Well certainly Tolkien's style, or perspective changes. I think it's all a ploy to get the readers more involved into his story. It's used to get the readers to be able to connect with the characters more. We get to see the workings of their mind so to say. It's not simply someone telling us...'Frodo is fully of Pity and Mercy' it's seeing through Frodo's mind, and having us figure out through Frodo's own actions and words that we see this.
There are two authors that I can think of who have done this before. There is William Faulkner's
As I lay Dying. Where a mother of a twisted and dysfunctional family has died, and Faulkner every chapter switches to another family members (or sometimes a neighbor's) point of view. This way we get to relate and connect with the character, as we get to see how their mind ticks. It's more of a personal connection...to put it that way.
Then there's Charlotte Bronte's
Jane Eyre, which starts out in Jane's early childhood and it's narrated by the author. Then by the middle part switches over to Jane's husband, Rochester's point of view. Finally the end of the book, Jane had been locked up in this room, she has lost all sanity, and we see things through the insane Jane Eyre's eyes.
Those some that I'm aware of, and it's an effective device author's use so the readers can connect more with the character's.
Quote:
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And what of the impact on the heroes of approaching the story as an oral tale rather than a written novel? Does it indeed move us away from Individual Heroes toward heroic individuals in a community?~Fordim
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I'm sure this would fit well in the
True Hero: Frodo or Samwise? thread.
Whether either of them (or anyone in Tolkien for that matter) was a true 'hero' or just your average joe with heroic qualities.