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Originally Posted by Bêthberry
However, there is one association which immediately springs to mind. If the hobbits do represent the wholesomeness of the sturdy English country stock, how does this idea fit in with that dodgy old idea of Pax Britannica and all the colonial apparatus that comes with the British Empire? Of course, I realise that this brings into juxtaposition two ideas that are not necessarily carved in stone, but it does make one wonder: Would Tolkien have wanted to inspire the idea that the English were the (new/next) chosen race?
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A very intriguing line of thought, Beth. We know that Tolkien was intensely patriotic as an Englishman, but had no use at all for the Empire. Even as a teenager he supported Irish Home Rule and concluded that the Boer War was wrong. He also dcried the prospect of a World Language, even his beloved English. He was, in the most positive sense, a multiculturalist.
I think if the old Professor were presented with your notion, he would have adjusted it some. To him the Hobbits were important because they were
humble, the meek not inheriting the earth but saving it. Conceivably he might accept the association of humility + caritas with (true) Christianity, which has often been called the "new Israel." But I doubt he would have regarded the Hobbits as parallelling the Jews in any historical way.