FantasyFan
Rohan
Aug 3 2013, 11:15pm
Views: 242
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Magpie says it very well; my additions
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Other things I can quote from the text that speak of Frodo's state of mind on his return: ‘Well, here we are, just the four of us that started out together,’ said Merry. ‘We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems like a dream that has slowly faded.’ ‘Not to me,’ said Frodo. ‘To me it seems more like falling asleep again." The real world seems unreal to him, an his experience is different from the others. Regarding the battle of Bywater: So ended the Battle of Bywater, 1419, the last battle fought in the Shire, and the only battle since the Greenfields, 1147, away up in the Northfarthing. In consequence, though it happily cost very few lives, it has a chapter to itself in the Red Book, and the names of all those who took part were made into a Roll, and learned by heart by Shire-historians. The very considerable rise in the fame and fortune of the Cottons dates from this time; but at the top of the Roll in all accounts stand the names of Captains Meriadoc and Peregrin. Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been to prevent the hobbits in their wrath at their losses, from slaying those of their enemies who threw down their weapons. Frodo is not mentioned in the roll or the discussion of status. I doubt his compassion to the enemies was well understood or appreciated. But the most telling is: Frodo dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire, and Sam was pained to notice how little honour he had in his own county. Few people knew or wanted to know about his deeds and adventures; their admiration and respect were given mostly to Mr. Meriadoc and Mr. Peregrin and (if Sam had known it) to himself. Ultimately, it resolves as: ‘But,’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.’ ‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you. ...' Sam has and becomes what Frodo feels he cannot have and be: father, husband, mayor, Cousellor, historian, wanted, needed, busy, happy. It is also the source of the title for an essay called Too Deeply Hurt: Understanding Frodo's decision to Depart (1998, archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20080312221631/http://www.geocities.com/karynmilos/toodeeplyhurt.html ) in which Karyn Milos discusses the aftermath of his trauma. (sorry I can't make a link) Another interesting discussion of the PTSD aspects of Frodo's experience took place here at TORn on the old boards, I think in the Reading Room. I copied out this post, but unfortunately neglected to get a link or even identify the author at the time: As a matter of curiosity, does Frodo in fact meet DSM-IV criteria for PTSD? A) The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present: (a) the person witnessed, experienced, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others; (b) the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. check. B) The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in one (or more) of the following ways: (a) recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections, (b) recurrent distressing dreams of the event, (c) acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring, (d) intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event, (e) physiologic reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. Check on (d) & (e) (severe psychological & physiologic reactions on various anniversaries). C) Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by at least three of the following: (a) efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma, (b) efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma, (c) inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma, (d) markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities, (e) feelings of detachment or estrangement from others, (f) restricted range of affect, (g) sense of foreshortened future. Check on (b) (avoidance of Weathertop), (d) (withdrawal from social life in the shire), (e) (estrangement from his fellow hobbits; sense that he is too wounded to continue living in the shire), and (g) (no hope for his own survival and well-being in middle earth). One might also argue that his newfound pacifism is a form of avoidance as well (the (a) criterion). D) Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by at least two of the following: (a) difficulty falling or staying asleep, (b) irritability or outbursts of anger, (c) difficulty concentrating, (d) hypervigilance, (e) exaggerated startle response. I don’t see any evidence for any of these in the text. E) Duration of symptoms more than one month. Check. F) Disturbance causes significant distress or impairs social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Check on significant distress. ==== So although Frodo DOES have a lot of the symptoms of PTSD, he lacks the evidence of autonomic arousal, and so doesn’t meet full criteria. Finally, Tolkien's own words on Frodo's experience (From Letter 246 to Mrs. Eileen Elgar):
But what Frodo himself felt about the events is quite another matter. He appears at first to have had no sense of guilt (III 224-5); he was restored to sanity and peace. But then he thought that he had given his life in sacrifice: he expected to die very soon. But he did not, and one can observe the disquiet growing in him. Arwen was the first to observe the signs, and gave him her jewel for comfort, and thought of a way of healing him.* Slowly he fades 'out of the picture', saying and doing less and less. I think it is clear on reflection to an attentive reader that when his dark times came upon him and he was conscious of being 'wounded by knife sting and tooth and a long burden' (III 268) it was not only nightmare memories of past horrors that afflicted him, but also unreasoning self-reproach: he saw himself and all that he done as a broken failure. 'Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same, for I shall not be the same.' That was actually a temptation out of the Dark, a last flicker of pride: desire to have returned as a 'hero', not content with being a mere instrument of good. And it was mixed with another temptation, blacker and yet (in a sense) more merited, for however that may be explained, he had not in fact cast away the Ring by a voluntary act: he was tempted to regret its destruction, and still to desire it. 'It is gone for ever, and now all is dark and empty', he said as he wakened from his sickness in 1420. 'Alas! there are some wound that cannot be wholly cured', said Gandlaf (III 268) - not in Middle-earth. Frodo was sent or allowed to pass over the Sea to heal him - if that could be done, before he died. He would have eventually to 'pass away': no mortal could, or can, abide for ever on earth, or within Time. So he went both to a purgatory and to a reward, for a while: a period of reflection and peace and a gaining of a truer understanding of his position in littleness and greatness; spent still in Time amid the natural beauty of "Arda Unmarred', the Earth unspoiled by evil. ...It is clear, of course, that the plan [for Frodo to sail West] had actually been made and concerted (by Arwen, Gandalf and others) before Arwen spoke. But Frodo did not immediately take it in; the implications would slowly be understood on reflection. Such a journey would at first seem something not necessarily to be feared, even as something to look forward to – so long as undated and postponable. His real desire was hobbitlike (and humanlike) just 'to be himself again and get back to the old familiar life that had been interrupted. Already on the journey back from Rivendell he suddenly saw that was not for him possible. Hence his cry 'Where shall I find rest?' He knew the answer, and Gandalf did not reply. .... But at Rivendell he came to understand things more clearly. The conversations he had there are not reported, but enough is revealed in Elrond's farewell III 267. From the onset of the first sickness (Oct. 5, 3019) Frodo must have been thinking about 'sailing', though still resisting a final decision — to go with Bilbo, or to go at all. It was no doubt after his grievous illness in March 3020 that his mind was made up.
"That is one thing that Men call 'hope.' Amdir we call it, 'looking up.' But there is another which is founded deeper. Estel we call it, that is 'trust.' It is not defeated by the ways of the world, for it does not come from experience, but from our nature and First Being. If we are indeed the Eruhin, the Children of the One, then He will not suffer Himself to be deprived of His own, not by any enemy, not even by ourselves. This is the last foundation of estel, which we keep even when we contemplate the End. Of all His designs the issue must be for His children's joy." Finrod, Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, HoME X Morgoth's Ring
(This post was edited by FantasyFan on Aug 3 2013, 11:19pm)
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