|
Do you enjoy the 100% volunteer, not for profit services of TheOneRing.net? Consider a donation!
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
bglenney_uvm
The Shire
Jul 11 2012, 12:46am
Views: 259
Shortcut
|
|
Tolkien at UVM - 2012 summer - week 2
|
Can't Post
|
|
Note (of Contrition): I had thought I was supposed to be a responder in week 1 and, consequently, didn't post questions. I'm making up for it this week, posting questions and responding to classmates' questions.
QUESTION: Frodo and his companions travel across vast stretches of unpopulated land. Between the Shire and Rivendell, there is only Bree (if we exclude some wraith-haunted ruins on Weathertop). Between Rivendell and Isengard lie the ruins of Hollin, and between those ruins and Lothlorien, the mines of Moria. (OK, Moria has a population, but its inhabitants aren't the sort of gentle folk we encounter in Hobbiton, or even Minas Tirith.) As Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli race across Rohan, hunting the orcs who have taken Merry and Pippin, they come upon no settlements and remark on how even the herdsmen are missing. Why, in your opinion, has Tolkien created a Middle-earth with so few people in it, and what effect do these unpopulated expanses have on the narrative, his characters, and our reading?
|
|
|
|
|
Tolkien at UVM - 2012 summer - week 2
