Episode 46 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 46

On Sam’s use of the title “Master”:
  • Why does Sam refer to Tom as “Master Bombadil”? Though it is as “master” he is identified, it would go against the conventional hobbit use of “Master” to refer to a young aristocrat.
  • When Farmer Maggot refers to Pippin as “Master Pippin”, it refers to his class, and corrects himself to say “Mister Peregrin Took” because he is now grown up.
  • Bilbo also refers to Gaffer Gamgee as “Master Hamfast”, which is a sign of respect, or “condescension” in the older sense. It could be in this sense that Sam uses it of Tom.
  • Sam also refers to Frodo as “Mister Frodo” or “Master”. The first is a sign of Frodo’s social position, the second is a reference to his being Frodo’s servant.
  • Sam might also simply be using it as Tom uses it, as a sort of job description.
  • Note: In the south of America, it is common to refer to familiar elders as Mr. or Ms., and their first name. This seems to be the sense in which Sam uses “Mister Frodo” or “Mister Bilbo”.
  • Sam might be struggling to come up with the right honorific for Tom but deviating from the normal forms in the Shire because Tom is outside of his normal experience.
  • Sam might also choose “Master” over “Mister” as Tom is not a landowner, per Goldberry.
  • Sam will also refer to Elrond as “Master Elrond” and this might be a similar usage.
  • Note: “Master” is used as a formal title for the head of the Brandybucks and rulers of Buckland.
  • How is Bilbo being polite by calling the Gaffer “Master Hamfast”? He cannot refer to him “Mister” as he isn’t a landowner. This may have to do with his age, family position, and wisdom.
  • Note: The use of Tom’s surname, instead of given name, after “Master” is the major difference.
  • This pattern is also used of Frodo when he’s called “Master Underhill” by Butterbur. This may be sign of a lack of familiarity. We also see this as Aragorn sarcastically uses “kind Master Ferny”.
  • Sam’s use of “Master Sandyman” is type of sarcasm, as he knows Ted Sandyman well.
On Sam’s use of the word “caution”:
  • It’s interesting that we don’t get any dialogue from Sam during the entire time that the hobbits are in the house of Tom Bombadil. We don’t even get his dreams.
  • Sam had longed for elves when he leaves home, and he gets them, but he does speak.
  • Is this a reverent silence in Tom’s house, as Sam is in awe of, or understands, Tom’s position?
  • Meeting Tom has shown Sam how strange the world outside the Shire might be.
  • Sam’s use of the word “caution” seems to be related to the unexpected nature of Tom, and a warning to keep one’s eyes and mind open.
  • Sam does not seem to use the term in any negative way; he seems to like Tom and finds him amusing, but he also is astonished by Tom’s strangeness.
  • Sam acknowledges that Tom is not only good, but extraordinarily good, and incomparable.
  • Note: The names of the inns are italicized because they are treated like the names of ships.
  • Sam pivots very quickly from his experience of Tom back to the normal world of inns. Sam won’t deny that he’s looking forward to getting back to something he knows and understands.
  • The hopeful comparisons between The Green Dragon and The Prancing Pony also reveal this desire for normalcy, as is his question about the people who live there.
Finally heading toward Bree:
  • The transition to the Bree-land is a transition to the world of Men, but the presence of Hobbits makes this transition a softer landing for Sam.
  • Even the transition to Buckland was significant for Sam, but he finds it not much different.
  • In Crickhollow, it is emphasized that they have made Frodo’s house as much the same as Bag End as they could.
On Frodo’s traveling name:
  • Why does Frodo take the pseudonym “Underhill”? This seems to be a generic, common name for Hobbits, while it also has special significance for the Bagginses after Bilbo’s adventures.
  • The name might be common enough not to draw attention from strangers, but someone in the know would understand the reference to Bag End and the Hill in Hobbiton.
  • The name is common enough to be shared by hobbits in Staddle, which is also true of other surnames that are common in both Bree and the Shire.
