Leaf by Niggle Literary Elements

Short story; allegory

The story is set in an unspecified location at an unspecified time, although it quickly transitions to a non-physical realm (an allegory for the Afterlife) after Niggle's journey.

The story is told from a third-person perspective that closely follows Niggle's thoughts and feelings.

The tone of the story is straightforward and earnest. The mood of the story is mysterious, fantastical, and hopeful.

Niggle, a humble painter who undertakes a long journey, is this story's protagonist. There is no real antagonist in the story, though one could consider the general devaluation of creativity on earth a type of antagonist.

The major conflict in the story is that Niggle, a humble painter, must depart for his "long journey" before he has finished his life's work. He is given a second chance, however, when he encounters the Great Tree from his painting in Niggle's Country, an allegorical section of the Afterlife.

At the story's end, having teamed up with Parish to create a beautiful landscape in the realm after the Workhouse, Niggle accompanies the shepherd into the Mountains, the final destination of his soul and the virtual equivalent of Heaven, completing his narrative arc with a sense of beautiful satisfaction.

Niggle's procrastination on his painting foreshadows his lack of preparedness when it is time for his "long journey."

The beginning of the story features a significant amount of understatement, as the narrator speaks earnestly about Niggle's journey without acknowledging the likely Christian allegory behind it, in which the journey signifies death: "There was once a little man called Niggle, who had a long journey to make. He did not want to go, indeed the whole idea was distasteful to him; but he could not get out of it. He knew he would have to start some time, but he did not hurry with his preparations" (1).

There are no real-world allusions in this story, but it bears remarkable similarities to the Christian view of the afterlife. There is a form of Purgatory in the story (the Workhouse), along with Paradise (Niggle's Country) and Heaven (the Mountains).

Significant imagery in the story includes artistic/painting imagery, work/labor imagery, and idyllic imagery as it relates to the paradise of Niggle's Country.

The central paradox of the story is that Niggle is insignificant on earth (quickly forgotten after he leaves for his journey) but eternally significant in Niggle's Parish, an allegorical representation of the Afterlife.

Many argue that Niggle's life directly parallels that of Tolkien himself, especially as relates to his artwork. The Tree that occupies most of Niggle's time is equivalent to Tolkien's Middle-earth: the leaf that started it all represents The Hobbit, the Tree itself is representative of the Lord of the Rings, and the background beyond the Tree represents all the backstory and history Tolkien creates for his secondary world (e.g., The Silmarillion, the Children of Hurin, etc.).

As an allegory, the story frequently describes death metonymically, referring to it simply as a "journey" throughout.

The narrator describes Niggle's painting by imbuing the Great Tree with a sense of human power, saying, "It had begun with a leaf caught in the wind, and it became a tree; and the tree grew, sending out innumerable branches, and thrusting out the most fantastic roots" (1).