[Child of the 7th Age]

Helen -- LOL --Just had a look at your earlier posting. Didn't see it cause I was slowly doing this post. I will think about te question, but probably won't get back till Sunday. Hope someone else has some ideas on this too.

Here are additonal ideas on the book Frodo and his relation with Bilbo and Sam.

Chapter 2, "The Shadow of the Past" gives a clear list of Frodo's close friends--Folco, Fredegar, Pippin, and Merry. Sam isn't even mentioned.

Sam started out with Frodo in a master/servant relationship. We, in this country, have a hard time visualizing this because it is not really part of our heritage. Sense of class and class differences were much more pronounced in Britain, especially in Tolkien's day. Even in contemporary English society, these things still linger on in a way that is different from our own society.

I, myself, was a "nanny" and all round housemaid to a family in Kent, if only for a few months. So I had some first hand experience with this, at least on the servant end. (I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life!!) My whole focus was the family, but in a definitely deferential role,

When I attended University over there for one year and later did research for a doctoral dissertation, people were always surprised to learn that my own father was a factory worker, and my grandfather was a miner from Cornwall. There were some academics in that situation, but it was definitely more rare than in the U.S. All this happened some 25-30 years ago; it may well be different today.

Sam's close relationship with Frodo really developed on the Ring quest, especially as the two made their way alone across Mordor. It's true that Sam still maintained his formal address, "Mr. Frodo", but it's also obvious that their friendship had gone far beyond any superficial class differences.

You know, Frodo had so many terrible things happen to him in the LotR. He was broken down in such a way that he could only find healing in the West, or perhaps even beyond the circles of the world. So it is kind of nice to think that the one personally positive thing he did achieve on that journey was his wonderful friendship and closeness with Sam.

Despite this strong friendship with Sam, the author stated in Letter 246 in 1963 that "Bilbo was the person that Frodo most loved." Helen mentioned the first time in Rivendell when Frodo said "I would raher see him (i.e. Bilbo) than all the towers and palaces in the world."

Returning from the quest in "Many Partings", Frodo said he wanted to journey to Rivendell: "For if there could be anything wanting in a time so blessed, I missed Bilbo..." Frodo then begged "leave to depart soon." Again he repeated, "I am going to Rivendell first, whatever happens."

It's easy to lose sight of Frodo's love for Bilbo. Most of it takes place between the Hobbit and the LotR, so we don't even have a written record of how this relationship grew. But it's clear that those 12 years, from when Frodo was adoped at age 21 and then up to his birthday at age 33, were obviously critical to his education as well as his feelings for Bilbo.

Again, the movie Frodo gives very little hint of this, not because of any failure on PJ's part, but because the actual events occurred before the beginning of the film.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[ June 14, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]