How does one create a hero at a time when heroes have fallen out of favor?

Much of the literature of the twentieth century shows an ambivalence about this question. During the bloodiest century the world had ever known, a time of ever increasing disillusionment, the conventional hero became an increasingly rare figure in literature and the “anti-hero” increasingly popular. Against this background, J. R. R. Tolkien envisioned a character who embodied an old-fashioned ideal of heroism—but not at all in a conventional way.

As critic Roger Sale writes,
. . If readers of Tolkien in the fifties and sixties could not see how he and Frodo [his fictional hero] are modern heroes, let us add right away that no one seems to know, as yet, what postmodern or contemporary heroism is.

In his work, The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien created a saga in the tradition of the ancient northern European myths and legends that he had studied for much of his life. Yet there is an anomaly at the very heart of the story.

The role of hero is given, not to any of the bold warriors or mighty wizards that inhabit the pages, but to “a three-foot high bundle of timidity with furry feet” —one of a race of little creatures Tolkien invented and called “hobbits.”

Read More: http://www.cslewis.org/journal/?p=16

Gina Dalfonzo is the editor of The Point and Dickensblog, as well as, a writer for BreakPoint Radio. Her work has appeared in “National Review” (print and online), “The Weekly Standard,” “Christianity Today Online,” “Guideposts,” “Focus on the Family Magazine,” “The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal,” and numerous other publications. Gina graduated from Messiah College with a B.A. in English and earned her master’s degree in English at George Mason. Gina currently lives in the Washington, DC area.