Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 4
One scene from the previous chapter made it into the film, one more into the extended cut, from this chapter none into either and this is the way it will stay until we arrive in Bree, though farmer Maggot got at least a re-invented homage.
In the previous chapter Tolkien set the emotional tone for a change of the tides, in this he proceeds with practical steps and considerations in the newly found situation like
It seems I was not the only one, who thought that some friends could cover-up Frodo's whereabouts, so did Tolkien - or farmer Maggot. Though unpleasant, flawed and fraught with some risk - minor, but present, - Frodo's passage to the Buckleburry ferry proves to be an easily mastered excercise.
Far from seeking suspense, Tolkien indulges in prep-talk: Put your mind to it and you'll be surprised by the ease with which things go. After all, he was a professor and the Lord of the Rings his one chance to go beyond children's books.
At least up to this point, Frodo's journey is that of every young man, who steps out of his sheltered circumstances and into the open waters of society. Of course, those waters are in actuality never quite open, but guarded by those, who control society. So you may say that those young men never really leave the Shire. But it matters not, for the lessons remain the same, since they're the only way for a society to renew its strength, independent of its order. And in this chapter the free peoples of Middle-earth start to renew theirs.
In the previous chapter Tolkien set the emotional tone for a change of the tides, in this he proceeds with practical steps and considerations in the newly found situation like
‘Short cuts make long delays’and
‘It is no good our starting to go in zig-zags’.Sam's loyalty to Frodo is established, realising that they have stumbled into a world out of their own proportions, and the Hobbits' options are being re-assessed.
It seems I was not the only one, who thought that some friends could cover-up Frodo's whereabouts, so did Tolkien - or farmer Maggot. Though unpleasant, flawed and fraught with some risk - minor, but present, - Frodo's passage to the Buckleburry ferry proves to be an easily mastered excercise.
Far from seeking suspense, Tolkien indulges in prep-talk: Put your mind to it and you'll be surprised by the ease with which things go. After all, he was a professor and the Lord of the Rings his one chance to go beyond children's books.
At least up to this point, Frodo's journey is that of every young man, who steps out of his sheltered circumstances and into the open waters of society. Of course, those waters are in actuality never quite open, but guarded by those, who control society. So you may say that those young men never really leave the Shire. But it matters not, for the lessons remain the same, since they're the only way for a society to renew its strength, independent of its order. And in this chapter the free peoples of Middle-earth start to renew theirs.
Eingetragen Am/um
11:15
