[davem]

There is an odd structure to this chapter in terms of the hobbits. We began a few chapters back with Frodo & Gandalf, & the other hobbits became involved with the quest one by one. Here we almost have a mirror image:
Frodo/Gandalf+Sam+Pippin +Merry. In this chapter its Merry-Sam/Pippin-Frodo/Strider.

Another odd thing, given his character so far, is that its Merry, the organised, sensible one, who does the really stupid thing (which we'll see in the next chapter).

Re-reading the relevant HoME chapters a few interesting things arise: everyone originally was to have been a hobbit - Barliman Butterbur (originally Timothy Titus, evolving into Barnabus, then Barliman), & Trotter, the hobbit with wooden shoes & broken pipe who magically transforms in the later drafts into Strider. The Pony was to have been a large hobbit hole like structure, cut into Bree Hill. Oddly enough, Trotter is a far stranger & initially more interesting character - we expect men to be strange & mysterious, but a hobbit ranger! Totally out of character for the race. Whatever made Tolkien even consider making one of his stay at home. lazy, greedy hobbits into an action man?

The Ring seems to develop into a more dangerous object in this chapter - Frodo begins to suspect it has a will of its own. This is an interesting development (in spite of the fact that Gandalf has mentioned something of the sort). Frodo now begins to suspect that he is carrying something 'conscious', whose will can perhaps overwhelm his own & make him do things he doesn't want to. And how about our quiet, introspective, sensitive hero jumping up onto a table & belting out a song! (Which, if anyone is interested, was originally to be Sam's Troll Song).

And then we have the southerner, warning all & sundry that he's likely to be the first of many 'refugees' who will be making their way north to escape the depredations 'away down south'? What point, if any, is Tolkien making about refugees, or 'incomers'? They do, obviously, have a right to a peaceful life, but what effect would a mass influx of refugees have on the settled communities of Eriador. Perhaps that nowhere is safe if there is a war going on - even of its taking place many hundreds of miles away, & so no community (or individual) can afford to shut itself off.

Finally, we see the similarities between the Bree hobbits & the hobbits of the Shire. Many place names in the Shire are simply geographical - The Hill, The River, etc, while the names of places in the Bree Land are the same - Bree is the celtic name for 'hill', Coombe=valley (cwm) & chet as in Archet & Chetwood=wood. They are so alike, yet they don't realise it, & are full of suspicion regarding each other. Its this attitude that outsiders are 'queer' which leads to their isolation, & to allowing bad things to go on in the outside world without intervening, that has caused so many problems. One wonders if that is also something the Elves have taught to the other races?