Bb, you wrote:
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To me, the two characteristics, that of not wanting change and that of being indifferent to things outside their own sphere of being, are related, as both suggest a state of being uncomfortable with things they do not know or understand.
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Again, I'd like to point out how
hobbit-like this makes the Elves, particularly the Lorien Elves. The difference is, the hobbits are simply unaware of what's going on 'around' them -- they are in a state of ignorance. The Elves, however, are aware of what's going on around them, but they have turned away from it -- willful ignorance. That's why, on the whole, I prefer hobbits: better a people with narrow horizons than a people who choose to ignore those horizons.
And I like the point about the importance of Aragorn and Frodo completing this chapter -- these are the two people who are going to find some way 'between' the ignorance of hobbits and the wilful blindness of Elves by achieving a greater apprehension of the world and/or bringing that apprehension 'back' to their people, to some extent. They each bring a 'partial' vision to their lands -- one that is wider than what exists before, but not so wide as the view in Lorien, whic apparently leads only to despair.
I would also like to cheer Sauce for making the point about Elves as projections of our human capacity (some part thereof). Tolkien is very clear I think, in his stories and in his letters, that Elves are not truly 'Other' to humanity, but a representative part of us (but not allegorical!).