Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 6
There are several reasons, why the Old Forest is the first adventure outside the Shire. For one it is a believable place for previous Hobbit adventures and battles, so that Merry can relate some lore on their way. And secondly it provides a welcome escape from the all too continuous - for the reader at least - threat hanging over the party.
Chiefly, though, it allows Tolkien to add one more chapter to his guide for the young male, a chapter that hardly seems to fit into the plot, namely one about the openess of mind to follow one's path to where it may lead one and the fruitlessness of uninformed planning.
Nature, and the forest in particular, is a place of evidence of this truth: That the good surprises you, that you didn't even know, it existed, and that you find it, if by anything, by heeding hunches.
You're not the master of this world, but you're of this world, and something within you draws you towards your place. There's a route that lends itself and there are impossibilities. Of course, usually you only understand that your route has lent itself after you encountered the impossibilities. You can't see ahead, but you are making progress.
That Tolkien places Tom Bombadil's house on the edge of the Barrow-downs comes close to an admission of guilt, of having pursued a line of development, a train of thought a little beyond its use. Corrections are in order, a steering of the wheel.
Chiefly, though, it allows Tolkien to add one more chapter to his guide for the young male, a chapter that hardly seems to fit into the plot, namely one about the openess of mind to follow one's path to where it may lead one and the fruitlessness of uninformed planning.
Nature, and the forest in particular, is a place of evidence of this truth: That the good surprises you, that you didn't even know, it existed, and that you find it, if by anything, by heeding hunches.
You're not the master of this world, but you're of this world, and something within you draws you towards your place. There's a route that lends itself and there are impossibilities. Of course, usually you only understand that your route has lent itself after you encountered the impossibilities. You can't see ahead, but you are making progress.
That Tolkien places Tom Bombadil's house on the edge of the Barrow-downs comes close to an admission of guilt, of having pursued a line of development, a train of thought a little beyond its use. Corrections are in order, a steering of the wheel.
Eingetragen Am/um
11:25
