I never realized all of the parallels, especially not between Faramir and Eomer. It was even more intriguing were all of the parallels surrounding their characters. I’m not sure why I never picked up on all of these symmetries throughout the books. What was really enthralling, though, was reading about Tolkien’s development of the story as it went along. Thinking of Treebeard as a villain isn’t a total stretch of the imagination, but it’s sad that the guide Trotter couldn’t make it in. He might have been a very interesting character.
Was it really just luck that made Tolkien’s work so well-organized and symmetrical, though? Shippey acts sometimes as if it were mistake mostly, but there had to be some kind of planning and organization to it behind the product.
Reading the part on the Council of Elrond was enlightening. I’ll admit, reading through that in the book was confusing, and I walked away with a sense that I had just sat through a very complicated, dull board meeting. I feel that maybe if I had Shippey to help me through, I wouldn’t have found the meeting so pointless. It’s evident now that Tolkien wanted to give a voice to each of the races present so the reader could see the diversity of the world in one place. Elrond is still, though, in my mind, a bad committee chairman.
Seeing Gondor and Rohan contrasted was interesting, but even more so was seeing Merry and Pippin contrasted. Both were seemingly paired up with the master who reflected who they were or what their emotions were at the time, both finding their true selves towards the end. I never thought of Pippin being unpleasant in any way, though it makes sense for him to be paired with Gondor because of his intense emotions.
Devon Cozad? October 22, 2008, at 10:03 PM
