Frodo and his ocean dreams

[FoxFire]

Just re-listening to recent podcasts of the class and have gotten to the part wherein Frodo's dream about the ocean is discussed. It was stated that there was no mention that Frodo had been having such dreams since childhood. That triggered in me the thought that perhaps Frodo did have dreams from an early age regarding deep bodies of water, considering the tragic death of his parents.

I can only imagine that their deaths is a scene that would have played on his young mind in his grief. And the water would inspire some fear in Frodo, yet ultimately the will to conquer that fear. He might see the water (the ocean being the biggest embodiment of that) as ominous, dangerous, and yet something whose power is to be respected. What better way to demonstrate the conquering of one's fear of life-threatening bodies of water than to sail upon the ocean.

I don't know if enough has been made of what had to have been a pretty traumatic, mind and life altering event in Frodo's life. The sort of thing one might even seek to keep out of their conscious mind, yet would likely manifest in the subconscious.

By-the-way, during this discussion it was also mentioned how Frodo had remained a bachelor. I wonder if perhaps this did not also have something to do with the death of his parents and so his reluctance to fall in love and become overly close to someone for fear of the pain in losing them.

 

[dietlbomb]

Another possibility about the origin of Frodo's dream is that the images came from Frodo himself. The dream could illustrate an internal struggle. We know that Frodo is terrified of his task and although he hides his emotions well, he is constantly preoccupied with the danger that awaits him. Perhaps the switch in his dream to the unreachable seaside tower is his psyche telling him that there is no way out for him, so he better just wake up and keep walking.

I don't know how much Tolkien liked Freudian analysis (I suspect he hated it). But it was in the air at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if a whiff of Freudianism got into the book.

 

[Jonathan Cassels]

I think it might be valuable to examine how the trauma of losing his parents impacted Frodo's psyche. I can't, off the top of my head, think of any cases where such an impact is apparent, but it would be interesting to try and find subtle signs. However, I don't think Frodo's dreams about water are such a case. I'm pretty confident that the source Frodo's dreams are external, rather than internal.

If the intent here was to establish that Frodo was afraid of water, I think that we would have seen some pay-off at the Brandywine, Withywindle, Bruinen, Gates of Moria, Nimrodel, Anduin, Falls of Rauros, or Dead Marshes. Frodo spends a lot of time around water, and at no point (which I can recall) does he have any unease because of some latent fear of water.

Perhaps we're meant to infer anything at all about Frodo's mental state from these dreams. This particular dream certainly has sections that seem to relate to things about which he would presently be anxious about. But the fact that it's specifically mentioned that he dreams about the sound of the ocean, despite never having heard it, seems designed to convey that this part of the dream is coming from outside himself. It shows that they are not mundane, but a sign of some veiled power taking an interest in Frodo. It's the exact opposite approach which one would take if they were trying to show his internal mental machinations.

Additionally, I can't think of a time when Tolkien has a character motivated by this type of fear (like a phobia). It's a common trope to have a character who experiences trauma, develops a phobia, then has to overcome the fear they never thought they could in order to save the day. But Tolkien never does that to my recollection. Frodo has a fear like that, of Farmer Maggot and his dogs, but that's the only example I can think of -- and it's never really presented as a major obstacle. For the most part, characters are motivated by temptation rather than fear. And where we do see people motivated by fear, such as the soldiers Aragorn sends away as the vanguard marches on Mordor, it's a fear born of facing fearful things properly judged. It's never a "phobia" type of fear, where one is afraid because of their own trauma or experience.

I think there may well be more to be understood in Frodo's dream of the sounds of the ocean. But I'm convinced it's not about his personal psychology.