Jewish Dwarves?

[Midge]

Rereading through the Hobbit, my husband drew the correlation between the Dwarves and the Jewish people.


They have been displaced from their home, have no specific country of their own and are scattered across Middle-Earth
They are industrious wherever they find themselves, living comfortably even as they are in exile
They have an affinity for precious metals and gems
They are generally disliked (Beorn, Elves, even the Trolls didn't want to eat them)


I know Tolkien said that his books were not an allegory, and a lot of these points are pretty stereotypical of Dwarves in general (not just Tolkien-canon).

Maybe the originator of the Dwarf-archetype had this in mind, or something. Thoughts?

[The Gaffer]

Stereotyping much?

[brownjenkins]

I just can't picture them foregoing pork products!

[Midge]

Stereotyping much?

The only stereotype is the affinity for precious metals and jewels. The rest of them are facts. But stereotypes don't pop up out of nowhere. They may not apply to every single person in a group, but they must be true for at least a portion, or else they would not be associated with that group.

As for the idea of the Dwarves being similar to the Jews, Tolkien himself made the distinction:

Tolkien also elaborated on Jewish influence on his Dwarves in a letter: "I do think of the 'Dwarves' like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue..."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_%28Middle-earth%29.

I just can't picture them foregoing pork products!

You got me there.

[Lefty Scaevola]

I will check will I get to my home library, but I seem to recall rashers of bacon when they assembled at Bag End. ;)

"have no specific country of their own and are scattered across Middle-Earth" Not so much as their homes are somewhat narrow mountain enclaves surrounded by other territories, such as the Blue Mountains and the Iron Hills. The 7 clans (or at least 3 of them) are faily well mixed up by the third age, after repeatedly being routed out their hall halls and settling into others and new ones. Recall that at the end of the first age, two clans were significantly dispered from Norod and Beleogost in the Blue Mountains (where they had been long before men came to the Belariand) when the breaking of Thangordrim and Beleriand also smashed their two cities, and that much of their popultation then moved to Moria, and then all three clans were chased out there by the Balrog and minions. But from the first age onwards there were smaller communities left in the Blue Mountains (recall that this is where much of Durin's folk including Thorin's companions were living at the start of the Hobbit). These and no doubt other communities were indpendent, and not under the sovereignty of neighboring men or elves.

[The Gaffer]

they must be true for at least a portion
Careful now. You'll be taking on the squinty-eyed southerners next.

[Insidious Rex]

But stereotypes don't pop up out of nowhere. They may not apply to every single person in a group, but they must be true for at least a portion, or else they would not be associated with that group.

Good grief you dont need to try to justify terrible stereotypes (especially with the logic of it must be true if its a stereotype...). Its totally legitimate to make the comparison and say Tolkien may have been influenced by the stereotype (right or wrong. I would also mention the beards and the noses for what its worth...) without defending it as a truth. These books were written during a period of real turbulence for European jews after all so its not far fetched that there would indeed be a parallel. But careful with the whole "those greedy penny pinching Dwarves" approach and then trying to defend it just based on the logic that its such a widely held stereotype. With that same logic are "shiftless lazy" blacks a defendable stereotype as well? Who knows where Tolkien got the inspiration for his spear chucking swarthy Haradrim after all...

[GrayMouser]

Well, this seems to have opened a few cans of worms!

First, is this a justified comparison? I think so, though I must admit it never occurred to me until I read Tolkien's own comments- and I have been known to be 'sensitive' to such matters. :)


Rereading through the Hobbit, my husband drew the correlation between the Dwarves and the Jewish people.


They have been displaced from their home, have no specific country of their own and are scattered across Middle-Earth

Lefty argues against this in that, unlike the Jews, the Dwarves did not live among or under the domination of others. True enough, but they are scattered- there is no "Realm of the Dwarves" as there is for Men and Elves and even Hobbits- but, given the base of their economy, there can't be.

Dwarves survive by mining, artisanship, and trading- they depend on others for their food; they must live in scattered settlements as an alien minority-even if their superior technology allows them to dominate the surroundings, as they did with Dale.

On a more specific level, the entire theme of 'The Hobbit' is return from exile to the homeland from they have been driven out- and in LOTR the major part of the story dealing with Dwarves is the section in Moria- with the same theme.

They are industrious wherever they find themselves, living comfortably even as they are in exile.

