LotR -- Book 4 - Chapter 05 - The Window on the West

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

One thing I find moving is the "standing silence" facing the West.

That is certainly a lovely detail. But I find it odd that Faramir asks the hobbits if they have a similar custom, and Frodo should feel ashamed not to. It's like asking someone from a different country if they celebrate your national holidays. Why would hobbits look to Numenor? Is this a bit of Numenorian cultural egocentrism seeping through even in a humble and open man like Faramir? Or was he asking in more general terms - is there a daily custom to connect people to their roots and their past.

Hobbits treat their past differently from Numenorians. It is there to be used, not silently commemorated. Their heroes and celebrities are selected by different criteria. Hobbit fame comes from being useful. Everyone honours Old Toby every time they smoke a pipe, yet harvesting pipeweed can hardly be called a great deed by Numenorian standards, nor smoking a way to honour an achievement. Frodo is a weirdo while Merry and Pippin are heroes of great renown, because Merry and Pippin look flashy and throw good parties and that's what people will tell stories about and imitate. Frodo's example just wasn't really applicable to the hobbits of the near future, and hobbits honour by applying. That is in contrast to Numenorians and their like, who would doubtless remember Merry and Pippin as catalysts in the War and probably would have some personal stories to tell about them, but will always give the greater honours to Frodo and Sam.

So I don't think it's uncouth of hobbits to lack a custom like this. Hobbits don't silently reflect on the distant past, just like Numenorians don't honour their gardeners while eating their fruit. Though I suppose an ideally balanced culture would have an element of both.