TCG Letter #86 / Carpenter Letter #52

Tolkien reflects on the challenging and disheartening circumstances of the time, including the impact of war, propaganda, and the bleak conditions of life. The letter expresses a glimmer of hope in the form of resistance, particularly the dynamiting of factories and power stations, seen as a form of patriotic defiance. He acknowledges the difficult era they were born into but finds solace in the love for what they hold dear.

In the 2023 revised edition of Letters, a section is restored to the top of the letter, where Tolkien reports that he has had influenza and that the steel works had over 900 men ill. Tolkien says that those in charge are deciding what people need, and if they had their way those people would remain in charge permanently.