[Child of the 7th Age]

OK, here comes the inevitable question which I almost hate to raise. To what extent was this pattern Tolkien's subconsious response to the loss of his own mother, a situation which he felt particularly bitter about since he blamed the rest of the family for their resistence to her Catholic conversion and their subsequent refusal to supply needed financial support. This loss was a pivotal point in his childhood, since from then on he was shunted from one barely tolerable living situation to another.

Yes, I know he lost his father too, but that was at a younger age, and his father was then far across the sea. She is the one who made the biggest impact on his childhood and in determining his religious faith. She even homeschooled him and got him started on the path of learning ancient languages. Since the mother figure was personally so much more important to him than the father figure, perhaps his characters have to deal with that loss in some way in order to break through to adulthood. His own personal breakthrough to adulthood--falling in love with Edith at the age of sixteen, I believe, in defiance of his guardian's wishes--certainly had to be related to that same loss of a mother. (As an illegitimate daughter, Edith's situation was also that of an "orphan") Don't know for sure, but just a thought that something personal could be involved here. sharon, the 7th age hobbit

p.s. Speaking of murder and mayhem, what do you make of Sandyman's charge that Primula pushed her husband Drogo into the water from the boat, and then he pulled her in after him? Just hobbits being their normal gossipy selves about anyone from outside Hobbiton? Of course, the loyal Gaffer reproved Sandyman about his wagging tongue in the next line, but Gaffer did have the Baggins family interests to defend. Altogether, not a very hobbitlike way to get rid of a mother!

[ April 18, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]