Hobbits hiding from a dark rider / homage to Steinbeck?

[Stephen]

I recently read John Steinbeck's The Pearl and was surprised by the scene where the protagonists are hiding from a "dark rider" It reminded me of the hiding from the dark rider sequence in Fellowship.

I was thinking that maybe Steinbeck was making a covert reference to Tolkein's classic but then I discovered that Steinbeck's was actually published first.

I am now guessing that it was just a serendipitous plot parallel but in some ways the giant pearl was a bit like the one ring.

Do you think that Tolkein might have been making a reference to The Pearl in his Hiding from the Dark Rider sequence?

[Julia]

No.

[Kathy KS]

No; Tolkien began writing LOTR in 1937, even though it was completed in 1949 and published later.