Summary of Humphrey Carpenter's J.r.r. Tolkien

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I was born in Lewiston, a small town in western New York, to conservative, devout Catholic parents. I was at the hub of the town because I worked in my father’s drugstore from the age of four. I was labeled eccentric by my mother.

#2 I worked at a drugstore as a child, and I was exposed to situations that were unusual for a child. I never had a meal at home, and I was surrounded by adults. My peer group became my coworkers.

#3 I loved working with Roy, the pharmacist, because he was always in a good mood, and he made me feel like I was important. He never put off a good time, yet he always got his work done.

#4 At 10:30 A. M. on Saturdays, all the employees had a break. We sat around the large red Coke cooler where the ice had melted and fished out our Cokes. I liked looking at things Roy-style, and when I was four, my mother taught me to read. Roy had been all over the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669397496

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Humphrey Carpenter's Jrr Tolkien

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I visited Tolkien in his home in 1967. He was smaller than I expected, but still very tall. His house was ordinary and suburban, and smelled of books and tobacco smoke.

#2

I was nervous that there would be harder questions, and that I would not be able to answer them. But he spoke in complex sentences, and never hesitated. I was often unsure what he was saying, but I tried to stay engaged and listen carefully.

#3

I visited Tolkien in his house, and he explained to me his mythology. He was a professor of English, and he looked like the archetypal Oxford don. But he was not. He was a strange spirit who had taken on the guise of an elderly professor.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The wedding of Mabel Suffield was a dividing point in her life. She was going to South Africa to marry Arthur Tolkien, a man 13 years her senior. Her father would not allow a formal betrothal for two years because of her youth, so they could only exchange letters secretly.

#2

Mabel and Arthur were married in Cape Town in 1891, and spent their honeymoon in a hotel at nearby Sea Point. They then traveled to the capital of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, which was little more than a small town in 1891.

#3

Mabel was pregnant, and she and Arthur were happy together. But they were not allowed to visit England until they had been in Bloemfontein for another three years.

#4

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on 31 January 1892. He was christened in Bloemfontein Cathedral, and his parents had him photographed in the garden of Bank House. His mother was in excellent health, while his father, always something of a dandy, posed in a positively jaunty manner.

#5

Mabel was pregnant again in 1894, and gave birth to another son named Hilary Arthur Reuel. Hilary was a healthy child who thrived in the Bloemfontein climate, but his brother was not doing well. Ronald was sturdy and handsome, but he was not doing well.

#6

In 1895, Mabel took her two sons to England. They spent the spring and summer there, and in November, Arthur contracted rheumatic fever. He was reported to be still in poor health in