Child - Have you ever read "Childhood's End" by Robert Heinlein? It has been many years since I read it last, (hmmmmm, must go to Amazon after this), but the one thing I remember from the novel is the character who chose not to evolve with the rest of Mankind. He wound up on this planet, living with a race of people who he could not really communicate with, never able to shed his basic humanity. He could not even fit in on the physical plane of this planet, since everyone else on the planet had wings, (how would you cope, living in a city where there was no need for stairs?)
I can see Frodo being in a similar situation on Tol Eressëa if he, too, chose not to evolve. You are right though. "Scholar" was a bad choice of a word. He would be more of a "seeker". And he would change, not so much in mind and body, but in his very fea.
I don't see this as a bad thing at all. Frodo has left the things of Middle-Earth behind. He had certainly left the Shire behind. (Remember his comment about "falling asleep again"?) The only way I could accept the exile of this character from his homeland, is if I believed he not only gained healing in a new land, but an "awakening" as well.
And I would sincerely hope, that after 60 years, Sam would have stepped on that ship not because he wanted to just rehash old times, but because he was ready for a "change" as well.
[ October 17, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]
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