Oh, the horror! And to think, I used to like Bombadil.
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Originally Posted by Balfrog
I agree with the following partially:
"There is no basis to specifically infer Bombadil is allegorical to anything by reading the book."
There is more evidence to come in future posts, and I request your patience.
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If you "partially" agree (is that like being half-dead?), what possible new "evidence" could you possibly supply that everyone here already hasn't gone over with a fine-toothed hairy hobbit toes comb? What, is there a secret file marked "TB" in the Marquette Papers? Did a wadded up paper fall out of a book in the Bodleian Library that has the scrawl of an anguished Tolkien admitting, "I DID IT! I MADE AN ALLEGORY! GARN!"
I am too tired to do anything but belabor the points I've already reiterated:
-- Tolkien made the statement, " I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."
-- The reader has the "freedom", as Tolkien put it, to infer just about anything regarding Bombadil.
-- To conclude that Bombadil is an allegory based on selected quotes from Tolkien after the fact, precludes all other quotes that contradict the assumption.
-- Tolkien refers to him on more than one occasion as an "enigma" which, in itself, would preclude an allegory, because allegorizations require an imputed goal, an artifice, to draw the reader to a conclusion the author wishes the reader to make.