Hobbits and "Entanglement"

Over the course of browsing the chapter “A Conspiracy Unmasked,” it occurred to me that there is something very “tangled” about hobbits.  And that’s not a bad thing.  One might start with their curly hair, which is described in the prologue.  But hobbit names – particularly place names – have a crinkly sort of quality, too.  In this chapter we find Brandy Hall, Bucklebury, the High Hay, Buck Hill, Crickhollow, and the Brandywine Bridge.  The deep interconnectedness of hobbits manifests itself especially in their relationships.  How can one think of Merry without Pippin, or Frodo without Sam?  Friendship is, of course, a major theme of the chapter.  When Frodo bemoans how he cannot trust his friends – who have been making secret plans to assist him – Merry chimes in, saying, “It all depends on what you want… You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end… But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone… We are horribly afraid – but we are coming with you…”  Even the title of the chapter references the entanglement of a “conspiracy.”

 

Entanglement is a perfectly wonderful word.  In the world of quantum mechanics, particles are sometimes said to be “entangled” – and have seemingly magical properties.  The potential erotic qualities of “entanglement” are obvious in, for example, the art of Gustav Klimt, where bodies twist and swirl and mosaics of color overwhelm the eye.  A particularly famous example is “The Kiss”:

 

 

                              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustav_Klimt_016.jpg

And the whole notion of society or civilization depends upon a degree of social entanglement among individuals.  All of this might seem counterintuitive when applied to the “simple” hobbits.  Yet it is possible to consider entanglement as a manifestation of simplicity – a complexity emerging from simple principles, evolved over time.  After all, hobbits certainly have an interconnected society, as seen in the example of Brandy Hall, a collective habitation described as having “about a hundred windows"!  And Pippin’s bath-song, quoted in part below, is ultimately a song of civilization:

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,

and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;

but better than rain or rippling streams

is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need

down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;

but better is Beer, if drink we lack,

and Water Hot poured down the back.

 So let’s take a cue from hobbits and celebrate our entanglements.