J.R.R. Tolkien's Warrior Woman: Éowyn - Part 3a - A Background of Cages - Family Dynamics

In my previous articles, I introduced Éowyn and discussed possible bases for her character in The Lord of the Rings.  In this post, I will continue my examination of J.R.R. Tolkien's warrior woman by exploring her background while illustrating similarities that several women soldiers of the Civil War shared.  This concept is important because life history often dictates decision making.  The first post in this series can be found [HERE].

Éowyn's Background

 

Tragedy permeated Éowyn's family from the time she was a little girl.  She was seven and her brother, Éomer, eleven, when their father, Éomund, was killed in combat.  Their mother, Théodwyn, withered away and died of illness (likely grief) shortly thereafter.   Théodwyn's brother, Théoden, then took in the orphaned children, who joined their older cousin, Théodred, in the king's court.  There, Éowyn grew to maturity lacking a true feminine role model.  She no longer had a mother, and her aunt, Elfhild, had died giving birth to Théodred twenty-four years prior.  Théoden never remarried.  And so with the absence of women — other than perhaps servants — in Éowyn's environment, it was men who served as influential mentors. To her, she was one of them, and she wanted them to respect and accept her as an equal.

King Théoden (portrayed by Bernard Hill) with his niece (played by Miranda Otto)

Éomer (played by Karl Urban) and Éowyn, brother and sister

Like Éowyn, several women soldiers of the Civil War experienced the excruciating loss of loved ones.   As a matter of fact, Elizabeth Bradbury of Tennessee was the same age as Éowyn when she, too, lost her mother to illness.  Sarah Bradbury had died of consumption in 1852, leaving her little girl in the care of a foster family.  Also like Éowyn, Elizabeth did not have a biological father in her life.  She claimed her stepfather raised her. I have yet to discover who her real father was or why he was not in the picture. 

Elizabeth Quinn

And then there was Frances Elizabeth Quinn of Illinois, more commonly known as Frances Hook, whose dysfunctional family history I reveal for the first time in my book, Behind the Rifle. A composite of her two photos appears on the front cover.  She, too, was without her mother from a young age.   I have not yet learned who she was or what happened to her, but four-year-old Elizabeth appears in the 1850 census without her.  Elizabeth's brother, Thomas, was two.  Perhaps their mother died in childbirth like Éowyn's aunt.  But regardless, their mother was conspicuously absent.  The Quinn children were also bereft of their father, as was Éowyn.  But unlike Éomund, the Rohirric warrior, Thomas Sr. proved a coward.  Instead of sacrificing his life on a battlefield to protect his family, Thomas simply walked away from his.  Whether the young Elizabeth understood what had happened, or if she lamented the absence of her father — from his own choice — is unknown. 

Changing Circumstances — Changing Women

Éowyn did indeed grieve for the loss of her parents, but she at least had a loving uncle who provided her with a home and raised her as his own.  Elizabeth and Thomas Quinn's uncle, Peter Quinn, did the same; although, he sometimes placed the children in different households.  Thomas mostly stayed with others while Elizabeth remained for the large part with Peter.  And, it was while she was living with her uncle — as it was with Éowyn — that Elizabeth first experienced at least a semblance of military culture since Peter served with the Illinois militia.  Whenever Peter did make arrangements for the children to live with other families, he was still responsible for payment for their care.  This situation grew burdensome, and Peter sued his brother for compensation.  What followed was a series of bizarre circumstances permeated with lust, vengeance, and greed that pitted brother against brother.  This is the unstable environment that Elizabeth experienced as a little girl.  And it worsened when Uncle Peter died in 1860.  She was approximately fourteen years old, and there was nobody left to care for her.  A myriad of emotions, including loneliness, confusion, worthlessness, and perhaps even guilt, must have coursed through her, wrenching her soul. 

Éowyn, too, had to face difficult change when the stable environment Théoden created for her fell into turmoil with the emergence of Gríma, who served as a spy for the rogue wizard, Saruman.  As discussed in my previous installment, his propaganda poisoned the king's mind while his lustful stalking haunted her.  She felt trapped —  caged — in a hopeless situation at home.  Women soldiers of the Civil War found themselves in similar circumstances.  Sarah Emma Edmonds of Michigan was one.  Her father, Isaac, was not a stable man, and she endured his fits of rage with increasing bitterness.  Then, when Emma was seventeen, she had to face another challenge from her father when he announced that he had arranged a marriage between her and an elderly neighbor.  After witnessing her father's constant abuse of her mother, she knew that was not a path she wanted to tread.  She wrote in her memoirs:

 "I was forced to the conclusion, from close observation and bitter experience that matrimony was not a safe investment for me."

Emma's  dilemma then became how she was going to openly defy her irritable and controlling father in a society when women were supposed to unquestionably submit to men's authority.

And then there was Mary Ann Clark of Kentucky, a college-educated minister's daughter who had to deal with so much pain and grief in her young life it is a wonder that her soul didn't just shrivel up to nothingness. Perhaps she thought it had.  The turmoil began after she married George Walker at the tender age of sixteen and subsequently bore four children, only to discover just what a monster her husband was.  He was abusive.  And his gambling addiction led to financial deprivation, resulting in Mary Ann and their children enduring bouts of starvation.  He was even on the verge of murdering her.  Two of their children did die from cruel treatment.  And George threatened to place the remaining ones — Gideon and Caroline — where Mary Ann would never see them again.  Not only did she have to endure these abuses, Clark also had to face verbal poisoning as Éowyn did with Gríma Wormtongue.  Mary Ann's mother noted,

"All the base and vile slanders that could be heaped on her by the foul tongues of [George] Walker and his family was more than she could bear."

Yet, Clark stayed with him through all the torture.  The situation worsened when George left for California where he acquired a new wife — while still married to Mary Ann — and had the audacity to write to inform her that he was bringing her home to Kentucky.  According to Clark's mother,

"This blow changed her every nature — she has a very mild, gentle and amiable disposition naturally[.] She became fretful, restless and at times almost frantic."

Clark finally left George, taking their two remaining children with her.  And then came another blow that left her utterly helpless according to her mother.  Her brother-in-law, John Boyd, who assisted with the care of her children after the dissolution of her bitter marriage, was brutally murdered by a pro-Unionist mob of ruffians.  They had tortured him six months prior.  Mary Ann's mother described her further descent into darkness,

"This unfortunate circumstance cast a deeper shade of gloom over her mind[.]  She became despondent."

Click [HERE] for part 3b:  Unrequited Love