You must use secondary sources appropriate to your topic in both focus and quantity. Your paper should demonstrate a grasp of both the primary text(s) you choose to write on and the critical materials available. This means that you must show an understanding of the reliability of critical materials, how to find scholarly criticism, and an ability to judge whether a work is dated or current. While some topics will have more or less critical materials available than others, I advise a 3–4 sources minimum. You may wish to consider biographical materials, letters, print history, journals, or other such sources as well. Your essay should be 7–10 pages and double spaced in MLA Style, not including the title page or works cited page.
Draw on one of the philosophical paradigms we have encountered in the course to respond to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. You may use any philosophical materials we have covered in order to develop a more nuanced or meaningful reading of the novels. Alternatively, you may use the novels to interrogate the philosophical paradigm. For example,
(1) if Tolkien’s works embrace and eschatological worldview, is their meaning inherent in their end? If Tolkien’s works are eschatological, why do they focus so strongly on recurrence and return, as in “The Riddle of Strider”?
(2) If Tolkien’s concerns are principally ethical, how do we distinguish between free choice and coerced choice based on the unconscious manipulations of the ring of power? Is it possible for coerced subjects or overdetermined subjectivities to engage in ethical choice?
(3) If not all who wander are lost, is this because they find meaning or make meaning?