[Child of the 7th Age]

Mark --

Just a quick response before I have to go prepare dinner for a whole troop of hungry hobbits (at least they eat like hobbits!).

Yes, I am sure that shell shock was known to Tolkien. And some of what Frodo went through must have been similar.

My problem is more with the terminology in the article than anything else. Once you start using modern psychological terms, I feel it influences the way we look at things. I would rather think of analogies from ancient epics or from the middle ages. I still think it's closer to the spirit of the work.

But the main problem I have with the article isn't even the terminology--it's that the author thinks in one-dimensional terms. She focuses on elements of despair and explores these thoroughly. Nowhere is there any treatment of Frodo's visions, longing for the Sea, his Elven look, etc. or of the implications of the passage from one age to another. I think these are pertinent to any understanding of why Frodo sailed from Grey Havens.

Believe me, I totally sympathize with your dilemma about Frodo. Intellectually, I feel I've come to the point that I can see many things pointing Frodo towards the Blessed Lands in addition to the element of hurting.

Remember, Tolkien said it was both a Purgatory and a reward. A reward makes no sense unless the person getting it can have some appreciation of what he or she is getting. And I think Frodo was at the point in his life and had grown enough that he could begin to appreciate what Tol Eressea offered.

Emotionally, from my point of view at least, that is a different story. I'm out there holding on to the back of the ship and trying to pull it back to the shores of Middle-earth. I don't want him to leave. I can keep better track of him here, and I understand the joys of being an honorary uncle to Sam's kids.

The Elves are different--we all know they are supposed to leave at the end of the third age so we can accept that as part of a bigger picture. Bilbo and Sam--they only come after living a full, long life on earth.

So. once again, Frodo is different. He is relatively young --53, with a normal life expectancy of 100 or more. He still has half of his life to live and he doesn't fit any of the usual categories. Plus, he's the only one leaving in a state of intermittent but acute suffering. We just want to know he is going to be alright! We worry about whether he's going to be lonely since, after Bilbo choses to go on, Frodo will be the only hobbit there till Sam comes.

Of course, we need to remember that the passage of time in the West may be totally different than Middle-earth--just look at Lorien.

I still think our ambivalent feelings have a lot to do with the fact that we are mortal creatures and feel much more comfortable with the concrete joys of everyday life rather than some distant, unknown land where the rewards seem to be, for want of a better term, spiritual. I simply can't imagine what such a place would be like. But I do think Tolkien gives us a tiny glimpse with that first description of the distant shore which Frodo sees --the same description that we had in his earlier dream in Tom's house. We have to remember that it is likely Frodo will live as many or more years in Elvenhome as he lived in the Shire. That's a lot of time for learning and growing and exploring.

There is just no easy answer on this one, I think. I know Tolkien said he worried about Galadriel after her voyage to the West. Well, here I sit and worry about Frodo.....a fictional character. Go figure!!

But the possibilities are amazing. I have recently been reading the Osanwe-Kenta essay which describes mind-to-mind communication. There are even examples of this among the Elves and Gandalf in Middle-earth. The essay states that Osanwe-kenta was far more prevelent in Arda unmarred which means it would have happened in the West with much greater frequency. And it also says all incarnates are capable of doing this --men, hobbits, etc., although it's more difficult for them than Elves, Maiar, Valar, etc.

So, in my mind's eye, I have Frodo learning to communicate like this while in the West. After all, he was able to receive Gandalf's warning to him while he had the Ring on. And he was an unusual hobbit. So you just never know; the West could have been a most amazing place, even by our standards!

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[ May 31, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]