{"id":21446,"date":"2016-02-28T08:05:54","date_gmt":"2016-02-28T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=21446"},"modified":"2016-02-28T08:05:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-28T13:05:54","slug":"pippin-and-providence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2016\/02\/pippin-and-providence.html","title":{"rendered":"Pippin and Providence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Pippin-and-Merry-merry-and-pippin-7669650-960-406\"My essay for Imaginative Conservative<\/a> this week focuses on Tolkien\u2019s driving force of providence behind his plot lines.<\/p>\n

While I feel Pippin\u2019s pain, I have confidence, because like the omniscient one, I know how\u00a0Lord of the Rings<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>ends. I can see that Pippin and Merry\u2019s capture was no mistake. Their ordeal brings them to Fangorn to meet Treebeard who brings about the downfall of Isengard. All Middle Earth\u2019s a stage and all the men and hobbits merely players. Pippin too had his part to play. There is a greater mind at work. As Gandalf observers, \u201cBilbo was\u00a0meant\u00a0<\/em>to find the ring,\u201d and Frodo was meant to inherit it. Boromir was meant to attempt to take the ring, and Gollum was spared for some greater reason that could not be seen. Within J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s complicated plot line, a more subtle and profound providence strums, and that plot line of providence gives the reader confidence, until at the climax of the story the unexpected twist of the plot turns tragedy into triumph.<\/p>\n

In his essay on fairy tales Tolkien writes, \u201cThe consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous \u2018turn\u2019\u2026 is a sudden and miraculous grace\u2026. It can give to child or man who hears it, when the \u2018turn\u2019 comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality\u2026. In such stories when the sudden \u2018turn\u2019 comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart\u2019s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Go here<\/a> for the full essay.<\/p>\n

Image<\/a> the\u00a0Imaginative Conservative<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My essay for Imaginative Conservative this week focuses on Tolkien\u2019s driving force of providence behind his plot lines. While I feel Pippin\u2019s pain, I have confidence, because like the omniscient one, I know how\u00a0Lord of the Rings\u00a0ends. I can see that Pippin and Merry\u2019s capture was no mistake. Their ordeal brings them to Fangorn to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":21447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPippin and Providence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My essay for Imaginative Conservative this week focuses on Tolkien's driving force of providence behind his plot lines. 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