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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 1213710" data-attributes="member: 5834">Not really. It presupposes that they have a subjective view of their own thought processes as in Tolkien knew that he did not intend to send a message. He voiced that subjective opinion of his own work.Why is it when I read those quotes I understand them as saying he wanted to stay true to his religious beliefs. If you search further, you will find that there was actually alot of pressure from his Catholic and Christian friends to not stray from his faith. He would actually allow a certain Catholic friend to peruse the unpublished story to see if there was anything within it that could be deemed heresy.Yeah, ok. I didn't say anything about a unintended meaning. Ok. I never said otherwise.I respect an author's intent enough not to use my interpretation to deride their work or to assume that they take a certain moral stance on a given issue.Your point? No, they are not. There is nothing else to go on but what the author himself says about a work. If he tells me he did not write it with any message in mind, then I believe him.Certainly doesn't mean I can't take what I want from the story that seems to have meaning and interpret as I will. It just means that I can't go cajoling the author into some corner attributing a variety of opinions to him because I interpret his work a certain way. Tactless and rude. The main reason I don't care for Mieville's assessment of Tolkien's work.I am respecting the author and showing that he can indeed claim he intended no message. He has written other stories with completely different elements and themes such as Sir Gawaine and Green Knight and I believe a science fiction tale of which I cannot remember the name.When an author uses certain plot elements or themes to create a story, that doesn't mean he is the definitive source on them or they are necessarily his own absolute opinions. Authorial intent allows an author to explore themes they may agree or disagree with while not condoning or taking an opinion on the matter. It is important to consider the intent of the author prior to labeling his work or attempting to analyze it using your own subjective morality.For example, if someone writes a tale with a serial as the main "protagonist", does that somehow mean that he or she thinks serial killing is an acceptable form of behavior? I think not.Authors can and do use plot elements and themes to create stories. A competent story teller does such things and I believe Tolkien was a competent storyteller capable of telling a tale without sending me a message about how I or anyone else should live or whether or not class systems are right or how every friendship should be.Only if you wish to consider a work such as Tolkien's capable of promoting the idea of class snobbery. Do you consider Lord of the Rings capable of morally persuading others to embrace the idea of class snobbery?I don't. I think Tolkien can include a class system in his work for no other reason than historical precedence to lend believability to a tale set in a long ago time. Whereas he himself may have had vastly different ideas about the class system.To force a message on an author because of something he created from his imagination primarily to entertain himself and other willing readers is ludicrous and rude. I'll have no part of it.</blockquote>

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