When literature achieves renown and ubiquity — Don Quixote, Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter — the result is an avalanche of convoluted literary interpretations.

The Lord of the Rings, a recent example of such prominent literature, is no exception.

With so many interpretations, it is unsurprising that a Marxist analysis of The Lord of Rings exists, and there is one of The Hobbit in particular by literary scholar Jack Zipes in his Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales.

The stories we tell reveal much about what we believe, so it is worth asking: can The Hobbit accurately be described as Marxist?

I would argue to the contrary — The Hobbit portrays free enterprise in a positive light, as I hope to show with some insights from Jonathan Witt and Jay W. Richards in their book, The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot.

I lack the space to address every point Zipes makes, but mentioning one or two will suffice.

Read the article “Is ‘The Hobbit’ Marxist?” on tifwe.org.