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Originally Posted by Fordhim
But here, Merry comes into his own. We talked about him and his remarkable character a lot in the early chapters, but it's not until now, I think, that he steps forward as the most truly representative hobbit of them all. Two lines stand out for me:
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He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire.
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Master Fordhim is very correct, it seems to me, about the Hobbitness of this statement. Indeed, I should that there is a lot
The Hobbit to this statement. It strikes me as highly reminiscent of all those lines in
The Hobbit when Bilbo thinks back to Bag-End and its larder as his refuge.
There's also, to my mind, a similar theme between this chapter and the part of
The Hobbit immediately before the Battle of the Five Armies. In both cases we have hobbits (as noted, of a very similar nature) all alone and caught up in a large buildup towards war, over which they have little or no control. Both want to do something, but are concerned that they are too small or unimportant.