From Ralph Wood's presentation: "Frodo knows he cannot fulfill the quest alone. This is not a solitary one-person/hobbit task. Tolkien has a radically social and communal vision of the world. And that’s the world of our ancient forebears. They all knew that we are, as Aristotle said, political animals. And by that he means we are citizens of the polis, of the city. And that city is made up of people who have common missions and common goals and cooperate for the common good. In this case it’s not a city but a fellowship. Notice that Tolkien doesn’t call it a club, he doesn’t call it an organization, he doesn’t even call it a group of the like-minded. These are the people who have been summoned, who have been called to bear this special task, to fulfill it and to destroy the one ruling ring. The question is what kind of fellowship will Frodo form? Notice he doesn’t make himself surrounded by the most powerful, the most intelligent, those who are strongest physically, but with a small diverse crew that are commonly committed to that same singular vision of destroying the one ruling ring. For Tolkien that’s the only thing that can bind a community together. Ours is a riven nation. We have no singular common vision that might unite us. Tolkien gives us one."