A Peek Into "Leaf by Niggle"

emmasotomayor134
Aug 19, 2024
3 min read

Summary

J. R. R. Tolkien's story begins with the introduction of Niggle, a man preparing for a long journey. Niggle, an artist, has been attempting to finish his painting of a tree for a long time. However, he is constantly interrupted by both community duties and helping his neighbor, the disabled Mr. Parish. His lack of time to work on his masterpiece is a great inconvenience to him, and he often grumbles about the tasks that take him away from his work.

Eventually, Niggle finds that his journey is not so far off, so he attempts to complete the painting. Sadly, he only really finishes one leaf in his tree painting to perfection before he is called away by his neighbor Parish to run some errands. After biking in the rain to town, he comes down with a terrible fever and finally leaves on his long journey—symbolizing death.

After working a great deal in a purgatory-like setting, Niggle is judged by the First Voice and the Second Voice, perhaps symbolizing God the Father and God the Son. He finds that the tasks he thought irritable—helping Parish, for example—were really great sacrifices and worth more than he knew. He is then allowed to move on to rest. He finds himself in a beautiful country, where he sees his tree—completed and more lovely than he could have imagined. His artistic work, which he could never quite finish, was all a glimpse of the country after the journey. He meets up with Parish and they build a house together. Eventually Niggle moves on to the mountains.

Back in the town where Niggle lived, his paintings are seen as useless to society because they are not "practical." Only the single completed leaf is preserved, until it too turns to dust. However, in the country beyond the journey the First and Second Voices keep the house that Niggle built to hint at the mountains for newcomers.

Characters

Niggle: An artist who is often irritable at being interrupted; while he is kind in his own way, he grumbles about helping others and sometimes swears.

Parish: Niggle's someone inconsiderate neighbor, who does not appreciate art and often bothers Niggle for little things because he has a lame leg.

The First Voice: Perhaps symbolizing God the Father, the First Voice seems very severe.

The Second Voice: Possibly symbolizing God the Son, the Second Voice intercedes for Niggle by presenting his good traits so that he can move on to rest.

Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished. If you could say that of a Tree that was alive, its leaves opening, its branches growing and bending in the wind that Niggle had so often felt or guessed, and had so often failed to catch. (pg. 113)

Final Notes

Tolkien's story expresses the power of myth in a world that would often discard that which cannot be practically used. In Tolkien's worldview, storytelling points to paradise. The painting of a tree that Niggle was never able to complete was a mere glimpse of the tree in the country beyond his journey. Tolkien believed that humans are to create under God (subcreation) with their work glorifying and hinting at the power of their Savior. In the same way, Niggle's art, so often neglected for tasks that were truly good, still pointed to the paradise at which he would arrive.