I've considered how different life would be as a fish in an aquarium. Assuming I had the consciousness to consider such questions (and thought in English) would I wonder "why am I here?" or "is there a world outside of this one?" It's hard to say. Maybe I'd be content with sucking at algae or mindlessly gulping down processed flakes from an unknown and unseen god. I'd never have the joy of my wedding day, or the exhilaration of traveling to a new country, but then I'd also get to miss out on soul-crushing prom nights, or the sadness of a friend's miscarriage. Ramen only seems like a terrible food when you eat it for weeks on end because you know about t-bone steaks and tiramisu.
If you had no options in life: no career paths, no vacations, no picking out new furniture, then maybe not having to worry about them would be a good thing. My life would be reduced to eating (which I love already), playing tag, occasionally being bullied, and relieving myself wherever I saw fit. The worst thing that would ever happen is getting scooped into a net and dumped into a new container every few months for cleaning. To be fair, fish probably think they are going to die, like, FOR REAL, every time this happens, but it's never more then ten minutes until they're all perked up and swimming about joyously in an old cat-litter bucket. What would life be like without the inane decisions of human life? Without religion, without hope, but also without a care beyond your own existance? It seems primal to those of us who have the more "refined" choices on our menu, but to them, life probably seems like a natural progression of eating, pooping, and sleeping.
Weirdly enough, I think I've just described the "dumb" races in high fantasy. Goblins don't give a fig if you were once their friend. If you're made of meat and dead, they're going to eat you. Chances are you weren't even a friend.
However, Goblins ARE depicted as being capable of very basic religion, usually following some war god or otherwise barbaric overlord. So maybe there still is goblin marriage and goblin families and goblin home decorating. But nothing as sophisticated as human decor and architecture. Is that racism speaking? What if Mrs. Twacknsmack is very proud of her rabbitskin rug and the tidyness of her little goblin hut?
Maybe elves view humans the same way humans view goblins. Elves think of us as similar, and yet (adorably) beneath their capabilities of art and politics. Goblins don't even come to mind when they think of humanoid races (maybe like we think of monkeys?). Any human that rises to their ranks has only done so because they were a cute pet, or necessary to some crazy prophecy.
Maybe THAT'S why elf/human relationships are so looked down upon by elves... Not only are they (usually) rejecting a long lifespan, but they're falling in love with a creature so basic, so unrefined compared to their society. When Ymir runs off with Jimmy, it seems to the elves that she's been captured by some dirty hippie.
Do rich people think of me this way?
Am I this closed-minded to the poor?
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