Quote:
Originally Posted by Nazgūl-king
Ok, lets start with the characters Merry and Pippin! Here are some questions to get us started:
1. How do you think the relationship between Merry and Pippin has grown throughout the course of the story?
3. How do you think their being separated (with Merry in Rohan and Pippin at Gondor) effected their characters development?
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Hmm. You really sound like my English Lit professor, but tis ok, I love my course anyway.
Merry and Pippin have been close since the beginning of the book. They conspired with Sam, remember, to find out the whatnots about Frodo and Bilbo? It seems to me that Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Fatty were like a little clique (for want of better term, the thing I wish to use is barkada in my language), but as they needed someone to remain behind in Crickhollow, and since Fatty (who as far as Tolkien was concerned not related to the big powerful families. Tolkien was quite fond of telling stories of the high-and-mighty, generally speaking, wasn't he?)
They show quite a lot of loyalty to Frodo, even at the darkest moments. But it stroked me as a sort of naivety--remember the mushrooms and the bathroom songs? They were fond of their weird cousin Frodo, and more so of the weirder cousin Bilbo. When the Black Riders came, it was a sort of instinct of fear and flight, but good thing they for all their childish naivety held on to their wits.
Skipping this to the Council of Elrond, Gandalf saw, or took a risk anyway, that these two "blokes" would mature--kinda like the risk he took when he persuaded Thorin take Bilbo in The Hobbit. For one, I do not think it was too big a risk that Gandalf took, since when he appeared as Gandalf the White to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, he said something "Their coming is like the falling of little rocks that starts an avalanche." But as aforementioned, even with Treebeard in Isengard they were still childish, especially Pippin with the Palantir.
Now this Palantir incident at the movie, which was a good addition, we see that Merry had at the time more maturity, so to speak, when he asked "Why do you always have to look?" Jackson may have added this to have Merry as a sort of foil for childish Pippin, who had already asserted his childishness in the FotR movie when he played with the arrow in the skeleton that fell, that caused the goblins in Moria to learn of the intruders' presence.
But at the book, he is maybe just like Pippin:
"'A beautiful, restful night!' said Merry to Aragorn. 'Some folk have wonderful luck. He did not want to sleep, and he wanted to ride with Gandalf--and there he goes! Instead of being turned into a stone himself to stand here for ever as a warning.'
"'If you had been the first to lift the Orthanc stone, and not he, how would it be now?' said Aragorn. 'You might have done worse. Who can say?..."
When they parted, Merry left at Rohan and Pippin at Minas Tirith, they both get a sort of whack-on-the-head that the world was not just fun and games. The threats, the Wizard business that they thought were matters of play, they suddenly were torn from their shells.
There was a good point, a good reason, why Theoden wanted Merry to remain behind. He saw the child in Merry, although he did not realize that Merry was clamoring to be treated as a grown-up. When Eowyn, who also is a character who "has to grow up" (but this is debatable, if we do Feminism). So jumping, we can say that during the ride and the battle Merry was suddenly faced, with another character who thought that war is just another game, with the terrible harshness of war. And not just the orcs, he was suddenly with the number-two evil, the Witch king.
Well, to simplify things Tolkien wanted his heroes to win, and Eowyn and Merry, who both had their epiphanies during and after the battle at Pelennor, survived. Eowyn's case is interesting, but let's just leave that at that.
Pippin now. The Palantir incident, and meeting Denethor and putting up with his madness, this contributed to his awakening that he had such potential. He didn't even understand the subtle political strife between Aragorn and Denethor! The meeting with Beregond and Beregond's son provides him company, and if you allow, some fun. A sort of consuelo for the absence of his dear friend Merry.
But even a child will recognize the folly that Denethor's madness implied when he tried to burn Faramir alive. He is jolted to life, faced with a madman, a madman with authority, and he jumps to Gandalf for help, since he knows that he has no power over Denethor. I think it is at this point that Pippin understand the gravity of the whole War of the Ring business, now that he has no more idle time for his fun and games, now that there is no more Merry with whom he cannot laugh.
Ahh, my analysis ends here, I have another paper to do. Adios!