Yeah, I have to wonder where people are coming from when they claim the LotR to be racist. Where do they feel that hobbits fit into the scheme of things - they don't seem to be good or evil, just people. And Ents? What do they make of the sequence with the Druedain? The Rohirrim are openly racist towards these peoples, only to be shown the error of their way by the Druedain themselves.
Dwarves and Elves openly hate each other, throwing racists epithets like daggers whenever they meet - think of Thranduil in the Hobbit, or Gimli confronting the elves on the borders of Lothlorien. Yet both are supposed to be goodly races that we empathise with easily.
Then there are the orcs. Some of them, particularly those that Sam and Frodo cross as they enter Mordor, are quite sympathetic characters.
There is definitely racism displayed by characters in Tolkein's writing, but I don't feel that there was any special racism demonstrated by the author himself - indeed he seemed almost to want to underline the idea that people should be judged by their acts, not by their appearance.
Dwarves and Elves openly hate each other, throwing racists epithets like daggers whenever they meet - think of Thranduil in the Hobbit, or Gimli confronting the elves on the borders of Lothlorien. Yet both are supposed to be goodly races that we empathise with easily.
Then there are the orcs. Some of them, particularly those that Sam and Frodo cross as they enter Mordor, are quite sympathetic characters.
There is definitely racism displayed by characters in Tolkein's writing, but I don't feel that there was any special racism demonstrated by the author himself - indeed he seemed almost to want to underline the idea that people should be judged by their acts, not by their appearance.