[Child of the 7th Age]

So, although Frodo's psychological struggle is interesting, it could, I think, have been portrayed with greater depth. Perhaps Tolkien wanted to leave the details of what was going on in Frodo's head to our imaginations. Any thoughts?

Regarding Frodo... I have thought about this for some time, long before this thread went up. Tolkien's treatment of Sam and Frodo are so different in this regard that I do not think it could have been unintentional.

With Sam, we know exactly what he was thinking when he decided to leave his master and put on the ring. We even have glimpses into his dreams where he remembers swimming in the Shire and thinks wistfully of Rose. With Frodo, it is very different. A certain amount is revealed to us, but so much more is purposely hidden. We know little of Frodo's dreams other than those which point towards his future doom in sailing to the West. Just look at the masterful passage at the Council of Elrond where Frodo elected to take up the Ring. Something of Frodo's thoughts are revealed, but much more is purposely couched in mystery.

No one answered. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. Frodo glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him. All the Council sat with downcast eyes as if in deep thought. A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.

"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."

If we study this passage closely, I think it gives us a hint as to why Tolkien did not let us see much inside Frodo's head. This is particularly true if we read this section in the light of a letter that Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher in 1944 while he was in the midst of writing:

Cert. Sam is the most closely drawn characer, the successor to Bilbo of the first book, the genuine hobbit. Frodo is not so interesting, because he has to be highminded, and has (as it were) a vocation. The book will prob. end up with Sam. Frodo will naturally become too ennobled and rarified by the achievement of the great Quest, and will pass West with all the great figures, but S. will settled down to the Shire and gardens and Inns.

Tolkien's approach to the two characters was different then. As a mortal man, Tolkien could understand gardens and Inns and get into the head of a character whose basic orientation is in the Shire. But Frodo is in a different situation altogether. He has become a part of high and serious matters. And Tolkien is a humble enough writer to acknowlege that some things were truly beyond his knowing.

Just look at the words Tolkien uses to describe what Frodo is thinking at the Council of Elrond. It is as if Frodo has one foot in the Shire and the other in lands and mysteries that go back to ancient times. Words like "doom" and "dread" are not ones easily applied to hobbits, or even to your average man. I can not imagine such terms referring to Sam or Merry or Pippin. Phrase such as these as well as the reference to a mysterious voice speaking through the hobbit suggest that Frodo has slipped over the edge of what is normal and commonplace, becoming part of the older tales as represented in the Silm.

Just what was that voice speaking through Frodo? Perhaps Manwe, or Eru, or simply the voice of doom...? I'm not sure that Tolkien even knew for sure, any more than he knew whether Frodo would find healing in the Blessed Lands. Frodo's character is steeped in mystery for precisely that reason. How could Tolkien have known what went on inside Frodo since the hobbit was fighting the ultimate evil. Such things are not for mortals to know so we can only catch brief glimpses of what is going on.

As Tolkien indicated in another of his letters, Frodo was presented with a situation that was beyond the ken of any mortal (and even beyond that of a maia like Gandalf!). There was no way that he could succeed. It is precisely in situations like these that the author discreetly draws down the silver veil of mist so that we are left with wonder and mystery. For the same reason, we come to the end of the tale and are granted only a tiny glimpse of the white shores and far green country of the West. No explanation or psychological reason is possible or even desirable in such situations. The everyday has been swept away with something much grander and more mysterious coming to take its place.

Most modern literature assumes that, if we could only get inside a character's head, we would understand their actions, why they act in a certain way. With Tolkien, it is different. Psychology and internal characterization take second place to preserving a sense of wonder and awe. Most moderns believe that psychology can be used to ferret out the truth. Tolkien was not blind to such things, but for him it was a side issue. The truth at the core of the universe lay in myth -- both the real and the subcreated. So when Frodo becomes caught up in an ancient myth, it is more important for us to sense that wonder, his place in the mythological framework, rather than to have all his individual actions and thoughts explained.

I think it's precisely for this reason than many readers have difficulty with the character of Frodo. They are used to characterization and internal struggles being spelled out in modern stories. These are the same folk who complain that Frodo didn't pull his weight, relied too heavily on Sam, or was a "failure" because of what happened on the slopes of Mount Doom. They simply fail to see a struggle that is depicted in mythological rather than psychological terms.

There is a second reason that may come into play here. At least in theory, Frodo is the one setting the tale down on paper after he returns from the Quest. We all know there are many problems with this framing device. Many folk would have had to confide to Frodo numerous details about what happened to them during the course of the War, and even Sam would have had to reveal his private musings, since Frodo could not have read his mind.

Still, we can not totally disregard the author's contention that the tale was set down on paper by Frodo in the Red Book. The lack of internal characterization would be a logical extension of this, since Frodo would not have been privy to others' private thoughts unless they had cared to reveal them. Even more critically, would a naturally reticent hobbit who was still engaged in an overwhelming spiritual and emotional struggle reveal everything that had gone on inside his head during the Quest? Obviously not. So this is a second reason that helps to explain why we are not privy to Frodo's personal reflections.

Either way we consider the issue, it is clear that much went on inside Frodo that is intentionally hidden from us.

[ November 22, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]