Trouble Will Come of It

Chapter 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-Expected Party," may well be my least favorite chapter of the book.  It does have it merits -- including the reintroduction of Bilbo Baggins after The Hobbit -- but it pales in comparison to the chapters that follow.  I can, to an extent, appreciate C.S. Lewis' famous frustration with the abundance of hobbit matters in the story, and I imagine that a number of readers have been put off the book because of its relatively slow beginning.  Nevertheless, "A Long-Expected Party" has many charms, including the scene with the magical fireworks which included "fountains of butterflies that flew glittering into the trees" as well as "a red thunderstorm and a shower of yellow rain."

The topic of this post, however, is the ominous undertones of the chapter, which will reach their fruition in "The Shadow of the Past."  Amid the feasting hobbits, Tolkien provides tantalizing hints of the vast dangers that are to come.  This begins as early as the second paragraph, when Tolkien deftly uses parentheses to confirm that Bilbo's youth and health were only "apparently" perpetual and "reputedly" inexhaustible.  "It will have to be paid for," the other hobbits insisted.  Indeed, there are other references that remind us that the world of the hobbits, for all its simplicity and delight, is not perfect.  The rumors of the death of Drogo Baggins by drowning -- or even being pushed -- illuminates both the gossipy narrow-mindedness of some hobbits and the violence of which they are capable.  Such moments form an intriguing link to the challenges that the Shire faces at the end of the saga.

Gandalf, of course, makes a welcome addition to the depth of the chapter -- serving as both the Shire's protector and the herald of its peril.  To hear Gandalf threaten to be become angry with Bilbo is a genuine shock, but of course that only occurs after the threat of the Ring has been revealed.  Readers of The Hobbit will have already been troubled by Bilbo's reference to the Ring as "my precious."  That the Ring should have, let us say, loitered in the Shire for so long is likewise an interesting development.  The Ring may be a magical artifact of evil, but it is also a symbol of wealth and treasure.  The Gaffer might scoff at the rumors of "jools" in Bag End, but the abstract greed that the Ring conjures is indicative of Tolkien's deep ambivalence towards treasure.  Consider his poem "The Hoard" in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zX9kyXRJ4

Even in the Shire, not all shadows come from Mordor...