Tolkien wrote his novels around the time of the Industrial Revolution although his discomfort with the rise of technology is visible through his work as he takes his characters years back. In his time, people were set on realism, however, Tolkien chooses the opposite and creates a fantasy world. This, as a whole, can be related-again-with his distress towards industrialization.
The difference between fantasists and realists, in terms of literature, is that realism is done with the intent to remain in the more conscious state then adding to beauty and order focusing only on the everyday. Fantasists were less popular in the 1930s as their style did not fit with the common way of thinking of the regular folk (Rogers & Rogers, 1980, pp. 37-38).
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Although it increased production, it decreased the value of individual worker since they were not needed as much resulting in many folks losing their jobs. It also reduced the wages so individuals agreed to work longer hours. But the only ones succeeding from this bargain were the wealthy industrialists (Burwick, 2015, pp. I-II). However, for someone who experienced both World Wars, Tolkien saw industrialization as another way to mean death and destruction because of all the weaponry that he had seen. Tolkien’s agony with the rise of industrialization is visible in his novels as he takes his characters centuries back to a time where swords and spears were used rather than guns. Granting the time in Middle-Earth can be debated on the fact that some form of technology does exist however it is still very minimal. The shire which is supposed to be a representation of England with the hillsides and valleys has on the basic technology. Again, going back to the idea of swords rather than guns, swords, though they some common features with guns are still very different and almost humane; they are hand-crafted and possess a name and one has to face their enemy in order to use it, whereas guns can be used as a distance.