Jim Deutch
Well-Known Member
Corey postulates a pattern in the use of Pippin's full name vs. his nickname, especially in the case of mention by the narrator, and even more especially in the case of mention by the various postulated narrators and authors and translators/transcribers such as Frodo, Sam, Gondorian scribes, etcetera. Similarly for the other hobbits.
I suspect a full statistical analysis ain't gonna happen. At least not unless I can get a plain-text copy of the book and can write my own search algorithms. It's just too big a job. In the whole book including the table of contents and the appendices, I find:
Name Number of occurrences
Peregrin 68
Pippin 689
Meriadoc 47
Merry 600 (includes "they were a merry folk" etc.)
Samwise 66
Sam 1,266
While examining each of these and determining which are narration vs. dialog and who the narrator seems to be for each one would be a huge task, I think it's quite clear who's the most important Hobbit in the book!
Frodo, by the way, gets 2,017 occurrences and Bilbo 385, with 1,180 for Gandalf: he's almost up there with Sam! Strider is only 235 and Aragorn 814, which surprised me a bit, since he's pretty much always Strider to the Hobbits.
I suspect a full statistical analysis ain't gonna happen. At least not unless I can get a plain-text copy of the book and can write my own search algorithms. It's just too big a job. In the whole book including the table of contents and the appendices, I find:
Name Number of occurrences
Peregrin 68
Pippin 689
Meriadoc 47
Merry 600 (includes "they were a merry folk" etc.)
Samwise 66
Sam 1,266
While examining each of these and determining which are narration vs. dialog and who the narrator seems to be for each one would be a huge task, I think it's quite clear who's the most important Hobbit in the book!
Frodo, by the way, gets 2,017 occurrences and Bilbo 385, with 1,180 for Gandalf: he's almost up there with Sam! Strider is only 235 and Aragorn 814, which surprised me a bit, since he's pretty much always Strider to the Hobbits.