences and may be providing some advice, as it were, on how to handle a situation.

: : I'm not saying that just because somebody did something that way in LOTR that you should do it that way in real life...you're right, that would be stupidity...it is only a story, after all.

: : All I'm trying to say is that everyday decisions and problems are dealt with, as well as the universally important ones, in great works like LOTR. And to dismiss the way characters deal with specific problems as nonsense would be just as stupid because the person writing the story was a simple person with those same everyday problems as me or you.

: I agree, if you mean that what's written in books (lotr and others) should be "taken into cosideration", to throw ideas out the window just beacause they're in a fantasy book IS stupid. I don't agree with any blind-belivers, which say "this is right" beacause something is written down somewhere- wether it is the Bible, the book of laws, or LOTR!.
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: I also don't agree with you and other saying LOTR can apply to everybody's everyday life, there are lots of things not covered properly by it, and there are many less-great books which cover those and other subjects.
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: and a side-point: you said "part of what makes a great story is the fact that in can apply to everyday "real-life." ", but maybe a great story just applies everyday life, just as a result of it being a "great story"?

Now, there's a twist...good point!

I think we basically agree on this topic but are wording our views differently. Arguing for the sake of arguing...:)

BTW LOTR can apply to everybodies everyday life...not everyday of everybodies everyday life but some important things covered by TOLKIEN in LOTR are universal and everyone could apply them in some way...not that they should or have to but the possibilities are there.