  • It’s also true that Bree is also under a hill; the name Bree means “hill”.
  • There are also coincidental connections to Tom’s house (up, down, under hill), and being trapped in a barrow (an artificial hill). Gollum also enjoys being “under hills” and mountains.
  • Note: In The Hobbit, there is a play between “the hill” and “the mountain”, and the connections between them. The ultimate destination is to the mountain and back to the hill, even including Bilbo sitting on the Lonely Mountain looking back towards his hill in the Shire.
  • There are many hills into which Frodo will enter, and while some are good, some are bad.
  • The name “Underhill” will no longer be part of the plot after this chapter, but the idea of being “under hills” will continue thematically.
A literary tour of Bree:
  • Bree is shown in many ways to be a place of opposites: the twinkling lights and the dark outline of the hill, the familiarity of the hobbits and the strangeness of men, etc.
  • It seems promising, given their previous adventure, to have Bree on the west side of the hill.
  • The emphasis in the description of the Bree-land is on its isolation in the wild lands about it.
  • The lands between Buckland and Bree would be completely empty, and a day’s journey.
  • The Bree-land is also surrounded by land that is not cultivated, so not civilized.
  • The contrast between the wild lands is primarily with the Shire, which is tamed and cultivated and settled throughout. Bree is only small a cluster of villages facing the wilderness.
  • There are lots of country between Bree and Rivendell, taking weeks to cross. It is unlikely that many in Bree would have even heard of it or believe the stories of it.
  • East of Bree is only the Forsaken Inn and Weathertop before the Misty Mountains, both of which have no people. So, in the experience of the people of Bree, they are alone.
  • Rivendell is a secret, after all, and though the Bree-folk have met elves, the elves would likely not speak of Rivendell anyway. They probably don’t know what lies east on the road.
On the use of capitalization in the names of people groups:
  • Names of races and peoples are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not, according to Tolkien’s own system, which may not be obvious to others.
  • The difference seems to be between the use as common nouns and proper nouns.
  • When he refers to the group as a whole, he capitalizes the name, but when talking about individuals from the group doing things, he does not capitalize it.
(continued below)
 

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(continued)

A description of the culture of Bree:
  • The most notable thing about Bree is not only that they have been in the same place, but that they have not fallen, despite the rise and falling of at least two high civilizations around them.
  • The people of Bree would have arrived there in the migration of the Men who later became the Edain, but they stopped in Eriador before getting to Beleriand.
  • They would still be there when the Numenoreans came back and founded Arnor.
  • They were also never conquered by outside forces, and have not expanded, or disappeared, or fallen into corruption like the other societies around them have over that time.
  • Bree would have been right on the front lines and on the borders of the kingdoms of Arnor during their civil wars, but there’s no evidence that they ever joined a side.
  • In a sense, they are similar to Tom Bombadil, having been in the same place and largely unchanged throughout all these millennia of the history of Men.
  • There seems to be a contentedness and humility connected to their lack of change or ambition.
  • Their humility seems to protect the Bree-folk from a temptation to evil, much like as it is with the Hobbits, and in this way, they share an affinity.
  • Note: Much like the town of Gettysburg, Bree sits at a very strategically important location, being at the crossroads of the major routes from north-south and east-west.
  • It seems important that this history comes from the legends and tales of the Bree-men themselves. We are not told more about their role in the history of Arnor.
The introduction of the Rangers:
  • When Butterbur refers to “East and West”, he means the Rangers and the Shire-folk, as those are the only two points of reference he would have outside Bree.
  • The ideas of where the Rangers live is far vaguer than their ideas about the Shire.
  • The Bree-folk might think of the Rangers as something like gypsies; they are referring to the whole people, not just the individual Rangers like Aragorn.
  • “Ranger” is a scornful nickname given to them by the Bree-folk; this carries over to Frodo referring to Strider as “only a Ranger”, an idea he picked up in Bree.
