Quote:
Originally Posted by davem
I suspect his feelings for his mother may have played some part
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Yes! I think that is the heart of the matter.
One more aspect - at that time, a woman was expected to support her husband, not the other way around. Tolkien's indifference to his wife's inner needs was probably typical for most marriages then. And women weren't encouraged to express their needs and wishes; seems to me that not only children were to be "seen and not heard"!
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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