Tony Meade
Active Member
SESSION 46
On Sam’s use of the title “Master”:
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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