Quote:
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The inhabitants refuse to see evil, refuse to believe it, so when they are attacked they are caught off guard.
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I find that it is a beauty of Tolkien's main characters, the hobbits. They do not even wish to realize that there is evil, and they are the ones to face the most evil. All the inhabitants of Middle-Earth have this trouble, as well, but not to the extent of the Hobbits.
The Chapter's title sums up more than just the central event in it. There are many 'long expected' events that happen in the first chapter, setting up the story with its very historical feel. The story does not have a beginning, as it unfolds as events that have long been expected or long in the 'brewing', and have possibly even been fated, occur.
(Short, and continuing my rant concerning the 'feigned history'...I am disatisfied.)
-Durelin
