A very long and uncoordinated rant.

I know that there are a lot of people who find it strange and even annoying, that Tolkien had the whole scouring of the Shire. It is a little strange. The whole story has been resolved and Middle Earth saved, and the Ring destroyed. And suddenly, there is a whole other climax and problem to be solved. But it is very realistic. The whole world is in danger, so why should the Shire get of with out a scar? It tends to remind one that even after you go off on an adventure and become a hero, there is still home waiting for you, with its own little problems and stories and adventures. A true hero never gets to rest on his laurels. Frodo could have reasonably complained that he had already saved the world and been through so much, so he shouldn't have to deal with this other problem. But he doesn't. He steps up and saves the shire (with the help of his friends of course. I mean, wasn't the whole point of his quest to save the Shire in the first place? Take, for instance, a man who is having financial trouble and feels unable to support his wife and children. He is then drafted into the army, and is a little relieved and happy in a way, because now his family will have some extra money. He then goes off to war. He is promoted, he helps save the country. He is a hero. Then he goes home and finds that his family is in even greater need than before. Does he sit back and say, "I have already saved the country. Work it out yourself, I have done enough"? What reader would read that and sympathize with the man? None. He is being selfish and silly and stupid, and anyone can see that in a moment. The man set out to save the country, but in a true soldiers heart, his family and loved ones are what he really sets out to save. And so, when he returns, hero though he is, he gets to work to help his family. For that, he will get little or no credit from his neighbors and fellow men. Likely, no one will ever know. But it would be in remaining true to his family that he would become a real hero.  And so Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, proved themselves worthy of their already gained fame, by saving the Shire.