Episode 19 Summary

[Tony Meade]

SESSION 19

Comment on the appointment of Sam as Frodo’s companion:

• Is it really not a punishment, or is it?
• Gandalf is being somewhat facetious with Sam by sending him on the trip. He doesn’t believe that Sam is doing anything malicious that deserves punishment.
• Gandalf is also engaging in hobbitry with Sam and Frodo, like the hobbits do among themselves. There is also a serious undertone as well, as he knows the gravity of the situation.
• However, this is analogous to Aragorn’s judgement on Beregond later. There is a blessing mixed with justice.
• Gandalf is not in the same position as a legal judge over Sam as Aragorn over Beregond, but it is in the same spirit. Sam has done something wrong, but not with intent, so he blesses him with a trip to the elves, but it also means toil and danger.
• There is a mixed reaction from Sam as well. Sam has much to lose, including his home, family, and Rosie (though we don’t know that yet), however all his dreams have also come true.
• Note: Tolkien often likes to have both sides of a dichotomy be true, much like the Elves.

On Middle-earth theology:

• Tolkien often said that there was nothing in LOTR that contradicted traditional Catholic doctrine.
• The one place that this seems to be contradicted is in the area of death as a “gift”, as in Christian doctrine, death is a punishment for original sin.
• Tolkien’s explanation is that the punishments of God/Ilúvatar are also gifts.
• Gandalf seems to be taking a similar tack with the “punishment” of Sam.
• Note: Aragorn references the gift of death in the appendices in his own death scene.

Comment on the gift of mushrooms:

• There is a parallel between the gifts given by Bilbo, with the jokes, and the gift of Mrs. Maggot, as both are predicated on an old memory.
• The primary difference between the two is that Mrs. Maggot’s gift is an act of forgiveness.
• There is a similar spirit of hobbitry between the two gifts.

The arrival in Crickhollow:

• The emphasis is on the similarity between this house and Bag End, and this is deliberate on the part of Merry and Fatty. This touches Frodo, though it troubles him also.
• This isn’t Bag End, and Frodo is sharply reminded of Bilbo seeing his stuff in a strange location.
• There is an emphasis on the fact that Bag End is gone, and how it had been the center of the Baggins family. Its importance will be emphasized again when he returns.
• There is a parallel being drawn here between Frodo’s setting off and Bilbo’s departure.
• Frodo’s intention is to leave the Shire, so when he feels that he has not moved, it is partly because he has not actually begun his true journey.
• Frodo’s journey is also into exile, which he has not yet had to start. He has technically left the Shire, but the real “leaving” is yet to happen.
• His friends actually do know that Frodo is leaving, so their efforts to make him feel at home, for even a night or two, are even more touching.

On the bath song:

• Bathing seems to be a favorite activity of Hobbits, so they have a whole genre of bath songs.
• The song is once again in iambic tetrameter, or “hobbit meter”.
• The rhyme scheme is a simple quatrain, AABB.
• The capitalizations are interesting, in their choice of emphasis, such as Hot Water and Beer.
• Who is the audience for this song? The bather is the speaker.
• The song starts with an imperative, so there’s a communal song, as we’re enjoined to sing along.
• The “O’s” are also a sign of direct address to the audience.
• The first two lines are instructional and makes judgements about those who sing and who don’t.
• The first thesis of the song is in the third line, from which all statements will be made.
• The emphasis is on the sound of water, in its many forms.
• The contrast is set up between the sound of natural water, with the look of hot bath water.
• It is a contrast between the wildness of natural water and the tranquility of the bath water.
• There is also the sound of the whistling kettle that would be used to heat water for the bath.
• The next comparison is the rejection of water altogether for drinking, saying that beer is better. The best use for the water is to pour it hot down the back.
• The first stanza is about sound and sight, while the second is about touch.
• The third stanza mixes the senses again, praising the sight of a fountain, but preferring the sound of hot water being splashed.
• The overall emphasis of the poem is on the hobbit preference of domesticity, over the wild or even spectacular.
• Pippin’s feet splashing is more like Bilbo’s “eager feet” than Frodo’s “weary feet”
• Water will play a big part in the imagery of the novel, from Frodo washing away his weariness in Nimrodel, to his dream of the ocean, to the sea-longing of the Elves.
• Also, Frodo’s parents were drowned, but that seems not to have affected him much. Sam will be the most afraid of water and boats.

