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Healing the Long Cleeve  by TopazTook 2 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 24 on 8/12/2005
Too bad Pippin is left with this judgment as well. It must be tearing him apart.

Author Reply: Yes, I thought it was interesting to explore a little bit how the demands on Pippin as Took and Thain (as the appendices note he becomes in 1434) would weigh on him in terms of havingt to deal with “disciplinary” type actions against his family members -- especially when he grew up as the little brother in the whole birth order thing, so it might seem a bit of role reversal in some ways.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 24 on 5/17/2005
Wow! Pippin's punishment for his sister was a bit harsher than I expected--a barmaid in Bree? I was half-hoping he might send her all the way to the King and Queen. A bit of exposure to their honor and wisdom, to the wider world, and some knowledge of what her brother went through might have brought her back with a better and less bitter attitude. Still, the Butterburrs are kind, and I suppose that she might learn a bit in Bree. But it's awfully close to the Shire, and that kind of disgrace will be hard for her ever to live down.

I hope for Pippin's sake, though, that she does learn.

Author Reply: Sending her to the King and Queen, in Pervinca’s case, would likely just cement her idea that she should be singled out for special honors -- that’s the twist she would put on it. This way, she gets the message.
It also seems that it could be kind of a copout for the hobbits to rely on their friends from the Quest to solve all their problems -- Pippin did struggle with this decision, and he’s not sure he’s making the best one, but it’s true that Buterbur did ask for help. (Merry remembered to mention it in one of *his* letters.;) ) Pip’s hoping that this helps make things better all around.
And, much as Pervinca sees this as shaming her, it’s partly that she’s letting her attitude do so. That’s a big part of Pervinca’s (and Ganelon’s) problem, this setting themselves apart as better than other hobbits. It’s not Pip’s view, and Diamond has come around -- and the Mayor of the Shire used to be a gardener, and is married to a former serving maid. If Pervinca “does learn...a bit in Bree” ;) she’ll see that there’s no shame in’t...and, as Pip also says, mayhap she’ll get a chance to be happy...
...maybe even with her children, and husband, who are still in the Shire, from which Gondor is a long way away.


(Part of what I wanted to explore in this chapter, though, is how difficult it must be for Pippin when he has to discipline a member of his own family. He can’t just be the baby brother anymore. And Pervinca certainly does her job in this exploration by not making things easy for him.)


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