"A Shortcut to Mushrooms" - Eric's Thoughts

This chapter made clear that when Tolkien does bother to describe, he is quite skillful at it. Take a look at some highlights I’ve notated below. Now, in regard to criticism of this chapter, I went into the chapter hearing complaints from Ben and Jacob about these middling chapters. I make a point not to read other’s blog posts until I’m done writing, and then I’ll review what they say and add a response in my blog post at the end. The point being, I try not to let their readings influence my own.

I thought Shortcut to Mushrooms was the best chapter in the book thus far. 

It had the best characterizations of the book yet. Characters (though still not described) are becoming clear in their personalities. Frodo begins the chapter telling Pippin he needs to think, while Pippin comes across as a bull-hardy ditz. So Frodo is thoughtful and a natural leader, Pippin is airheaded, and Sam is loyal. Tolkien uses a classic author’s trick of archetypes to distinguish characters from one another. By using those archetypes, characters immediately begin to feel real, because are familiar with them.

The hobbits at this point are physically struggling through landmarks that have actual description (“. . . the bushes and brambles were reluctant to let them through . . .”) and meanwhile, they are being hunted by what is now made clear not to be one but at least two black riders (“. . . it was answered by another cry, fainter and further off, but no less chilling to the blood.”). Tolkien is just building the suspense and upping the ante after Gildor’s warning in the previous chapter. Even Farmer Maggot’s dogs are terrified of the black riders.

I particularly enjoyed the scene of Frodo coming to terms with his childhood fear of Farmer Maggot. While maybes not strictly necessary in terms of plot, the side plot serves a momentary break from wandering through fields together and being hunted. Generally, a chapter becomes boring when the same characters are interacting and a new character is not introduced (which generally leads to an event happening and change occurring, which propels the story forward). I believe the benefit to character outweighs any slowness in plot. Farmer Maggot deepened Frodo’s character by allowing him to feel a childhood fear, and resolution of that fear. Frodo realizes that things as a young hobbit are much different as an old, and he lost a good friend as a result of his childhood fear. Plus, the reader obviously loves to learn that Frodo was a little thief as a young hobbit who stole mushrooms. And the chapter ends the arc with Mrs. Maggot giving Frodo a basket from which “the scent of mushrooms was rising,” creating a perfect mini-character arc. No complaints here.

The chapter ends with a mysterious rider emerging from the fog, which obviously must be a black rider. Not so. Instead it turns out to be Merry. Again the new character raises new possibilities, and Tolkien was wise to delay the inevitable confrontation between the hobbits and black riders. The black riders are still an unknown evil, ominous, omnipresent. Wherever the hobbits go it seems the black riders have been there before, seeking Baggins. The character of Farmer Maggot helps develop this omnipresent mood. It also tells the reader that hobbits are braver than dogs, and are not afraid to tell black riders to “Get the !@## off my farm.”

As a final thought, still Gandalf is notably absent. Again, the lack of the old wizard raises the stakes. The reader knows, or can at least sense, that if the riders catch the hobbits they’re pretty much doomed. So this lets the hobbits really push and establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

I have to respectfully disagree with Ben, that Tolkien is spinning his wheels here. I think this chapter was really good, and the best one in the book as of yet.

           

Good Use of Descriptive Voice:

• “Going on was not altogether easy. They had packs to carry, and the bushes and brambles were reluctant to let them through. They were cut off from the wind by the ridge behind, and the air was still and stuffy. When they forced their way at last into more open ground, they were hot and tired and very scratched, and they were also no longer certain of the direction in which they were going. The banks of the stream sank, as it reached the levels and became broader and shallower, wandering off towards the Marish and the River.”
• “In the morning Frodo woke refreshed. He was lying in a bower made by a living tree with branches laced and drooping to the ground; his bed was of fern and grass, deep and soft and strangely fragrant. The sun was shining through the fluttering leaves, which were still green upon the tree. He jumped up and went out.
• “They stopped short suddenly. Frodo sprang to his feet. A long-drawn wail came down the wind, like the cry of some evil and lonely creature. It rose and fell, and ended on a high piercing note. Even as they sat and stood, as if suddenly frozen, it was answered by another cry, fainter and further off, but no less chilling to the blood. There was then a silence, broken only by the sound of the wind in the leaves.”
• “Maggot jumped down and stood holding the ponies' heads, and peering forward into the gloom.  Clip-clop, clip-clop came the approaching rider.  The fall of hoofs sounded loud in the still, foggy air.”
• “They watched the pale rings of light round his lanterns as they dwindled into the foggy night. Suddenly Frodo laughed: from the covered basket he held, the scent of mushrooms was rising.”