Fencing Bear at Prayer

I'm teaching a course this quarter on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , and one of the more worrying conversations that the students and I have gotten into is over Tolkien's representation of Eowyn, specifically her role as a shieldmaiden. On the one hand, Tolkien depicts Eowyn as a woman of enormous courage, defying her uncle Theoden to ride with the Rohirrim into battle against the forces of Mordor, standing alone when Theoden has fallen and all of his knights have either been slain or carried away, laughing in the face of the Lord of the Nazgul when he mocks her for a fool, saying, "No living man may hinder me!" It is Eowyn, a woman, who strikes down the Ringwraith's steed and, taking advantage of the hobbit Merry's help, drives her sword into the Black Captain's eyes, thus severing his spirit from his bodily form, and not incidentally saving Gondor and so Middle-earth from his evil power. On the other hand, it is not as a shieldmaiden that E...

One of the more exciting things that happened when I first started fencing was miraculously, without consciously dieting, losing almost 30 pounds. Having tended for most of my life towards the plumper end of the average weight range for my height and build, this was an occasion for a considerable degree of rejoicing. Now I could go to the store and try on all of the clothes that I had always envied my sister for being able to wear. Curiously, however, although everything now looked "good" on me, I did not want to wear it all. I still had particular colors that I preferred and I didn't seem to want to change my fundamental style very much. Even more interesting, however, were the reactions that I got from family and friends. Most said nothing about my new size; only one of my relatives in fact remarked at how good I looked. But of those who did comment, it was more often than not with concern: "You don't look like yourself anymore." "You don't...