Tony Meade
Active Member
SESSION 55
Comment Strider’s rascal character:
Comment Strider’s rascal character:
- Strider may be being more rascally in his explanations in order to force the hobbits to pay attention to what he is saying. In this dangerous situation, it would be easy to gloss over details.
- By making the hobbits defensive, they force him to give explanations that they will hear.
- Because of Strider’s cultivated reputation, it would be difficult for him to open by being earnest and helpful, as they would mistrust that.
- By bringing them along slowly, he gives the hobbits a chance to change their view of him slowly and naturally, while also keeping his own identity hidden.
- Strider allows them to set a test that he can pass, leading them to trusting more organically.
- Note: There remains the possibility that Strider is conning them, as all of these techniques would be used by a cunning conman to gain trust. The hobbits will not truly know that Strider is trustworthy until it is proven later. At this point, can only choose to trust him.
- Sam turns Strider’s words back on him, advising that Strider would be saying exactly these things if he was a conman. Sam sees the simplest solution as Strider being a threat.
- Sam is the one who has fooled Frodo in the past, so he knows of Frodo’s naivete.
- Part of Sam’s caution is a general suspicion of strangers coming from his upbringing in the Shire.
- Sam speaks very similarly to his father, the Gaffer, in the way he speaks about strangers.
- Note: The capitalization of the “Wild” denotes the concept or general region of unknown territory. It is similar to “here there be dragons”, except in this case it is literal.
- In this way, Sam is not only speaking for the mainstream view of Shire hobbits, but he has also heard Bilbo’s stories, and so he knows specifics about what lies outside of the Shire.
- The legendary stories that Sam has heard also are negative toward people who live in the wild.
- Even within the Shire, the bounders have had problems with strangers on their borders, and the Bree-folk have had issues with ruffians about. So, his mistrust in not unfounded in reality.
- For Sam, Strider’s revelations of knowledge are not a reason to trust him. He feels Strider knows more than he should about a stranger’s business.
- There is a difference in the way Sam and Frodo. Sam is reacting with hobbit sense, but Frodo is responding to something else, which is more like instinct.
- Frodo does not contradict Sam. He agrees with him in principle, but his sense of Strider beyond his appearances makes him give Strider an opportunity to answer Sam’s concerns.
- Frodo’s reference to Strider’s voice changing clearly refers to his accent changing. This isn’t a slip by Strider, but rather drops it as a part of the subtle change to bring Frodo along.
- Note: It’s possible that the moment of Strider’s accent change is when he says “Excellent!”, as this would be out of the norm for the Bree-folk.
- It’s possible that Frodo is also having a recognition of one Elf-friend by another, as Strider has already been described in a way that shows he stands out from the other Men.
- The fact that Frodo can sense that Strider is wearing a disguise should be a bad thing, unless he senses that what is hidden underneath is good, even though he can’t see it physically.
- Frodo has already shown himself being drawn to Strider by seeking him out after the Ring incident in the common room.
- Note: There is a consistent theme of reason, while good, having limits in decision-making. Sam’s suspicions are entirely sensible, but it is Frodo’s feelings that tell him otherwise. We will see other examples of people making decisions that go against logic but based on other feelings.
- Frodo does not let Strider off the hook, though, and presses him to explain his need for disguise.
- It’s interesting that Frodo has asked the same question to Strider that he asked of Tom Bombadil: “Who are you?” In Tom’s case, there was no good answer to that question.
- Strider is placed in a similar dilemma, as he cannot answer without giving information that would still not prove that he is trustworthy.
- Ironically, Tom has actually answered the question of Strider’s identity in his enchanted visions.
- Another issue is that Frodo has also been concealing his name, so trust issues abound.
- Note: It seems likely, from the evidence in the text and circumstantially, that Strider knows Tom Bombadil, and that Tom knew the hobbits would meet Strider soon.
- Strider makes it clear that nothing he reveals to them will give them absolute proof of his trustworthiness, so they will have to decide without it.
- The mention of Rivendell is telling, because the hobbits had not mentioned it themselves.
- Rivendell is a secret, and no hobbits have places to travel beyond Bree. Elrond says that he’d never met a hobbit aside from Bilbo, so there’s no reason to guess that they are heading there.
- Strider openly acknowledges the dilemma that the hobbits face in choosing to accept his help.
- Strider’s accusation of Frodo’s wavering seems harsh, but he only saying that certainty is not something that they can wait for in order to decide. He also stops wavering himself.
- Note: There is a pattern of Aragorn’s deliberation about decision-making and models many methods of decision-making throughout the story.