Tolkien's The Hobbit and Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are children's novels that share a number of key similarities. Both are "quest" tales, whose main protagonists (Bilbo and Alice) begin their journeys in quiet pastoral idylls: Bilbo in his quiet home at Baggins House and Alice reading with her sister on the riverbank. Both main characters are described as curious, honest, infallible, polite, trustworthy and innocent, qualities that fundamentally distinguish them from the other characters they encounter on their journeys. In other words, both protagonists embody similar cultural attributes that are placed in contrast to the peoples and environments they encounter on their travels. Therefore, a key aspect of both texts is the didactics of this clash between the cultural tropes embodied in each protagonist and the different natural environments they encounter. My main thesis is that the protagonists' similarities are rooted in similar idealized (archetypal) constructions of "Englishness" and that both novels comment on these cultural attributes by contrasting them with radically different natural worlds that operate according to quite different logics. This "Englishness" is not to be understood in an essentialized sense, rather it can be read as a reflection of both authors' attempts to comment critically on what is being lost - and at what cost - as England transitions from a largely pre-industrial, pre-industrial and pre-industrial part. -imperial past, towards a radically different future. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe commentary that emerges from this reading of both texts is that they are essentially Romantic in their ideals and therefore hostile to these radical socio-economic transformations occurring throughout 19th and early 20th century England – a nation ravaged by war and imperial expansion, and by the social dislocations and environmental ravages of industrialization and urbanization. The Romantic movement in English literature began in the late eighteenth century and was inspired by the same revolutionary thought that brought down the old regime of Bourbon France in 1789. The movement is multifaceted, but can be rather crudely reduced to a few basic concepts and ideals . First, the Romantics affirmed the importance of perception as an active creative act, shaping the worlds we inhabit (Clubbe and Ernest, 1983: 2). This conception of perceiving the world as an active form of creative action also had an ethical component, namely the belief in the redemptive capacity of a humanity tainted by sin and in the power of literature to aid in that redemption (Clubbe and Ernest, 1983: 7 ). Another aspect of Romanticism is its pastoral quality, essentially embodied in a veneration of nature as opposed to the perceived corruption of urban life. The ethical component of the creative/perceptive act is to be found in simple communion with nature – like Wordsworth at Tinturn Abbey (Clubbe and Ernest, 1983: 36). More importantly, English Romanticism played a vital role in shaping the evolution of English culture in the nineteenth century as it embraced a conception of the ideal creative act to critically comment on the social inequalities and corruptions of the period (Johnson, 2008: 50-51 ). While it may seem incredulous to argue that two children's books have such lofty goals as to embody Romantic ideals, such literature has a long history of important social commentary and should not be dismissed out of hand (Brockman,1982: 4). The romantic ideal as expressed above is arguably evident in both The Hobbit and Alice in Wonderland. Both novels begin with quiet idylls in which both protagonists exist in some measure of communion. Bilbo's world is set “long ago, in the stillness of the world, when there was less noise and greener…” (Tolkien, 4). The world Carroll describes is warm and sleepy, with Alice and her older sister lounging by a stream and with boredom being Alice's only major concern (2005: 1). These are essentially pastoral settings: quiet and green, and perhaps a little boring for both protagonists interested in adventure. Furthermore, both places reflect lifestyles that are being lost; Tolkien's work, in particular, draws heavily on the distant English past in the construction of Bilbo, his 'Englishness' and the nature of his journey (Kuusela, 2014: 27). What is also immediately evident are the cultural constructions at work in both texts; Alice is meticulously polite and insatiably curious, qualities that are echoed in Bilbo's construction. Both characters exist in "static" environments: places where hierarchy and order prevail, the natural world is uncorrupted by human intervention (and Hobbits), and nothing ever changes over time. The beginning of both their journeys, therefore, echoes the beginning of modernity as both characters' perceptions of reality are challenged by the new natural environments they encounter – where their beliefs in themselves and others were a once solid, now they reveal themselves to be frighteningly contingent. There are other possible ways of perceiving the world, and a key storytelling challenge for both protagonists is how they negotiate their personal senses of fairness and decency in relation to peoples and places hostile to