Accidental Aesop: Difference between revisions

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== [[Literature]] ==

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] claimed to despise allegory, which didn't stop people seeing the One Ring in ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for the atomic bomb. The key difficulty with this and any other theory that takes ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for [[World War II]]: the major plot details were planned out well before the war even started. Also, as Tolkien himself noted, if it ''had'' been about [[World War II]], they would have ''[[Downer Ending|used]]'' the Ring.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] claimed to despise allegory, which didn't stop people seeing the One Ring in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for the atomic bomb. The key difficulty with this and any other theory that takes ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for [[World War II]]: the major plot details were planned out well before the war even started. Also, as Tolkien himself noted, if it ''had'' been about [[World War II]], they would have ''[[Downer Ending|used]]'' the Ring.

** But not [[World War I]], though Tolkien denied that too.

** This is why Tolkien made such a distinction between ''allegory'' and ''applicability''. You can ''apply'' as many meanings as you like; you just can't presume to [[God Never Said That|put them in the author's mouth]].