The hobbits’ last supper:

• The business of eating has precluded telling Merry of any of their adventures. Priorities.
• Merry’s reference shows that the concept of Farmer Maggot being scared is inconceivable.
• This, along with his modes of address of Pippin, are a window into their relationship with him.
• He seems to be a larger than life character in Buckland and the areas around.
• This is reinforced by Frodo’s fear of Maggot from his childhood as an ogre.

On Frodo’s silence:

• Merry is addressing his request for stories to Frodo, but Frodo refuses to speak.
• Frodo still wishes to keep his secrets, as Pippin accused him of before.
• He is not sure of exactly the way to tell them so that they understand, do not know too much, and in a way that they can handle. He is still under the assumption that they know nothing/
• Merry is actually ignorant about the Black Riders; this is new and marvelous to him.
• Merry leads with a sense of familiarity, in his expression of dismay at being left out of adventures. This shows how much that generation has been affected by Bilbo.
• This is exactly the opposite reaction that Bilbo had at the beginning of The Hobbit.
• There is a certain amount of hyperbole here, as Merry likes the ideas of adventures, but doesn’t understand the actual danger that they have been exposed to by the Black Riders.
• Merry is probably envious of having the story to tell, not the actual experience.

It all starts to come out:

• Frodo is too hasty and protesting too much when he asserts that Farmer Maggot’s guesses were not completely correct.
• Maggot’s guesses were only shrewd but also obvious, given the events and circumstances surrounding Bilbo’s adventures and after his return.
• This is based on the stories that Hobbits know about strange treasures and their consequences.
• Frodo is not doing a good job of hiding things now. He could have deflected suspicion away from the Ring by playing up the Bilbo angle. This might be because of the Ring fixation and paranoia.
• Frodo tries to hedge on revealing the information but admits too much to hide anything.
• Frodo corrects “looking” to “searching”, emphasizing that the Riders are hunting him personally.
• He might also be referring to the sniffing, meaning that they search by means other than sight.
• Frodo volunteers that the danger has passed to him from Bilbo.
• There is a struggle between his desire to be honest with his friends and to protect them.
• It is also important that Frodo never lies to them, even though he could.
• Frodo’s fear spills out when he reveals his own danger. He is overwhelmed by his fear, and this shows in his imagination of the Black Riders breaking down the walls.
• This may be the first time that he has verbalized his fear with the other hobbits. He has only expressed it to Gandalf and Gildor.
• Pippin’s exclamation makes us privy to a conversation that Frodo is not. Frodo might have heard him, but either wasn’t paying attention or ignored him.
• Frodo is now the only one, including the audience, that doesn’t know that the secret is out.
• The secret of the conspiracy is revealed to the audience just before Frodo, bringing us into it.
• Frodo’s way of beginning to tell them shows that he did not overhear Pippin and is unaware of their side conversations.
• There is a parallel between Bilbo’s departure speech and what Frodo wants to tell them tonight.
• Frodo’s conversation with Gildor has shown him that he cannot procrastinate and wait for Gandalf. He must reveal everything now.

The conspiracy revealed:

• The two things that Merry points to are Frodo’s mood, and that he doesn’t really want to go. This does not seem to be what Frodo was actually going to say.
• Frodo knows that he needs to go, and is afraid of the Black Riders, but he has not really admitted to himself that he really doesn’t want to go. Merry voices this for him.
• Pippin calls him out for both saying goodbye to things, which points to him leaving.
• Pippin also calls out the lie of his reason for selling Bag End, which points a reason to conceal his going.
• The conspirators have been paying attention since Gandalf showed up in April and noted all of his new and strange behavior.
• They have put all of these observations together and concluded that Frodo is leaving.
• They are also aware that the Black Riders were not part of the plan, and that he is in danger.

END OF SESSION