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Old 09-30-2004, 07:59 AM   #22
davem
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Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties
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davem is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.davem is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Oh, but I think happy endings are possible in Middle earth, because whether the ending is 'happy' or not depends on the individual's own judgement, not on some external criteria. And it doesn't matter whether we as readers would consider the ending to be happy, either.

It seems to me that Bilbo would have said that his story had a happy ending, & so would Sam. Their parts of the story had happy endings, whether the story as a whole did or not.

In short, I don't think happiness is something objective.

Quote:
There are joyful endings, but there is also a profound melancholy at these moments of change.
But its possible to feel melancholy at the end of a happy story, because the 'happiness' has ended for us with the ending of the story. I felt melancholy at the end of my first reading of the Hobbit, even though it had a happy ending, because it was over. In other words, we have to distinguish between our feelings & the feelings of the characters.

Quote:
That's why I hold to my opinion that Bilbo, much as I love the old fellow, is naive
Maybe, but naive people can still experience happiness - in fact, I think they're more likely to.
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