The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 5

Fordim Hedgethistle · 10-25-2005, 07:53 AM

I'm sorry Lal but I'm just not on board with you here -- again, the comparison you are making is between Eowyn and an imaginary masculine figure (a younger brother) so it seems to me that you are still trying to 'rescue' Eowyn by having her stand in for a man. The fact that it is "more horrific" to see a woman at war than a man (and I'm not even sure that I agree with this, but I get that you are playing off of popular stereotypes without wanting to agree with them yourself) still doesn't alter the fact that you are seeing Eowyn's move into war as an essentiall masculine move: i.e. that she does not -- as a woman -- belong there and thus it is terrible that she goes there. I know, I know, nobody "belongs" in a war, but it's still pretty clear in the text and in your argument that men are more "properly" the warriors when forced into it.

So my original quibble with the narrative stands: Eowyn begins by rebelling against her constrained role as a woman by violating the boundaries put up between female and male by going to war; but she ends by announcing that it was wrong of her to go to war because she is a woman, and thus needs to move back into the constrained role that she originally rebelled against. Don't get me wrong, though, her life is immeasurably better being married to Faramir than under the thumb of Grima!! I just wish the transition had been more complex and allowed Eowyn some way to integrate her two identities (female/healer/home and male/warrior/road) rather than reject the latter in favour of a better version of the former.

10-25-2005, 07:53 AM	#9
Fordim Hedgethistle Gibbering Gibbet Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Beyond cloud nine Posts: 1,844	I'm sorry Lal but I'm just not on board with you here -- again, the comparison you are making is between Eowyn and an imaginary masculine figure (a younger brother) so it seems to me that you are still trying to 'rescue' Eowyn by having her stand in for a man. The fact that it is "more horrific" to see a woman at war than a man (and I'm not even sure that I agree with this, but I get that you are playing off of popular stereotypes without wanting to agree with them yourself) still doesn't alter the fact that you are seeing Eowyn's move into war as an essentiall masculine move: i.e. that she does not -- as a woman -- belong there and thus it is terrible that she goes there. I know, I know, nobody "belongs" in a war, but it's still pretty clear in the text and in your argument that men are more "properly" the warriors when forced into it. So my original quibble with the narrative stands: Eowyn begins by rebelling against her constrained role as a woman by violating the boundaries put up between female and male by going to war; but she ends by announcing that it was wrong of her to go to war because she is a woman, and thus needs to move back into the constrained role that she originally rebelled against. Don't get me wrong, though, her life is immeasurably better being married to Faramir than under the thumb of Grima!! I just wish the transition had been more complex and allowed Eowyn some way to integrate her two identities (female/healer/home and male/warrior/road) rather than reject the latter in favour of a better version of the former. __________________ Scribbling scrabbling.