April Daydream
New Member
So, it has already been a "fantastic" (EXLOTRO, episode 116) journey so far. Some things have occurred to me while I have been catching up that I wanted to write down. Maybe others have insight that might resolve some ideas for me.
1. Is it possible that Frodo's Tookishness is not as dominant as we have assumed? It has occasionally come up from time to time over the course of the current first half of our discussions that Frodo's Tookish inclination to adventure popped out much like Bilbo but I have never really felt he was as Tookish as all that. I was having an Ancestry DNA discussion with my father recently when I was reviewing my results and we were discussing family traits, particularly the habit of Hobbitry in our own family and how some people got it (have the trait and understand) and some people just don't, even if they think they do. The idea came to me that I have always associated Frodo with the Brandybucks: intrepid, doughty, dutiful, enjoyers of the river, blowers of horns, beaters of bounds, etc. I don't deny that he has strong Took genes (witness Farmer Maggot) but I have never felt the lighthearted (not happy with this word) view of life/trouble/adventure that other Tooks seem to exhibit. Rather, I get more of a sense of resignation, duty, strength in adversity, sort of a deep-breath-before-the-nasty-chore feeling than that and I don't know if it is just situational (trade Bilbo's adventure for his own and he'd be just as enthusiastic?) or if this is really a basic character trait that has more in common with his Brandybuck relations.
2. Running naked on the grass in the sun seems to be a very young-childlike thing to do. I am reminded of very young children in my family who cannot seem to keep their clothes on and harried mothers running around picking up miniature socks and other items that seem to miraculously shed from their toddler. I wonder if tapping into the innocence and joy that comes with being so new to the world wasn't what Tom had in mind to banish the last of the desiccation, evil and vengeance of the barrows. I get a strong sensation of trying to rebalance the hobbits who have been too long in the dark and death of the wights.
3.The Hobbits enjoy eating but I have to put out there that we never hear descriptions of elaborate feasting with strange and amazing dishes. In fact, the more we read the more I am convinced that it isn't the food itself so much as simple pleasures: a wholesome breakfast first thing in the morning, mushrooms fresh from someone else's farm, a birthday feast, plain food at the end of a long hike. The passages we read all have as much or more to do with the occasion/situations as the consuming of food. It feels more like the event would be incomplete without eating not that eating is the why of the event. "Oh, it's time for second breakfast" for no more reason than it's time seems wrong.
Thanks!
1. Is it possible that Frodo's Tookishness is not as dominant as we have assumed? It has occasionally come up from time to time over the course of the current first half of our discussions that Frodo's Tookish inclination to adventure popped out much like Bilbo but I have never really felt he was as Tookish as all that. I was having an Ancestry DNA discussion with my father recently when I was reviewing my results and we were discussing family traits, particularly the habit of Hobbitry in our own family and how some people got it (have the trait and understand) and some people just don't, even if they think they do. The idea came to me that I have always associated Frodo with the Brandybucks: intrepid, doughty, dutiful, enjoyers of the river, blowers of horns, beaters of bounds, etc. I don't deny that he has strong Took genes (witness Farmer Maggot) but I have never felt the lighthearted (not happy with this word) view of life/trouble/adventure that other Tooks seem to exhibit. Rather, I get more of a sense of resignation, duty, strength in adversity, sort of a deep-breath-before-the-nasty-chore feeling than that and I don't know if it is just situational (trade Bilbo's adventure for his own and he'd be just as enthusiastic?) or if this is really a basic character trait that has more in common with his Brandybuck relations.
2. Running naked on the grass in the sun seems to be a very young-childlike thing to do. I am reminded of very young children in my family who cannot seem to keep their clothes on and harried mothers running around picking up miniature socks and other items that seem to miraculously shed from their toddler. I wonder if tapping into the innocence and joy that comes with being so new to the world wasn't what Tom had in mind to banish the last of the desiccation, evil and vengeance of the barrows. I get a strong sensation of trying to rebalance the hobbits who have been too long in the dark and death of the wights.
3.The Hobbits enjoy eating but I have to put out there that we never hear descriptions of elaborate feasting with strange and amazing dishes. In fact, the more we read the more I am convinced that it isn't the food itself so much as simple pleasures: a wholesome breakfast first thing in the morning, mushrooms fresh from someone else's farm, a birthday feast, plain food at the end of a long hike. The passages we read all have as much or more to do with the occasion/situations as the consuming of food. It feels more like the event would be incomplete without eating not that eating is the why of the event. "Oh, it's time for second breakfast" for no more reason than it's time seems wrong.
Thanks!