What can literary fiction teach us about recent revelations
that the National Security Agency has aggressively been gathering
massive amounts of data on American citizens? The novel one usually
turns to, of course, is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with its terrifying vision of the Thought Police. Even President Obama, in response to questions about the NSA, has been forced to deny
that the government has engaged in “Big Brother” tactics. Orwell’s
book, however, isn’t the most compelling or accurate literary prediction
of modern surveillance. That award goes to a less obvious title:
J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien’s most potent and intimidating image of centralized
surveillance, the Eye of Sauron atop a tower, taking in the whole world,
has resonated
with those who are paranoid about government monitoring. But it’s
Sauron’s vulnerability that has the most relevance for America today.
Consider the basic premise of Tolkien’s trilogy: a small group of
dedicated subversives willing to sacrifice their lives slips in under
the surveillance system of a great power, blends in with an alien
population, and delivers a devastating blow to the heart of its empire,
leaving its security forces in disarray and its populace terrified. Even
a tower or two crumbles to dust. Far from being covert, much of this
operation is conducted in plain sight, with the great power aware of its
enemies’ existence, if not their intent. Given its prescience about
modern-day terrorism, Tolkien’s vision offers at least three lessons for
present-day America.
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