As I was reading through Lord of the Rings this time; it struck me that Frodo's conversation with Faramir about the history of Men (in The Window on the West chapter of The Two Towers), is something that I cannot imagine occurring with any other Hobbit than Frodo.
Of course, Bilbo and Merry are also unusually intelligent Hobbits, who were much more accomplished as scholarly authors than Frodo.
But from what we see of them in the books, neither of these exhibited the patience and sustained concentration that Frodo does while Faramir is discoursing on the distinctive aspects of Gondor, Numenor, and comparisons with other types of Men such as the Rohirrim.
It therefore seems that, aside from innate intelligence, which Tolkien often terns "wisdom"; Frodo is more of "an intellectual" in his tastes and behaviours than are other Hobbits that we encounter.
2 comments:
Bilbo and Merry (Merrie? A difference in English and American spelling custom perhaps?) are more inclined to discuss things as stories I think. If they discussed the same content with Faramir I imagine it would be replete with poems and folk sayings and interruptions on their part. I don't know what the label for that style would be, but in contrast I can see that Frodo tends to be more conceptual in his style.
Comment from Joel Eidsath:
I think that there is a lot more to be said about Frodo, and how Tolkien viewed him, and I hope you continue on this line of thought in future posts. What comes to mind for me:
1. Frodo's direct scholarly output doesn't compare to Bilbo's, with the Translations from The Elvish and the volumes of notes (the Appendices) being due to Bilbo and others. But his conscientious work as a collector and editor, rather than as a creator, would have been something that Tolkien might have envied, and also something that Tolkien would have known the true value and difficulty of.
2. I do not know if I can make a case for it without more consideration, but I have the strong impression that Frodo's status as "intellectual" is unique among all of the characters of the LotR, with Faramir perhaps coming closest, as you mention. Frodo is more concerned with texts and authorship (ie., Sam's poem), and sayings, and written poems, while characters like Gandalf and others are concerned with wisdom and lore and songs.
3. Unlike Bilbo, who pursued learning after his journey, Frodo's journey is experienced through the lens of existing reading and scholarship. Frodo (appropriately) resembles Tolkien in his later years more than Tolkien as a young professor.
4. It is hard not to bring up Christopher Tolkien here, and compare the relationship of the son and the father, as achronological and impossible as that line of reasoning might be.
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