From: nancy@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Nancy Lebovitz)
Subject: Re: Eowyn
Organization: UDel, School of Life & Health Sciences
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 18:08:54 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.233814@IASTATE.EDU> cffitzge@IASTATE.EDU (Charles F Fitzgerald) writes:
>Mark writes:
>"Remember that Sam also settled down to comfortable home life.
>I'll bet many characters settled down."
>Steve Watson writes:
>"Note that renouncing war in favour of gardening is also Faramir's
>desire."
>
>What I think is the primary difference between Sam, Faramir, Frodo,
>Merry, Aragorn, etc. and Eowyn is that the males mentioned did not
>really ever wish to be warriors.  Certainly the hobbits (especially
>Sam and Frodo) never desired to go to war, and both Faramir and
>Aragorn seem to be less then enthusiastic about war as a way of life.
>
>Eowyn, on the other hand, actively sought to enter battle, though
>it was clearly not socially acceptable.  She desired the glory of
>battle.  Further, she willing surrenders this desire to be a wife
>and servant to Faramir.  

As I recall, Eowyn didn't exactly _like_ battle--it was more that she
couldn't stand being a servant to men who were supposed to be warriors
but weren't.

>Eomer, who also is a warrior born and  lives for the love of battle, 
>is not said to be giving up his way of life for a more pastoral 
>existence at the end of the story. There is nothing to indicate that 
>the Rohirrim will not continue to glory in battle, even though the
>threat of Sauron has passed.  It is to be assumed that there are
>still enough perils left in the world to keep the warriors of
>Rohan busy, that they may continue to live the existence that they
>treasure so much.

Good point. However, it's also clear that the Rohirrim, as warriors,
are _inferior_ to Gondorians, precisely because liking war is a sign
of degeneration.

>Thus, Eowyn, by her choice to settle down to a pastoral livelihood,
>is giving up her chosen career in favour of a more socially
>acceptable one. 

However, in Tolkien's universe, it's also a much higher status one--
Tolkien believe's that it's objectively true that it's better to be
a nurturer than a warrior, and that this is true for men as well as
women. It's an ambiguous point because, on the one hand, there's the
women-ought-to-be-nurturers theme where Tolkiens is conforming to
society generally, and the _everyone_-ought-to-be-nurturers theme
where (so far as I know) Toien was in strong disagreement with
the way most people thought.

>This underlying sexism may not be palatable to our current
>social dogma but to say that it does not exist or, worse yet,
>to say that it does not matter because it is "only a work of
>fiction" or because Tolkien lived in a different generation than
>we do, is utterly reprehensible.
>
Offhand, I think that the Eowyn/Faramir match may be the only example
of a woman marrying up in LOTR. It does back up the opinion that an
adventure is the only way of getting enough status/contact with one's
betters to marry one of them.

I admit that I would have felt better about Eowyn's story if there'd
been some mention of her achievements (as a nurturer, of course)
after she'd been married. Was there any mention of what Faramir did?

Nancy Lebovitz
nancy@genie.slhs.udel.edu