  • Note: Because Dungeons & Dragons took the name “Ranger” and made it a class based on Aragorn, it’s easy to forget that the Rangers in The Lord of the Rings also include their families.
  • We don’t really learn anything about the ways that the Rangers live apart from Aragorn.
  • The other things emphasized about the Rangers is that they are mysterious, and their origins are unknown, and how the Bree-folk view them because of these unknown facts.
  • The Rangers are also looked upon as foreigners due to their different ethnic markers in their looks, which combined with their powers make them strange and unwelcome.
  • Note: It’s important to not confuse these Rangers with those in Ithilen later. By the time that Frodo meets Faramir and his men, his definition of “Ranger” has changed.
  • Do the Bree-folk think of the Rangers similarly to fairies? They seem to attribute to them many qualities of fairies, even if we don’t know if they are true.
  • Can the Rangers actually talk with beasts and birds? We don’t know for sure, but there are precedents in the Beornings and the men of Dale.
  • Note: There is a similarity between the way the Bree-folk view the Rangers and their special powers and the idea of accusing people of witchcraft, though the latter view is primarily a Christian folk belief and might not be applicable here. The Christian view was that anyone with strange powers must have gotten them externally, from either God or the Devil, and if they are otherwise sketchy, they would lean toward the latter. In a pre-Christian society, the idea of a connection to dark powers is a less likely assumption. Also, there might be a third category dealing with Faerie in some way.
  • Do the Bree-folk see the Rangers speaking other languages? Maybe not around Bree, but we learn later that they speak Elvish. We don’t know what their native language is, however.
  • Note: If the Rangers were known for speaking a strange tongue, Tolkien would have said so, given his linguistic influences and interests.
  • The ability to speak to animals might be great for the speaker, but for others this might be seen as strange and uncanny.
  • Bringing news from afar shows their place in the larger world and affects the view of them in the eyes of the Bree-folk.
  • Note: Unlike a culture like the Amish, who are isolated from the world and don’t interact, the Rangers are the opposite, bringing Bree into contact with the bigger world in many senses.
  • We don’t know if there are female “Rangers” in the Bree sense, though we know there are female Dúnedain. We also don’t know if the Bree-folk ever meet female Dúnedain.
  • From the Bree-land perspective, they may or may not think of the Rangers as only men.
  • Would the Bree-folk think it stranger that if only interacted with male Rangers, or if they actually met female Rangers doing the same things as the males?
  • It’s important that the description of the Rangers neither directly states that they are solitary nor all men; it does seem as though the Bree-folk think of the Rangers as a whole culture.
  • If the Bree-folk had only interacted with male Rangers, they might think of that as strange.
  • Note: There are parallels to the culture of the Rangers, but they may or may not be relevant, as we don’t see direct data points in the text. Also, we only really get to know one Ranger – Aragorn himself. We don’t know if he is considered typical or unusual in his culture.
The Hobbits of Bree:
  • It’s important that though the Hobbits came into the Bree-land long after the Bree-men, but also that they chose to join with the Men, unlike the Rangers, who do not integrate.
  • The choice of the Hobbits to build on the side of the hill does not seem to class-based, but rather practical, as they would be able to build their houses into the hill, unlike Men.
  • It’s seems as though the hobbits and the men are not completely mixed; they live separately in their own subcultures, but the two subcultures seem to live in harmony with each other.
  • We are not told anything of the political structure of Bree; we don’t know who is in charge.
  • Minding of one’s own affairs seems to be a part of Bree culture, both on the big and small scale.
  • Butterbur seems to be an important man in the town, but not necessarily a political figure.
  • The arrangement seems to be two parallel societies, that do get along and often intersect.
  • There seems to be a sense that even in communal areas, like the inn, they don’t really mix.
  • The fact that the hobbits and men don’t usually mix may also be a practical thing, as they would have different needs for the size of tables and chairs, for instance.
  • The narrator points out that this kind of cosmopolitanism is unusual in Middle-earth.
END OF SESSION
 

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