[Durelin]

Like Fordim, I am not even going to try and be organized in my thoughts. I'm just going to talk aloud (talk-type?) for a bit...

From Concerning Hobbits:

...they suddenly became, by no wish of their own, both important and renowned, and troubled the counselfs of the Wise and the Great.

Upon reading this quote, I immediately thought back to how we had considered the fact in the discussion of the foreword that Tolkien had expected his small audience to remain small. Though Tolkien most likely had written this prologue before there were any signs of his audience growing larger (I confess that I have no idea if the prologue was written when the book was originally published, sadly.), this was probably part of the Hobbit character. I think it can be added to Evisse's list. But I also believe that that quote came to mean something more.

Of their original home the Hobbits in Bilbo's time preserved no knowledge.

This, in relation with "the fiction of the book as being a historical document" (Fordim), expresses a common occurrence in history: the lack of preservation of knowledge. It also expresses it's importance. An example of this, in history, is the fall of the Roman Empire followed by the Dark Ages. Still, this is an example of a loss of knowledge through lack of preservation. Was there ever any signs of that in Tolkien's writings? Now, perhaps he thought of the Hobbit's general lack of interest in knowledge as a key aspect of the story...Okay, now, I'm just rambling...

And in those days also they forgot whatever language they had used before, and spoke ever after the Common Speech...yet they kept a few words of their own, as well as their own names of months and days, and a great store of personal names out of the past.

This is one quote that could be used to make the arguement that Tolkien was 'anti-imperialistic'. But all I believe this is only yet another aspect that makes this book, and especially the prologue, a fictional historical document. This kind of melding of cultures occurs so often in history, but this statement shows how an independence of culture is kept through a preservation of the old.

They possessed from the first the art of disappearing swiftly and silently, when large folk whom they do not wish to meet come blundering by; and this art they have developed until to Men it may seem magical.

Just think of how funny it is that two hobbits, and a hobbit-like creature, were ringbearers, and used it most often to make a disappearing act. I can only see this as an irony, though it can express so much more. Fordim's idea of "art" vs. "magic" is an interesting one. It reminds me of the Istari and their 'magical restraints'. It was said that they could not do 'magic' outside the natural plane, and when creating this 'magic' they had to use what was found in nature. It was the same with the elves. They never were truly 'magical' beings, it was more that they were so in-tune with nature that they could use all of its secrets and 'magic'. Their relationship with nature obviously came from their ties to the Earth, how they are bound to it until the End. There is much to think about, concerning that topic...

I believe I should collect my thoughts and let my mind rest. It just doesn't seem to be working properly, at the moment.

-Durelin

EDIT: It was inebvitable that I cross-posted with at least three people...