From: lewchuk@cs.UAlberta.CA (Michael Lewchuk)
Subject: Re: Eowyn
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 06:07:18 GMT


Well, I'm not gonna be "Tolkien-Police-anti-Politically-Correct" about this but
let me rephrase (my opinion of) Eowyn's lines in a more modern form.

Eowyn:
Why do you leave me at home to do the housework and take care of a stupid
old man who deserves to get kicked in the balls 'cuz some jerk by the name
of "wormtongue" has convinced him he's helpless?  Like you guys win all the
respect out there, and I don't even have a chance to be appreciated!  I even
have this "wormtongue" guy interested in me!  Heck, I wouldn't even let
him in the castle!  Please Aragorn, please take me with you, away from all
these nuts, so I can find a life of my own...
Aragorn:
You have a duty to your people to command them and not just be a
"serving-girl".  I'm gonna tell you this as gently as possible: you're not
the girl I wanna marry anyways.  And unlike you, I don't have this problem
about your job being seen as worthless; that's your hangup.  I have a job to
do: not one I particularly like, but one I have to do.  I have to travel the
Paths of the Dead and really I don't want ANYONE there who doesn't belong
with me specifically.  And I'M not the one who assigned you to this task.
I don't care if you're a man or woman, going AWOL when you're in command
is wrong.  I understand you're a brave, valiant lady but NO YOU CAN'T GO!

Eowyn:
All the men have gone and I don't have a chance to ride with them and
win glory by dying in battle.  I wish I could've went with them.  Y'know
I feel all helpless here and don't want to die that way.
Faramir:
<Laugh>.  Y'know, I really love you.  You are brave yes, and you have proven
it, but you are also beautiful, and I love you for some strange reason.  Not
because you cut the Witch-King in two, but because I know you and your heart.
You perceived Aragorn's concerned love (pity) and were too high-and-mighty
(prideful) to accept it.  That was darned egotistical.  But I love you,
I don't pity you, and there is nothing we can do now, so stop trying
to get yourself killed.  I love you, is that not reason enough to not ride
off to your death?  Yes, I really do care and if you die I will cry for you.
And, really, Eowyn, I don't think that slicing Nazgul in two
proves anything.  Eowyn, Eowyn, do you love me, or that big chip on your
shoulder that you still carry around, trying to prove to everyone that you
can take on anything?  Are you gonna remain emotionally introverted or
actually care about someone or something besides that chip on your shoulder?
Eowyn:
I stand in the Tower of the Sun and shadow has departed.  I'll get rid of
that big chip on my shoulder and stop trying to out-do everyone.  I'll be
your wife and partner instead of trying to out-do you in battle.
Faramir:
And together we'll build a kingdom, and plant a garden, and turn Ithilien
into a place people will love to come to.  Heck, it'll be the next Club Med!
I can just see the condos going up here and there and there...

In other words:
Eowyn wants to accomplish something herself because she has something to
prove (a chip on her shoulder).
Aragorn indicates to her that a king's or queen's life involves duty to
the people as much as going out to battle and her task isn't ignoble, it's
just that chip on her shoulder that's making it seem so.  If Eomer or a
general accepted the task, he couldn't leave his post.
Eowyn disavows this as "anti-woman" because she thinks he feels she isn't
brave enough to come with him.  She seems to say "I can do what I want,
after all, I'm a big girl", when she really is not acknowledging her
responsibility, in the name of personal freedom.
Her scenes with Faramir involve giving up an isolationist attitude and 
start developing a more social attitude.  She thinks only of herself and
what she feels she has to prove to get others to respect her (or, better
still in her viewpoint, die trying).  She then gives this up when she
realizes that she doesn't have to outdo men on the battlefield to win
their respect, and that living in a loving household is no less honorable
than being a war-maiden, in fact, it's even more honorable and desirable.
Before, she only had self-contempt, depression, suicidal tendencies, anger,
and one big chip on her shoulder.  At the end, she has Faramir, a good life
working WITH him (NOT being his servant), and is no less headstrong.  In
fact, Faramir has not "tamed" her as she seems to think, but she has tamed
herself -- she has tamed her feelings of uselessness since she realized that
she had more to offer than just slicing Nazgul in two. 

I would say for her this is dramatic personal development, not a setback.  
Personally I respect a woman who knows her limits, be it career, family,
both, or whatever.  However I honestly believe a woman who realizes she
can do either and considers both as choices is better than a woman who just
chooses a domestic life or a career because she feels it's her only choice.
More self-development, therefore a greater individual involved, no?

					Michael Lewchuk
					lewchuk@cs.UAlberta.CA