LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 04 – A Short Cut to Mushrooms

[Boromir88]

Bethberry said:

Their hospitality, nay, even more, their courage and active support, says much positive to me about The Shire.

No doubt, it is good to see friendly hobbits such as Farmer Cotton, Gaffer Gamgee, and the Cotton family. They all help out Frodo in some way, by standing up to the Black Riders, by just bringing him in and giving him some food and rest, or other reasons. This would no doubt be the good of the shire, but where there's a good there's always a bad.

The Sackville-Bagginses and Ted Sandyman quickly come to mind as the "bad" of the Shire. Also, you have the people of Hobbiton and Michel Delving thinking the Bucklanders/Marish hobbits are queer. Then the Hobbits of Buckland and The Marish thinking the Hobbiton hobbits are queer. All around you have most hobbits thinking Bilbo as queer. Bilbo is one of the few hobbits I respect since he actually got off his butt and did something. You sense a lot of dislike amongst the people in the Shire, if you think of other races there isn't so much dislike. The men of Dale and the dwarves of Erebor had a strong relationship. All the elves helped eachother out, Elrond and Galadriel bot in their own ways helped the fellowship, Celeborn helped Thranduil. Most of the Men of Gondor were united. There were some people who didn't like eachother I know some of the men were jealous of the dwarves riches, and of course the dislike between the dwarves and elves. The Hobbits seem to me as more disconnected, these people don't like these from another area, all the hobbits think down upon the ones that actually go away and help the world (Frodo, Sam, Bilbo..etc). Hobbits are just a race I can't like too much besides Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pip, the Took household, Bilbo, Farmer Cotton and Maggot.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I admit that this is a pretty slight chapter – one of the least momentous in the book, and yet it has always been one of my favourites. The stouthearted Maggot is a wonderful character, and a ‘type’ of folk the likes of which it has been my very good fortune to know in real life (having grown up around farmers).

There are three points in this chapter that I would like to point out, in addition to those already mentioned.

A long-drawn wail came down the wind, like the cry of some evil and lonely creature.

This particular sentence has never really leaped out at me before, but after the discussions in the Monster thread I could not help but notice the part about the Wraith as being “evil and lonely.” It’s an odd sentiment I think; there is here at one and the same time fear of the Rider and a kind of sympathy for him/it. The “cry” of the “creature” is a “wail”: very sad. And then to respond to the cry with a recognition of loneliness, just as the hobbits are about to go into Maggot’s house to enjoy his hospitality. . .well, it almost makes me feel sorry for the Nazgûl!

Frodo’s memory of having been chased by Maggot’s dogs “all the way to the Ferry” introduces an interesting contrast between the everyday ‘dangers’ of the Shire and the new dangers that have invaded it (and that are now chasing Frodo right to the Ferry!). I don’t think that there’s any kind of Maggot-Nazgûl comparison (although maggots do eat carrion… ) but it is interesting that Frodo here is reflecting on the greatest fear of his innocent youth as he is simultaneously confronting the terror that will be his future.

That last point is about Mrs Maggot:

His wife stood in the light of the open door.

The association between women, light and the safety of home is a big and recurring theme in the book, and here we see it for the first time. Mrs Maggot has welcomed the hobbits and given them shelter, and like Galadriel later on, she sees them off upon the next dangerous leg of their journey after having given them marvellous food, and some good advice (“‘Don’t go arguing with any foreigners and come straight back!’” ). Again, I don’t think that I can make much of a Mrs. Maggot/Galadriel argument, but the foreshadowing is there, I think.

It’s significant that it comes here, too, as this is the hobbits’ departure from the Shire-proper. Yes, they are still in hobbit-lands, but as soon as they cross the River they are out of their homeland and on the (settled) edge of the Wild. I find it compelling that it is a woman who sees them off and provides them with the supplies they need for the journey…

EDIT

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Hobbits are just a race I can't like too much besides Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pip, the Took household, Bilbo, Farmer Cotton and Maggot.

You do of course realise, B88, that those are pretty much the only hobbits you get to really know in the course of the book: perhaps if we know more about the other hobbits we would like them just as much! (Well, maybe not Lobelia and Otho. . . )

[Estelyn Telcontar]

women, light and the safety of home

I think Goldberry would be an even more direct comparison to Mrs. Maggot, Fordim. She is heard, not seen before they enter the lighted threshold - perhaps a connecting link between the Hobbit woman and the Elven ruler, slightly more distant in character and race but not yet wholly strange. We'll discuss that more when the Hobbits get there, but I did want to mention it in this connection.

