Etholod
Member
Long-Expected Meeting (Similarities and Differences between a Long-Expected Party and Many Meetings)
Close Readings such as this 'Magnum Opus' being composed here are quite strange. On the one hand the book is studied in an infinitely greater detail than a simple class such as 'Mythgard Academy' ever could; while on the other leaving relatively little time for looking at chapters as a whole. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but I still think that occasionally it is good to consider the chapter as a whole.
Why then do I seek to draw any similarities between these chapters? I think:
1.) They both land at the beginning of the a book so the reader is in a different state of mind than a chapter such as 'Knife in the Dark'
2.) They both fit into what I'm dubbing the 'Fellowship' Motif.
I'll begin by discussing what the 'Fellowship' motif is. As we've seen in Book 1 it begins with a restful beginning (Chapter 1) followed by a revelatory conversation (Chapter 2) followed by the journey into a dangerous place (comparing Three is Company to either the Old Forest or Fog on the Barrow Downs). This is where the direct connection with Book 2 breaks down as we can either compare Lothlorien to Tom Bombadil's house or Bree. But today I will be focusing solely on the first part of the Motif: The Restful Beginning and seeing whether it really holds up.
So let's begin at the beginning. Many Meetings as a chapter title is quite an odd choice. Because in reality not much meetings are going on. Now* spoiler alert* Frodo only really meets 2 new people (Elrond has already been mentioned many times and I think has been there spiritually from at least from the beginning) and perhaps the ‘many’ in ‘many meetings refers to the ‘re-meetings’ of Gandalf, Bilbo, and perhaps even his Companions so far. This is in direct contrast to ‘A Long-Expected Party’ where the amount of people we meet is almost comically large. What does this show us? Well I’ll argue that my juxtaposing the chapter title to the actual chapter content makes the whole journey so far seem almost trivial. We’ve been building up to this point for the majority of the Book 1 and to see the lack of new ‘meetings’ is almost a defeat in itself. But ‘re-meeting’ Gandalf and Bilbo is a reaffirmation of Frodo as the Hobbit both figuratively (reappearance of characters from the very hobbit-like beginning of the book) and literally (the end of the journey, the removal of the Morgul-Blade) perhaps pointing to the interpretation that Frodo is ‘re-meeting’ his Hobbit Self. This of course is completely different to ‘A Long-Expected Party ‘which is thoroughly immersed in Hobbitry. However both of these chapters can be seen as ‘beacons of Hobbitry’ not seen in any of the other chapters of LOTR.
We can also see Many Meetings as a final ‘stop’ of the ‘Hobbit Walking Party’ to quote Gandalf. As a way of illustrating my point: consider the word we saw in session 104 “Tune”. He whistled it while looking at himself in the Mirror. I decided to check the PDF version of FOTR and I saw that this word only cropped up between A Long-Expected Party and Many meetings (apart from one instance where Bilbo gives Frodo the Mithril Shirt). We can perhaps see in this a re-capitulation and re-emergence of Hobbitry while at the same time ending the tradition of the ‘Hobbit-Sequel’.
Now, I have only scratched the surface on this comparison, doing this as a way of practising for my next paper at a ‘Euro-Moot (Wales and Switzerland appear to be the top choices). I would be intrigued and grateful to know if you agree with me, what you can see, and any tips for me!
Thanks,
Etholod
P.S This was written as of session 104
Close Readings such as this 'Magnum Opus' being composed here are quite strange. On the one hand the book is studied in an infinitely greater detail than a simple class such as 'Mythgard Academy' ever could; while on the other leaving relatively little time for looking at chapters as a whole. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but I still think that occasionally it is good to consider the chapter as a whole.
Why then do I seek to draw any similarities between these chapters? I think:
1.) They both land at the beginning of the a book so the reader is in a different state of mind than a chapter such as 'Knife in the Dark'
2.) They both fit into what I'm dubbing the 'Fellowship' Motif.
I'll begin by discussing what the 'Fellowship' motif is. As we've seen in Book 1 it begins with a restful beginning (Chapter 1) followed by a revelatory conversation (Chapter 2) followed by the journey into a dangerous place (comparing Three is Company to either the Old Forest or Fog on the Barrow Downs). This is where the direct connection with Book 2 breaks down as we can either compare Lothlorien to Tom Bombadil's house or Bree. But today I will be focusing solely on the first part of the Motif: The Restful Beginning and seeing whether it really holds up.
So let's begin at the beginning. Many Meetings as a chapter title is quite an odd choice. Because in reality not much meetings are going on. Now* spoiler alert* Frodo only really meets 2 new people (Elrond has already been mentioned many times and I think has been there spiritually from at least from the beginning) and perhaps the ‘many’ in ‘many meetings refers to the ‘re-meetings’ of Gandalf, Bilbo, and perhaps even his Companions so far. This is in direct contrast to ‘A Long-Expected Party’ where the amount of people we meet is almost comically large. What does this show us? Well I’ll argue that my juxtaposing the chapter title to the actual chapter content makes the whole journey so far seem almost trivial. We’ve been building up to this point for the majority of the Book 1 and to see the lack of new ‘meetings’ is almost a defeat in itself. But ‘re-meeting’ Gandalf and Bilbo is a reaffirmation of Frodo as the Hobbit both figuratively (reappearance of characters from the very hobbit-like beginning of the book) and literally (the end of the journey, the removal of the Morgul-Blade) perhaps pointing to the interpretation that Frodo is ‘re-meeting’ his Hobbit Self. This of course is completely different to ‘A Long-Expected Party ‘which is thoroughly immersed in Hobbitry. However both of these chapters can be seen as ‘beacons of Hobbitry’ not seen in any of the other chapters of LOTR.
We can also see Many Meetings as a final ‘stop’ of the ‘Hobbit Walking Party’ to quote Gandalf. As a way of illustrating my point: consider the word we saw in session 104 “Tune”. He whistled it while looking at himself in the Mirror. I decided to check the PDF version of FOTR and I saw that this word only cropped up between A Long-Expected Party and Many meetings (apart from one instance where Bilbo gives Frodo the Mithril Shirt). We can perhaps see in this a re-capitulation and re-emergence of Hobbitry while at the same time ending the tradition of the ‘Hobbit-Sequel’.
Now, I have only scratched the surface on this comparison, doing this as a way of practising for my next paper at a ‘Euro-Moot (Wales and Switzerland appear to be the top choices). I would be intrigued and grateful to know if you agree with me, what you can see, and any tips for me!
Thanks,
Etholod
P.S This was written as of session 104
Last edited:
