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Elves and Dragons! Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you.
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I wonder, did Tolkien let the Gaffer speak those words for the modern-day world? 'Usefulness' seems to be the key word here, and it is certainly the key to our materialistic society. Does it pay? What use would dragons be? Is there any profit in them? If not, we don't need them - and
davem mentioned the inherent danger in something that we cannot control.
Tolkien himself did not write with the idea of profit in mind - he wrote for the beauty and joy of subcreation.
Interestingly, he did write one story which used a dragon very subversively - and it was not set in Middle-earth!
Farmer Giles of Ham, who would seem at first to be a very unlikely and prosaic hero, does something quite unconventional - he does not kill the dragon, but makes it his ally. (Shades of
Shrek there - a very subversive version of fairytales!) By doing so, Giles overthrows the king and becomes the ruler himself - with no royal lineage, no noble blood, and no experience - just common sense. Now there's a political statement if I ever read one, and it feels very close to the Hobbit society. After all, Tolkien did say of himself that he was something of an anarchist.
If we try to apply that to ourselves, how can we make the dragon our ally instead of killing it as our foe?
An excellent topic,
Fordim, and very worthwhile contributions from all - I'm enjoying this discussion!