Tony Meade
Active Member
SESSION 20
Comment on the Nazgûl’s politeness to Maggot:
Comment on the Nazgûl’s politeness to Maggot:
- The politeness is likely false, and only designed not to raise suspicion or alarm among the Hobbits, which would make their search more difficult.
- They are possibly emulating Sauron himself, who is known as The Deceiver.
- The Nazgûl could employ fear and intimidation, as they do later in Bree, but they don’t do that with the hobbits.
- Instead they try to wheedle information out of the hobbits, including promises of bribes.
- It’s likely that those promises are false.
- Fear and intimidation tactics don’t really seem to work with the hobbits anyway. The Gaffer and Farmer Maggot both confront and resist the Black Riders intimidation.
- They actually need the Hobbits’ cooperation, at least within the Shire.
- “Looking” is of Anglo-Saxon origin and means to use one’s eyes.
- “Searching” comes from French and implies going around hunting and returning with what they are hunting for.
- There is also an implication, due to the invisible eyes of the Black Riders and their sniffing, that “looking” is an inappropriate term.
- The sound of hot water pouring into a cup is a different sound from cold water.
- This implies the Hobbit love of tea and the comfort of home.
- This means that, though the narrator seems to be changing senses from sound to sight, etc, there might be more consistency if these implications are there.
- These seem to be copper bathtubs, small enough to only fit one person, but large enough for that one person to luxuriate in them.
- They must be long enough to recline in, as they can splash water with their feet.
- Bathing must usually be a solo experience, as they assume that there is only one tub, and they will have to share. That they get to bathe together is a novelty.
- Note: Hobbits are between two and four feet tall, so they can pass as children among men.
- What does Frodo think that Merry and Pippin are thinking?
- He probably believes that they think that this is an adventure like Bilbo’s.
- Frodo has no reason, at the beginning of the conversation, to suspect that they know anything about the Ring and the nature of his journey.
- Frodo’s first concern is that his secret is out all over the Shire.
- He is not accusing his friends of telling everyone, but he is worried that he was too obvious if they were able to figure it out.
- Merry reassures him that it was only obvious to them, and only because they know him well and spend a lot of time around him. They are the only ones who know.
- Merry reveals that they have been expecting him to leave for a while. This probably confirms in Frodo’s mind that they think that this is like one of Bilbo’s adventures.
- Frodo leaps to the conclusion that their intent is to stop him from going. He is surprised at their willingness to come along.
- Frodo still believes that they can’t possibly know why he’s leaving.
- Merry has already revealed that they think of adventures as some kind of sport or fun.
- Pippin has already revealed, especially because of his experience, that there is danger involved. They would also know of the danger from Bilbo’s stories.
- The word “adventure” seems to be tossed around a lot among this small subculture of hobbits.
- Frodo is not peeved by their willingness to come; he is moved by their sincerity.
- Sam has already had to deal with his own willingness to come, and his resolved was hardened.
- Frodo is moved because he thinks that they don’t know the nature of his journey. He still thinks he knows way more than they do, but he sees their naivete as caring.
- Frodo feels the need to explain that the nature of this story is different from Bilbo’s/
- Note: Pippin’s teasing of Sam is endemic of their class differences.
- Note: There is also the age difference, and the fact that Marry and Pippin have important inheritances to leave behind. In a way, they have more to lose.
- Merry’s revelation that they know about the Ring and Sauron shows that they are willing to come fully knowing what they are getting themselves into.
- This also reveals that they know what Gandalf has told Frodo, as only they had discussed it.
- Merry stays away from the big topic of The Enemy by telling stories about the Sackville-Bagginses and the Red Book. These are old stories.
- In the story, Merry shows that to him Bilbo was already a legendary figure when he was very young, and actually got to see him doing something magical, and that magic is real
- Part of the reason for his digression is to show their motivation for coming on the journey. These moments meant a lot to him, like Sam’s love of Elves.
- Merry and Pippin leads with their friendship and follows it up with their own wonder at the stories that they will now be able to be part of.
- The original members are Merry, Pippin, Fatty Bolger, and Fosco Boffin. These are all peers.
- Sam would not have been one of the original members, as he is from a lower class.
- Sam knows Merry and Pippin because of Bag End, but they are not really friends.
- Why didn’t Merry ask Frodo about the magic that he saw before?
- Possibly because this was a private thing for him, much like Sam’s possible sight of an elf. It’s too personal and important to be discussed and debated, and to possibly be ridiculed for it.
- Merry is also being a good friend to the Bagginses by not spreading it around.
- It’s also possible that Merry might have thought that Bilbo or Frodo would see this as prying.
- The conspiracy was formed when Gandalf returned for the first time in nine years in the spring.
- At that point, Merry must’ve told the conspirators about the Ring, because the fear that Frodo might vanish and disappear into the wild and leave them behind.
- It sounds at first as though they had hired someone to tail him.
- Frodo has already come a long way from thinking that he knew more than them.
- When did they form the conspiracy and employ Sam? It must have been on the day when Gandalf returns. Sam was only on the job for one day before he was caught.
- Sam is the obvious spy because of his job.
- The earlier passage in the Green Dragon points to Sam having a lot to think about besides elves and gardening. It was most likely his job as a spy.
- Sam realized how he could spy on Frodo, as he realizes that cutting grass is the perfect cover.
- Sam’s involvement in the “business of his betters” has now actually led him into trouble.
- Gandalf originally suspected that Sam was spying on them. He was right, it turns out.
- After being caught, Sam prevaricates about his reason for listening, stating his love of the kind of stories that Gandalf and Frodo are discussing. He was actually there to spy for Merry and Pippin.
- Sam’s assertion that he choked over his devotion to Frodo might not be entirely true.
- Sam was probably not surprised that Frodo was leaving, as it is exactly what he was listening for, though the final confirmation might have moved him to choke.
- Sam making a noise and being caught may have been intentional, in order to assuage his own conscience for spying on Frodo.
- Merry and Pippin probably used his concern for Frodo to recruit him. He knows that they care about Frodo, and believing that Frodo might actually leave, he agrees.
- Sam is actually the one who suggests that he go along, with the idea that he will get to see Elves.
- Sam is able to maneuver himself into getting what he wants.
- Sam shows over and over again that he is able to think on his feet and improvise. He was able to have his conversation with the elves unless he was faking being asleep.
- The juxtaposition of Sam with Frodo’s image of a spy actually turns out to be sensible.
- If Bilbo was an honest burglar, Sam turns out to be an honest spy, keeping faith with both sides.
- Sam is able to play the country bumpkin well, using class assumptions to find out things.
- Sam must have only “dried up” after he told Merry and Pippin all he found out from that conversation, but after that he considered himself on parole.
- Merry and Pippin have to figure out all of Frodo’s plan on their own.
- Merry leans on their devotion to helping him as the excuse for their spying.
- Sam leans on the advice of the Elves to push Frodo in the conspiracy’s direction. He also reveals that he was listening in on Frodo’s conversation with Gildor.
- Frodo finally has to admit that they know everything, and he gives in.