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Old 07-31-2004, 02:16 AM   #25
Evisse the Blue
Brightness of a Blade
 
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Here I pop in right in the middle of your discussion of trees, having absolutely nothing to say on the matter.

I want to take you back to one of my favourite bits in the book: the beginning of the quest.
And that is when, Frodo, brutally awakened from a precognitive dream of the Sea, by an unecessarily noisy Merry- is being told the memorable phrase (well, at least to me): "It is time to get up. It is half past four and very foggy." Imagine the sleepy hobbit, uprooted from his warm comfortable bed, the likes of which he doesn't hope to encounter in the future, preparing himself to face unknown dangers and sufferings. The first of which: stepping out on a foggy, chilly autumn morning at 5:a.m. *shudder* Or maybe I'm making too much out of it. But the fact remains, Merry's matter-of-fact words are a well known joke among me and my friends, when we want to point out the many disadvantages of a situation. (I am still unclear as to why they chose such an early hour to start. )

Second point I want to make is about Tom Bombadil. I for one really like him. He is a very cheerful character, always seeming to make fun of himself and the others, (including the Ring, but I'm saving this for later). Now, his appearance in the story is really mysterious. It would have been very easy for Tolkien to introduce him as if he just happened to be passing by, singing, and so he stumbled upon the hobbits. But instead, it's Frodo who finds him, after getting the unexplainable urge to run through the dangerous forest, crying for help. What made him do that? What do you suppose? Not reason, surely. Because he knew hobbits did not adventure so far inside the forest, and as for other things that did, they could have been just as dangerous as Old Man Willow.
Quote:
But Frodo, without any clear idea of why he did so, or what he hoped for, ran along the path crying help! help! help!.
And help does come, unexpectedly.
The fact that Tom Bombadil invites the hobbits to his house, singles him as someone special, as it has already been suggested. It's apparent that he already knows or guesses what the hobbits are setting out to do, but he is not worried, nor does he treat the matter with the seriousness one would expect him to. Now, the water-lillies - that's something to be serious and worried about. He is in his element, and the hobbits already feel safe with him. The feeling of safety is further illustrated by the 'wonderfully evokative', (as Estelyn put it):
Quote:
the hobbits stood upon the threshold and a golden light was about them.
That makes me think of safety, welcoming, and something else, that I cannot quite express.

PS: There's a really nice thread that talks about the different sort of 'feel' these beginning chapters have here
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Last edited by Evisse the Blue; 07-31-2004 at 02:22 AM.
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