Heteronormativity in Tolkien’s Return of the King
Abstract
We live in a society with heteronormativity, where one should be heterosexual in order to be accepted in the society. Analyzing The Return of the King, I want to show how the novel portrays heteronormative norm in Middle-earth after the war. Matching the actions and images of characters inside the book with binary opposition, heternormativity and queer theory, I found that the book is telling about compulsory heterosexuality by giving rewards to the heteronormative characters and punishments to the non-normative.