Is this a stereotype of the Jews? Absolutely. Is it based on truth? In modern Western countries, to an extent, yes. Historically, much less so- Jews were often poorer than their neighbors.
The 'industrious ' part may be based on the fact that,(in most places) not being allowed to own land,and being city dwellers, they had to work constantly at whatever they could do. A peasant doesn't have much choice but to sit around and starve when the crop fails.

They have an affinity for precious metals and gems

Tolkien certainly gave this trait to the Dwarves, and it is one of the defining stereotypes of the Jew in both Christian and Muslim culture- whether politely referred to as an "affinity" or " "those greedy penny pinching Dwarves".

Again there is a historical basis for this. Both Muslimas and Christians were forbidden to charge interest -'usury'- and thus handling money, including borrowing, lending, and tax-collecting, was often left in Jewish hands.

As well, when you're not allowed to own real estate and are subject to vicious pogroms and sudden expulsions, it helps to keep your wealth in the form of something portable.


They are generally disliked (Beorn, Elves, even the Trolls didn't want to eat them)


Again a correspondence- for the Jews, both for religious reasons and the fact that they were money-lenders- both kings and peasants had motives to bad-mouth people they owed money to.

Another aspect is their clannishness: they keep to themselves; not surprising when you're living and travelling among people who are suspicious of you

Also, they use their own language among themselves- a language which Tolkien says is meant to resemble Hebrew.

A good essay on this, though it sounds rather pc/ multi-culti at the start- do read the whole thing:

" "Dwarves are not heroes": antisemitism and the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien's writing."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22Dwarves+are+not+heroes%22%3a+antisemitism+and+t he+Dwarves+in+J.R.R....-a0227196960

The author's contention is that Tolkien became aware of the anti-semitic connotations that could be attached to the Dwarves in 'The Hobbit', and that he consciously revised this in LOTR.

An example: Legolas's remarks to Gimli that it were better that the Dwarves didn't find out about the caverns of Helm's deep because their greed would destroy it would represent the stereotypical negative view, as found in 'The Hobbit'; Gimli's protestations that the dwarves love beauty more than gold is fighting back against it.

[GrayMouser]

iWho knows where Tolkien got the inspiration for his spear chucking swarthy Haradrim after all...

I do- the Muslims challenging Christendom in the Middle Ages.

How about
“out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues”

Stereotypical Africans.

“…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before. Not tall, but broad and grim, bearded like dwarves, wielding great axes. Out of some savage land in the wide East they come, we deem.”

Slavs.

It's easy!(No, I'm not joking.)

[Valandil]

I don't think Tolkien invented these traits for Dwarves. I think this is how they have been perceived going back to ancient literature. If there are similarities between how Dwarves are described with how some would categorize the Jewish race - those are not of JRRT's contrivance.

Similarly - for those representations of people from other parts of the world (than northern Europe) - he was drawing on perceptions that the ancients would have had. From times when people groups were largely isolated. Except for when one group migrated and invaded another.

These works were not written to hold a modern, 20th century viewpoint - but an ancient one.

[Jon S.]

It's been a very long time since I posted here but I'd like to say that, as a Jew, I myself am not insulted (yet!) by any of the discussion or comparisons here. And I have a lot of respect for the Dwarvish culture and characteristics in the LOTR. They were good folk, it's not a bad thing to be compared to them.

As has been noted, there are some are historical similarities, others cultural, others externally-generated stereotypes which no people of any race, ethnicity, or religion can fully control others from choosing.

There are also examples where the similarities/stereotypes break down. One example is how the Dwarves followed the Eldar, whereas the Jews, of course, preceded the Christians and Muslims. Another is the relative birthrates. Children are uncommon for Dwarves whereas Jewish families are traditionally been large (pork, it's true, is off limits but sex within marriage is more than encouraged ;) ).

One similarity that hasn't been mentioned is the shared yearning to return to one's ancestral/aboriginal homeland. It's a strong and shared trait between the Jews and the Dwarves. We call ours Zionism. What do/would the Dwarves call theirs?

[Insidious Rex]

We call ours Zionism. What do/would the Dwarves call theirs?

Thrórianism? Oakenshieldism?

[Valandil]

More like "Durinism"... or better yet, "Khazad-dumism" ;)

[GrayMouser]

I

One similarity that hasn't been mentioned is the shared yearning to return to one's ancestral/aboriginal homeland. It's a strong and shared trait between the Jews and the Dwarves.

<cough> On a more specific level, the entire theme of 'The Hobbit' is return from exile to the homeland from they have been driven out- and in LOTR the major part of the story dealing with Dwarves is the section in Moria- with the same theme.