[littlemanpoet]

Wow! It looks as if there's been latent interest in this thread. That's fun!

Sorry to have miscommunicated, Sharon, but I didn't mean to imply that an elvish sensibility as indicative of a childlikeness in Hobbits. Rather, I saw it as yet another quality in some elves, and I mentioned it as an afterthought, actually, not having any proof in mind other than Frodo himself. I agree that an Elvish sensibility does pull Frodo away from other Hobbits, although I'm not sure it pulls him away from his own Hobbitishness, any more than Elvish sensibility pulls Aragorn away from being human.

Sharon, you write poignantly of Frodo's maturation and loss, both his of the Shire, and the Shire's loss of him. Could it be no other way? All that we read suggests that the answer is 'no'. But one thing you said, or perhaps implied, toward the end of your post, was that the Shire itself matured. What matured it? I would say that it was not only the scouring, but the occupation - that is - the subsequent War of the Ring that came home to roost in the Shire. It was on a very small scale compared to the War that ravaged all the rest of Middle Earth, but it served as a microcosm.

The Hobbits did mature. The Gaffer, Old Cotton, and Lobelia are singled out in the scouring.

The Gaffer doesn't look much older, but is deafer; as hardy as ever, and put out over his taters. Frodo reassures him that Sam has done more than well by him, and that things would be put to rights. The Gaffer's completely oblivious to the real goings on, even though Sam has tried to tell him what they've been up to, "chasing Black Men up mountains" and all; and Frodo would have it no other way.

Tom Cotton comes across as a really sensible ally, respectable, and uses that reputation for the good of all. Here's a hobbit of hobbits, and itching to make trouble for the ruffians. You love him for what he is, loyal, smart in a local way, cagey after his fashion, not to mention courageous, willing to face off with the ruffians one on many. Great stuff, that!

Lobelia's moment is the most poignant. She has been a thorn in Frodo's and Bilbo's side, but being a prisoner and the word having got around that she had stood up to the ruffians in hobbity subbornness, made her popular. In reading over the little passage, I was astounded to see that there was no dialogue - the story was simply related in a brief and touching way - and it's not even in the scouring chapter!

Each character makes up part of the community. Each one relates to Frodo directly in his or her way. He has an immediate impact on all three; in fact, he has an impact on the entire community, right away. Sure, Sam, Pippin and Merry are the heroic acting ones, but Frodo is the leader. The Shire hobbits all must notice it, since Merry, Pippin, and Sam all look to him for final word. Most importantly, he kept needless violence from occurring, thereby in a very subtle way allowing we don't know how many hobbits to remain good instead of having done something they would be sorry to remember.

davem, I don't think LotR is all about "being grown up versus being a child". It's way too simplistic. I would say LotR has aspects of childhood, but that's not what it's about. It's about death and deathlessness; remember that thread? I go back to LotR for the same reason I go back to other works of fiction (and I'll be going back to Orson Scott Card novels now for the same reason), which is that the story has touched me deeply, in ways that one cannot pick apart with the finest analytical tools.

Think of Tolkien's closing comments in On Fairy-Stories: he points to the Christian gospel as the one fairy-story that turns out to be true. That is his belief.

It is not difficult to imagine the peculiar excitement and joy that one would feel, if any specially beautiful fairy-story were found to be "primarily" true, its narrative to be history, without thereby necessarily losing the mythical or allegorical significance that it had possessed. ... The joy would have exactly the same quality, if not the same degree, as the joy which the "turn" [eucatastrophe] in a fairy-story gives: such joy has the very taste of primary truth.

I think primary truth means the same thing as Reality.

So the joy that Tolkien and Lewis (and all the Inklings) speak of is not the nostalgic joy of childhood, but the joy in recogonizing that that which is real, is good, and not merely good, but the best good. Any parent would want this for her child. Any human wants this for himself. Every community that is a real community, wants this for itself.

... little things and ordinary people are worth fighting for...

Mithalwen, that was an excellent statement. I agree with your take on the Shire as insular (pardon the pun to Britain!) and Bree as a kind of port town. I think it's important to note that an overthrow of the Thain and Master are not even remotely considered. The Mayor, Thain, and Master become equals during the reigns of the three friends, each having authority in their own spheres. It really is a strange system of government, very like the organic growth of government in Europe during the middle ages, toward one thing in one place, another in another place. The difference is that the three realms of the Shire were healthy and well-functioning and not feeling threatened in the least by the other two. Just an afterthought, that, and deserving of its own thread!