[HerenIstarion]

In the light of recent development of the thread, it may be advisable to take a glance at the following:

Farmer Maggot and Tom Bombadil

and

Bombadil's reference to Farmer Maggot

cheers

[davem]

Any significance in the fact that this chapter begins with Frodo waking up? On his return to the Shire he tells Merry that its 'like falling asleep again'. The last chapter ended with Frodo falling into a dreamless sleep. Its like a threshold has been crossed by Frodo's falling asleep, yet in a sense he's actually 'waking up'. His life in the Shire is the 'dream' from which he awakens into the wide world, & at the end he falls asleep again.

I find it strange in a way - the Shire is our mundane world, the world we live our lives in. Middle earth is a fantastical realm of Elves & wizards & monsters. Yet through Frodo Tolkien seems almost to be saying that the Shire is the dreamworld & Faerie is true waking reality. The hobbits who go off & have adventures are the ones who 'wake up' from the collective dream of the Shire. And its a wizard, in Bilbo & Frodo's case (& as Bilbo mentions at the beginning of the Hobbit its also Gandalf who inspires other hobbits to run off & have adventures) who begins it all. Gandalf is the 'awakener', the one who arouses people to go & live life & have adventures, & do important things, meaningful things. He seems to spend a lot of his time waking people up - Theoden springs to mind - or trying to - Denethor.

Perhaps this chapter & the last are where it all begins, the 'transition phase' - the last one had Black riders & Elves, but the Black Riders were almost like nightmares, & the Elves like a waking dream, like images which float through the mind just before we fall asleep, or fully wake up - which is what Frodo does at the end of the last chapter. Now he is waking up, & the things which previously were dreams (good & bad) become increasingly real. In the first chapter Frodo had dreamed (though its not mentioned that he had these dreams while asleep (because he was always asleep in the Shire?)) of 'crossing the River one day'. At the end of this chapter he's at the edge of that river, about to cross it & 'wake up' fully on the other side.

H-I Thanks for those links. I think Child's reference to Tolkien's original conception of Maggot as being not a hobbit, but a creature like Tom ties in well with Estelyn's comparison of Mrs Maggot/Goldberry. So, we'd have Farmer & Mrs Maggot symbolising the ordered, 'domesticated' life, & Tom Goldberry the more natural life in the wild wood, but both couples would in a sense be 'archetypes' - well, in the early drafts Tom does call himself an 'aborigine'. I can't help feeling that there is some underlying symbolism of these 'archetypal' couples running beneath the surface of LotR.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

A long-drawn wail came down the wind, like the cry of some evil and lonely creature.

This is reminiscent of Morgoth's cry in Lammoth to me, like a thin echo of it, if you’ll pardon the pun. The mention of the word ‘lonely’ also stands in great contrast to the Maggots welcoming the hobbits into their house. What is the Wraith lonely for? For the ring? Is there I reason why Tolkien chose this word over another besides the sound it conjures in the mind?

This conversation has brought up two things that inspire fear in Frodo. But one, the lesser, has been brought upon himself by his own misdeeds, and he is forgiven. The other is more or less inherited along with the ring, and yet turns out to pose the more dire and persistent threat. It is larger than himself.

[The Saucepan Man]

I haven't finished reading the chapter yet ( ), but I thought that I'd jump in here because the description of the Black Rider's wail stood out for me as well.

What is the Wraith lonely for?

It seems to me that this perfectly portrays the Ringwraiths' existence, in contrast to that of the Hobbits. A Wraith's existence is lonely. Although there are nine of them, there is no comradeship between them. They are bound together only by the Nine Rings and by the One. Which contrasts nicely with the bonds of friendship between the Hobbits which we have already seen and which we will see yet more of as the book develops. It also sets them up as the counterpoint to the Nine Walkers who, although brought together by the Ring (ie the need to destroy it), develop bonds of fellowship.

Yes, it's a lonely life being a Wraith. As Fordim says, one almost feels sorry for them. Indeed, one can feel sympathy for what they once were (although we do not, of course, learn of that for a while).

[Iarwain]

In response to Fordim Hedgethistle (I think I spelled that correctly), by the time the book was over, Lobelia had become one of my favourite non-fellowship hobbits. I always find it tremendously sad when she dies.

But, about those mushrooms...

I like davem's comments on the Shire. I think it's a very romantic idea (in a sense of the word). On the other hand, I disagree with those who say that the earlier drafts are bad. From what I read, they seem quite amusing, and perhaps they would have served well as a last glimpse of the Hobbit-centric view of Middle-Earth. This is not to say that I like the drafts more than the actual, though...

Hm... I seem to be "at a loss for words" this morning.


Good-day to all ,
Iarwain