New Year

[rabidsamfan]

In Gondor they celebrate the New Year in the spring, to commemorate the day that Frodo reached the Crack of Doom, and Gollum took the Ring into the fire. Aragorn thinks that we should do the same, but Sam says there's more about the day that he wants to forget than he wants to remember, and I just nod. Merry wishes we'd celebrate, I know, but it's different for him. He wasn't there like me and Sam were -- not that day anyway. I asked him if he wanted to celebrate the victory of Pelennor Fields and that shut him up.

Comments

Re: Father -son?

[calanthe11.livejournal.com]

Hi again -
and thanks for the warm welcome on your new "discussion forum" ;) ...

"confounded nuisances" sounds parental to me --
Hm ... that is certainly well open to interpretation. To me it sounds in a way how also Merry and Pippin could talk to each other. There's certainly a ring of closeness to it, as if they know each other very well. Frodo can say this without having to be afraid that he would hurt Sam's feelings. And Frodo and Sam have been very close, Sam having been Frodo's gardner for 17 (was it 17?) years. I actually doubt that a father would chide a son calling him "confounded nuisances". What's more surprising is that Frodo as Master would call his servant so. Which again, to me, speaks to the closeness of their relationship.

Frodo's not always in touch with his own feelings about other people.
Well, I have to disagree - this is major fanfic clichee, and even if Elijah-as-Frodo is not in touch with his feelings sometimes, Frodo certainly is. Or rather, on the ocassions that he isn't, it's quite natural and normal that he isn't.

When Bilbo left Frodo of course knew about the joke, and was part of all the leave-taking preparations (as least that's what it sounds like from the Book). That he should think about how much he loved Bilbo only in the moment when he was gone, I find psychologically very plausible. I mean, they had lived together for a very long time and were used to each other's presence in Bag End, to their life there together. It would not have made much sense to Frodo to ponder long and deep beforehand what Bilbo's leaving would all mean, especially not amidst the preparations for the Party. That the full extent of what Bilbo's leaving would mean for him, would hit Frodo only in this very moment, makes only sense to me.

That Frodo only realises that he has to give up Bag End when Gandalf pulls in Sam, is a slightly different story. I mean, there Frodo just decided within the span of a couple of hours to give up his entire life, take the One Ring and bring him away, more likely than not a dangerous, even deadly dangerous journey. That the familiar face of Sam would bring the realisation that, amongst all other things, this meant that he would have to give up his home (and leave his friend!), is only too understandable for me. Frodo needed to leave, he did not really have a choice. Later we see how hard it is for Frodo to leave the Shire, and I doubt he could have made the decision if he had thought long about what all he would have to give up for it. Thus again, this scene to me seems not to indicate that Frodo is not in touch with his feelings, but rather that he had to make a very hard decision and to be able to do this, he could only think ahead and not look back.

The feeling of sudden warmth and gladness when Frodo realises Sam is really going with him - well, that is pure relief and utter thankfulness that Sam makes a decision for him which Frodo could never have made for Sam, that is: going with him into most certain death. Frodo is quite in touch with his feelings, I would think, both in this moment as before when he'd come to the decision that he had to leave alone.

All the best -
Calanthe

Re: Father -son?

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, my mom was certainly more likely to call me a confounded nuisance than my sibs anyway, LOL!

(Btw, I love it that you keep going back to the source...)

When Bilbo disappears, Frodo enjoys the joke, being in on it, But at the same time he felt deeply troubled; he realized suddenly that he loved the old hobbit dearly. (Emphasis mine."

And again at the end of Shadow of the Past

"It can't be helped, Sam," said Frodo sadly. He had suddenly realized that flying from the Shire would mean more painful partings than merely saying farewell to the comforts of Bag End.

Particularly in the second case I think that shows a disconnect between Frodo's head and heart, because as he approaches fifty he's been thinking more and more about following Bilbo, about "cross(ing) the River some day," and looking at maps and all -- and it hasn't occured to him until he finds out that Sam is upset at the prospect that he realizes he's leaving people as well as a place?

Even his willigness to go is expressed as a desire to follow Bilbo "flaming up" in his heart -- something that comes to him of a sudden. He's been impatient with the Shirefolk, and thinks big people are stupid -- in some ways he's a very conceited fellow! -- but he is also an idealist, and when he sees that something needs to be done he doesn't shirk the task. But I think his heart follows his head, and it surprises him at times.