Slippers? Hobbits wear slippers?

Tom’s only explanation of what he does for a living comes at the end of the next chapter: ‘I’ve got things to do,’ he said: ‘my making and my singing, my talking and my walking, and my watching of the country. … Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting.’
L. Is Tom’s lifestyle fantastic or realistic? I think to Tom - and what he may represent in his self-created land - his lifestyle is realistic. He clearly has a daily regimen; he and Goldberry require and procure sustenance. They have daily tasks as well as larger plans. This is all dependent, of course, on suspending some disbelief: but in the world we have seen so far, of a magic ring and sentient trees, this isn't as much of a stretch. So I would call Tom provisionally realistic, well within the boundaries of a fairy-tale. As such, I don't find his lifestyle improbable. It may be one of the literary functions that Tolkien had for Tom, having added him to the tale in a way that moves the story forward in a cerebral, philosophical fashion versus a linear one: a sign post to the reader that the story landscape has truly changed. I have posted before that I find a 'feel' very much like Alice through the looking glass here in Tom's house... not the full story, but just that sense of an altered view of what actually IS.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
Thanks, Mad Hatter. That really clears that bit up.


M. Does Tolkien spend more or less effort on balancing fantasy and reality in this chapter, than he does with the other houses and ways of living that we encounter in The Lord of the Rings? I think he does do a fairly good job of balancing it, having decided to add the pre-existing Tom into the legendarium. He can't be anyplace else, I don't think. He has to be removed from the Elves - who feel to me like the real workhorses of JRRT's fantasy and moral voice. He can't just be a Breelander, because his contrast to Men and his approach to the world are one of our mirrors (tricksy things). He has to be alone, I think, set among the trees. In JRRT's mind, this means something. And he cannot be seen any later, not after the story takes heavier tones. I think too in delineating the history of Middle-earth, his presence must be made Real and thus we must see him before the Council of Elrond. So the balancing act may be in creating some legitimacy to what appears fanciful and anomalous. Again, the Elves do the work there. It is not, for example, as good a balancing as I see in such cultures as the Rohirrim, or the silent Rangers carrying on the legacy of Numenor. Maybe Tom is an example of something created in singularity first (in earlier writings) and legitimized later?
I like the question I have seen posed, as to whether Tom represents an enigma or an anomaly. I think he began as an anomaly and ended up as an enigma.


Hospitality

Is Tom social, or anti-social?
Is the house built and furnished to accommodate more than two people?
If not, where are the hobbits sleeping and what are they sleeping on? If so, who else has Tom and Goldberry hosted and how frequently do guests come by?
I think again its a question of proportion and significance: in Tom's world, where his land means all and his borders are his own, he is social within his own context. The Ring means nothing to Tom; power means nothing to Tom; the affairs of Men as well are without significance. Tom interacts daily with what matters to him: Goldberry, the land, the trees. I feel like Tom's house might be potentially ready for whomever crosses his border. As connected as Tom is to the land, I think he may know of anyone the moment they enter his space. I like to think that the soft bed and wine for Gandalf are made ready the moment he rides into the neighborhood to have a long talk with Tom.

Thanks for hosting this chapter Squire!