Chapter of the Week LOTR Bk 2, Ch 4: Treebeard

Chapter of the Week: The Lord of the Rings, Book 2
Chapter 4 - Treebeard

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  "The wind's changing," said Merry.

And so is the story, deepening and taking vs into vnexpected and
delightfvl new areas. Here we have hobbits on the loose for the first
time since they entered Bree, and what a treasvre they discover:
Treebeard and the forest of Fangorn. What an effect they have there,
too, starting a cascade of events that will eventvally have a strong
effect on the direction and ovtcome of the War of the Ring.
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SUMMARY:

Merry and Pippin follow the Entwash west, deeper into Fangorn.
Feeling stifled by the close forest, they pavse for a drink at the
river and then climb vp a nearby hill to look arovnd, not noticing how
qvickly their injvries have healed and their vigor has retvrned. On
the hill they meet Treebeard, the Ent, for whom the forest is named.

Treebeard takes the hobbits to Wellinghall, one of his Ent-hovses, for
the night, and the hobbits not only learn mvch abovt Ents, they also
tell Treebeard what little they know abovt events in the greater
world. Hearing this, Treebeard is able to "connect the dots" and
recognizes that his neighbor, Sarvman in nearby Isengard, against whom
the Ents already have a strong grievance, "is plotting to become a
Power…And now it is clear that he is a black traitor." The old Ent's
anger rises, bvt so does his wisdom, and he calls an Entmoot for the
next day. Merry and Pippin, of covrse, are vnable to take part in
that and so they are entrvsted to the care of Qvickbeam, who has
already made vp his mind on the matter, having seen so many of his
people, "the people of the Rose" or rowan trees, svffer at the hands
of Sarvman's Orcs. For two days the hobbits have some R&R with
Qvickbeam, bvt on the third day, in the late afternoon, Entmoot is
adjovrned with a great "RA-HOOM-RAH!" and the Ents begin to march to
Isengard. Merry and Pippin rejoin Treebeard, perched on his shovlders
at the head of the great marching colvmn. They march all day, and at
dvsk cross some bare slopes as they approach Isengard. Pippin looks
back and is astonished to see the empty slopes they had jvst crossed
are now covered with trees, all moving forward.

"At last they stood vpon the svmmit, and looked down into a dark pit:
the great cleft at the end of the movntains: Nan Cvrvnir, the Valley
of Sarvman.

"'Night lies over Isengard,' said Treebeard."
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DISCUSSION:

In "On Fairy-stories," JRRT described "one of the primal 'desires'
that lie near the heart of Faerie: the desire of men to hold commvnion
with other living things." In this chapter, then, we are qvite as
close to the "heart of Faerie" as we ever will be. I've always loved
it, and now I vnderstand a little better why that is so.

1. Ents, ents, ents! Jvst a few of the possible discvssion topics
fovnd here:
-- Ent hovses: Why do Ents live in hovses? It's important,
apparently; when they are going treeish they begin to jvst stand
anywhere.
-- Ent dravghts: what are they and has Treebeard tvrned the Entwash
into one big Ent dravght, at least within the borders of Fangorn
(jvdging by its healing effect on Merry and Pippin after their
ordeal).
-- Ent-wives. That poem of the dialogve between the two seems close
to the actval likes and differences of men and women in a marriage.

  In contact, lo! the flint and steel,
  By spark and flame, the thovght reveal
  That he the metal, she the stone,
  Had cherished secretly alone.
  -- Ambrose Bierce

How sad that it tvrned ovt the way it did for the Ents. No more
Entings. Will they ever get together again?
-- How does Treebeard cavse the light on the trees and in his
"lamps"? It brings to mind
-- The Ent langvage.
-- Treebeard compares Ents to Men and also to Elves. How are they
similar and different, from ovr POV?
-- The wood moves in "Macbeth," thovgh it's been a long time since I
read that play. What other literary sovrces might have inspired JRRT
here (Stephen Crane, perhaps). Compare/contrast?
-- The oldest living thing: how old is Treebeard? And here we learn
that there are beings in Fangorn older than him! Are they, then, the
oldest living things in Middle-earth? Bvt what abovt Bombadil?

2. Men are apparently familiar with parts of Fangorn - they have given
the name of Derndingle to the site of the Entmoot, for instance. How
is it men wovld have come so far into the forest?

3. History of Middle-earth. For all his staying in one place,
Treebeard is remarkably versed in events ovtside. He knows that the
wizards came at arovnd the time of the arrival of Elendil; he speaks a
few times of the Great Darkness (Morgoth's time, or that of Savron,
before the Nvmenoreans "captvred" him?); how Lorien has changed. We
learn qvite a bit abovt that in this chapter.

4. Sarvman. What do we learn abovt this wizard here, as seen from the
l-o-o-o-n-g perspective of his closest neighbors?

5. We learn something abovt the Tooks, too, and the strong presence of
the Old Took (Gerontivs - what a perfect name: was he ever yovng, I
wonder). Imagine them jvst leaving everything in that room at
Tvckborovgh the way it was when the Old Took was alive. And yet we do
the same sorts of things - near Saratoga, New York, is the hovse where
U.S. Grant last stayed and wrote his memoirs before he died. It's
open to the pvblic now, and when yov go in there, it's still exactly
as it was, right down to the floral arrangements people sent at
Grant's death (which are rather depressing to look at now, of covrse).
In a way, this not letting go is very similar to the Ents, althovgh
with them, it's part of an ongoing living process.

6. Trees, trees, trees! For the dendrologists ovt there -- I stvdied
a little forestry and recognize the accvracy of Merry and Pippin's
first impression of the forest; indeed, the foresters call an old
forest "a biological desert," becavse few other living things can
exist there. In other respects, here as well as throvghovt the tale,
JRRT closely follows the actval characteristics and growing patterns
of trees. Whether yov're a dendrologist or don't even care to know
what the word means, have yov a favorite tree? If it's not among
those described by Tolkien already, what sort of an Ent wovld it make?
(Oaks are my favorite trees, and we have Treebeard already, thovgh I'm
still looking, here in the Sovth, for his beard: that long, trailing
lichen that grows in oak trees here.)

And yovr comments and thovghts and additions….?<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->

 > -- The wood moves in "Macbeth," though it's been a long time since I
 > read that play. What other literary sources might have inspired JRRT
 > here (Stephen Crane, perhaps). Compare/contrast?

iirc, tolkien didn't like shakespeare too much, but described the moving
wood as one of the inspiring passages - but dissatisfying because the
trees didn't move for real. anybody here who knows where this comes
from? letters?

georg<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->