Quote:
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His relatives and neighbours lost the chance of a funeral, and they had a good deal to say.
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I wonder what this implies about Hobbit funerals. Were they 'wakes'? Were they highly organised events - like Birthday parties. If not, why were the hobbits annoyed at having missed Bilbo's? Of course, this tells us nothing about what happened to the body.
Of course, it could be that funerals were solemn events which were felt to be 'the proper thing'. It may have been another example of Bilbo 'letting the side down' - or rather Bingo letting the side down. These little asides are interesting because of what they reveal about Hobbit culture, & about Tolkien's heroes in particular. Clearly this aside was intended to convey something about the two hero's attitude to the mores of the Shire, & show how different they were. A funeral
should have been held for Bilbo, but
wasn't, & the other Hobbits didn't approve.
I suppose this is another thing that 'ain't there & ought to be' - not in the sense that Tolkien has missed something out, but in the sense that his heroes have a tendency to miss things out. Perhaps its an example of Tolkien's own 'Hobbitry'.
One could perhaps say that our esteemed
LmP has lost
his chance of graveyards in the Shire & has had a good deal to say about it
