"Homeward Bound" - Ben's Thoughts

Jacob touched on it briefly at the end of his post, but I want to highlight it a bit further: the differences between how the hobbits approach their "adventure," to use a somewhat inapplicable term. Merry says "it seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded." Frodo, however, says "To me it feels more like falling asleep again."

I never realized what that meant growing up. In every single one of my prior reads, I think I glossed over that line as a flippant joke in my hurry to get to the excitement of "Scouring of the Shire," like Frodo was saying that he sure was sleepy and won't it be great to get to a nice warm fireside again. Only this time around have I read that as it's truly meant: his prior life was a dream, and his real life was the adventure.

Of course, for Frodo, the truly heartbreaking thing about his "real life" is that it was full of trauma. The comment about "falling asleep" back into his old life is the second bookend to the chapter opener, where he reveals to Gandalf that "There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?" His experiences were all to horrifyingly "real" to him, and in the face of that trauma, the seemingly idyllic life of the Shire seems suddenly empty.

Merry and Pippin, and probably to a lesser extent, Sam, are returning to their lives in the Shire. Looking at the later chronologies, Merry and Pippin become civic leaders in their respective ethnic communities, and Sam becomes Mayor of the Shire many times over. Each of them marry and have many children. For them, their adventures were formative experiences, with "wishes come true" (as Sam states) along the way. Frodo, on the other hand, never marries, never has children, never engaged with the community, and swiftly leaves the Shire -- and Middle-earth in its entirety -- behind. He has a choice between a dream and a nightmare. He chooses escape instead.

The other joy of these chapters is revisiting our old stomping grounds to see how the community has reacted to difficult circumstances. In "Prancing Pony" way back in Book I, everyone was bewildered by the strange events and dangerous creatures come among them. Now, everyone's hardened -- Butturbur comes out with a cudgel, for heaven's sake. Hidden depths indeed, but it took hard lessons to get them there. The same will be shown in the following chapter, one of the best in the trilogy. Looking forward to it.