The Possibility In An Impossible World

Tolkien is good at employing impossible elements to reveal the possibility of his works to the readers.In The Lord of the Rings trilogy,the unnatural and impossible phenomena like magic,incantations,and dragons are seen everywhere,but it is undeniable that these impossible narratives do not affect the readers’ experiencing the reality and possibility of the trilogy.Bakhtin has analyzed the chronotopes of different genres.Different from the externality and abstraction of the epic chronotope,the chronotope of the novel is concrete and linear,which is the real chronotope and belongs to the possible world.Since Tolkien’s heroes have the will of freedom just like the human in reality,which enables the heroes to have self-awareness and continuously change in the linear time and space,this thesis makes use of Bakhtin’s theory of chronotopes to reveals Tolkien’s unique narrative principle of possibility.He breaks the demarcation between possibility and impossibility with his exquisite narrative skills,so that an impossible world has the nature of authenticity and reality.This study is composed of two parts: the first part includes the introduction to the author J.R.R.Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings trilogy,the relevant literature review of the trilogy at home and abroad,and the theoretical foundation which introduces the representation and characteristic of the epic and the novel.The second part is the analysis of the trilogy,which consists of four chapters.The first chapter analyzes the representations and characteristics of heroes[1] in The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the linear time.This chapter states that the possibility of the trilogy is reflected by the continuous changes and self-consciousness of the heroes in the course of linear time.The second chapter analyzes the discourse space and visual space of The Lord of the Rings.The environment of polyglossia provides the possibility of the external dialogue for hostile heroes,which helps to eliminate contradictions and establish cooperative relationships.At the same time,dialogue also exists within the hero[2],that is,the hero’s self-talk or the internal discourse.The hero’s self-talk is a manifestation of self-awareness.In addition,the visual space in The Lord of the Rings is specific.The spatial locations in the trilogy are as changeable as the heroes.The third chapter analyzes the chronotope of the road and the chronotope of threshold in The Lord of the Rings.The chronotope of the road allows the heroes who belong to the different classes to meet,and road is also a place where the contradict ions between the heroes are eliminated.In addition,the chronotope of the road of the trilogy is also a symbol of the hero’s life experience,especially Frodo who is constantly changing and growing on his way to Mordor,and whose characteristics of the novel and possibility are gradually shaped on the road to Mordor.At the same time,the chronotope of threshold is the moment and place of crisis,epiphany,and major decisions,which enables the possible and novelistic heroes to undergo change and development.Through the analysis of the chronotope of the novel,we can directly feel the uncompletivity,uncertainty and reality of the narratives in the trilogy.Tolkien intentionally tells the epic story through the chronotope of the novel.Under the influence of the linear space and time,we can feel the incompleteness and uncertainty brought by the chronotope of the novel.The characteristics of incompleteness and uncertainty are the cornerstone of the possibility,and they will give the text a sense of reality.Therefore,in chapter four,the characteristics of the possibility---incompleteness,uncertainty and reality will be illustrated through the incompleteness of the text,the uncertainty of narratives and the reality of the narrative techniques.To sum up,The Lord of the Rings trilogy exhibits an equivocal world to its reader.The reader spontaneously accepts a seemingly impossible world with the characteristics of the possible time and space so as to question some of the basic possibilities and verities of his own world.With the help of the theory of Bakhtinian chronotopes,we can have a better understanding of the working principle of the possibility in the impossible world and Tolkien’s writing technique that finds expression in blurring the boundary between possibility and impossibility by the way of chronotope of possibility.Tolkien’s novels tend to make us reconsider the possibility of things that we have unconsciously classified as impossible.In this respect,Tolkien is not unique,but one of fantastic writers that also include George Martin,Robert Jordan and China Miéville,etc.In addition,the employment of the Bakhtinian chronotope theory in this thesis also provides a somewhat new direction for the study of possibility in other fantasy literature.