Scouring Of The Shire, Tolkien: Chapter Analysis

Another clear visualization of the effects of colonization against the environment is found toward the end of the series. In the Scouring Of The Shire, Tolkien “... presents a powerful pro-environmentalist argument...” (Birns 84). In this chapter, the four protagonist Hobbits, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, return to their homeland of the Shire to find it completely taken over by the forces of Saruman. Saruman takes over the Shire due to the need of a new home after his is destroyed in Isengard and for the purpose of revenge against the Hobbits who destroyed it. He states sarcastically, “Saruman's home could be all wrecked, and he could be turned out, but no one could touch yours” (Return Of The King 995). The extent of his deviation

“All the chestnuts were gone. The banks and hedgerows were broken… a field beaten bare of grass. Bagshot Row was a yawning sand and gravel quarry” (Return

Of The King 993). Even significant natural landmarks within the Shire get destroyed through this colonization. Sam is brought to tears at the sight of this and exclaims, “They’ve cut down the Party Tree” (Return Of The King 993)! This devastation is described as “... worse than Mordor” (Return Of The King 994). Sam then goes further in explaining his feelings on this claim by explaining, “Much worse in a way. It comes home to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined” (Return Of The King 994). The damage of the Shire was extensive, almost unrepairable. “The trees were the worst loss and damage… they had been cut down recklessly far and wide over the Shire…” (Return Of The King 999). To repair the damage inflicted onto nature by Saurman “... would take [a] long [time] to heal, and only [their] great-grandchildren… would see the Shire as it ought to be” (Return Of The King

A technocracy is a society which designates “...technical experts to dominate society's leadership position” (Greenwald 630). “[Saruman] [believed] that [he] [could] separate [himself] from and control the community of natural beings of Middle Earth” (Reseta and Novelle). In the series natural beings were represented by both the Ents of Fangorn and the Hobbits of the Shire. Hobbits are creatures "... entirely without non-human powers, but are represented as being more in touch with 'nature' (the soil and other living things, plants and animals)" (Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 158) and Ents “... comprise a forest to which the phrase "living tree" is repeatedly applied” (Reseta and Novelle). Saurman does not realize the power of nature in the realm of Middle-Earth. His “..."arrogance of homocentrism" has led to the unnatural and flawed technocratic paradigm” (Reseta and Novelle). Saruman is not entirely to blame for the destruction of places like the Shire and Fangorn, he was possessed by the one ring. “... the Ring can corrupt the bearer as absolutely as the power promised. The Ring is such a symbol of power that one does not possess it, but is possessed by it” (Reseta and Novelle). Saruman desired the ring for his own personal greed. He wanted "... power, power to order all things...for that good which only the Wise can see" (Fellowship Of The Ring 252). This personal