those beliefs. The particular constructions of Bilbo and Alice can therefore be read as embodying specific idealized archetypal conceptions of Englishness. Reflecting the romantic aspects of both novels, these constructions of Englishness are pastoral in nature and are confused and challenged by the agency displayed by both characters in relation to their new environments. Daniel Bivona argues that Alice's journey is a "game" constructed by Carroll to illustrate what might happen when a representative of English culture is placed in a foreign and unfamiliar land (144). This reading is appropriate, given that Alice's precise English, kindness, and knowledge are of little use to her in her travels – in fact, they actively work against her. For example, Alice's experiences in Wonderland upend her understanding of logic, reason, and social decorum. Alice finds herself unable to remember basic facts "correctly" and her attempts to impose her "will" in this new world are completely futile (Carroll, 19). Furthermore, Alice's meticulous kindness and desire to share her opinions – reflecting a rather haughty sense of privilege that echoes the British imperial mentality – towards the various inhabitants of Wonderland invariably lead to her confusion, frustration and isolation (Carroll, 41). When Alice expresses a wish that she had brought her cat Dinah with her on her journey to retrieve the mouse, she explains to the various animals that her cat is wonderful and “would eat a bird as soon as she looked at it! ” (Carroll, 39). Alice is oblivious to the possibility that her immediate audience might find her views frightening (given that many of them are birds). This further indicates the degree to which Alice's cultural beliefs are ill-suited to this new foreign environment. Likewise, honesty and courage toByblos are instrumental in leading Thorin Oakenshield's band of dwarves to Smaug's seam and the seizure of his treasure (Tolkien, 242), but are of little use in preventing the arrogance and greed of the dwarves, elves, and orcs leading to the Battle of the Five Armies (Tolkien, 321). Therefore, despite his best intentions, Bilbo's journey to different lands only validates his preconceptions of the good life he enjoyed in the Shire: life without weapons, intrigue, fortresses, dragons and the violence that comes from insatiable greed and by the lust for power and wealth. Bilbo explains as he watches the horror of the climactic battle unfold that "...it's enough to make you cry, after all you've been through...I've always understood that defeat can be glorious...I wish I'd come out of it well" (Tolkien, 327) The lesson it seems is that the values ​​of these new peoples lead only to destruction, lust for power and violence; Bilbo – and his pastoral Englishness are both morally superior but practically impotent in this new natural context separated by almost a century, they were both written during the British imperial era in which that nation was the most urbanized and industrialized in the world. In Carroll's time, Britain had just finished the brutal Crimean War against Russia tsarist and had barely maintained control over the Indian possessions during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 (a mutiny caused by the British Army unknowingly insisting that Muslim troops grease their muskets with pig fat). . Furthermore, Tolkien's Hobbit was published during the Great Depression as the political situation in Europe and Asia edged ever closer to another all-out war. While both novels can be read as reactionary in championing what is lost culturally and environmentally to England due to its commitment to industry and empire, they also both indicate in subtle ways that there are unforeseen dangers in craving change for its own sake (to relieve boredom). ) or as a means to increase one's wealth and power, regardless of the consequences. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay This essay argued that JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland each have narratives centered on protagonists who embody a similar pastoral archetype of "Englishness." He further argued that both texts are essentially Romantic in their ideals and therefore hostile to these radical socioeconomic transformations occurring in 19th- and early 20th-century England – a nation ravaged by war and imperial expansion, and by social dislocations and the environmental devastation of industrialization. and urbanization. Alice and Bilbo's journeys function as cautionary tales against the consequences of imperialism and industrialization. In this sense, the relationship between culture and nature in both novels favors a narrow, pre-industrial mentality in which the particular conceptions of the archetypal "Englishman" – honesty, generosity, kindness and closeness to an uncontaminated landscape, reflect a more ethical way of living. Furthermore, both novels indicate the limits of this “Englishness” when placed in different environments – indicating that the preferred relationship between culture and nature can be lost through particular forms of human action. This last point further emphasizes the romantic aspects of both novels as the vicarious experience of perceiving the world through Bilbo and Alice's experiences offers the, 4.1.