How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).
Quote #7
The trumpets had not rung in challenge but in greeting. This was no assault upon the Dark Lord by the men of Gondor, risen like avenging ghosts from the graves of valor long passed away. These were Men of other race, out of the wide Eastlands, gathering to the summons of their Overlord; armies that had encamped before his Gate by night and now marched in to swell his mountain power. As if suddenly made fully aware of the peril of their position, alone, in the growing light of day, so near to this vast menace, Frodo quickly drew his frail grey hood close to his head, and stepped down into the dell. (4.3.24)
So far, we have seen men, elves, hobbits, dwarves, and Ents joining to fight evil and triumph over Sauron. On the bad side, we've seen orcs, wolves, Nazgûl, and of course, men. The only one of the races of Middle-earth with major representation on both sides of the war against Sauron is the race of man. In fact, ever since the story of Isildur and his decision to keep the Ring of Sauron instead of destroying it after Sauron's initial defeat by the Last Alliance (see The Fellowship of the Ring Book 1, Chapter 2), it has been pretty clear that men are the most corruptible of the good species of Middle-earth. This of course begs the question: why are men so much the moral focus of this novel?
Quote #8
We never went that way, but they say it goes a hundred leagues, until you can see the Great Water that is never still. There are lots of fishes there, and big birds eat fishes: nice birds: but we never went there, alas no! we never had a chance. And further still there are more lands, they say, but the Yellow Face is very hot there, and there are seldom any clouds, and the men are fierce and have dark faces. We do not want to see that land.
We don't want to suggest that Tolkien's map of Middle-earth directly corresponds to any one part of the earth. Still, this brief suggestion that there are lands far to the south of Mordor, hot places in which the men "have dark faces" implies that there is more to Middle-earth than we see in these adventures, and that, somewhere off-page, we might be able to find other human races, just as we can in our world. There is something a little bit off about the fact that these dark-faced men are also "fierce," while the most beautiful folk of Middle-earth (the Elves) are about as white as white can be. What do you think of the real-life racial politics of The Lord of the Rings? Is Tolkien relying on common cultural prejudices in his depiction of the men from the south?
Quote #9
"We have not found what we sought," said one. "But what have we found?"
"Not Orcs," said another, releasing the hilt of his sword, which he had seized when he saw the glitter of Sting in Frodo's hand.
"Elves?" said a third, doubtfully.
"Nay! Not Elves," said the fourth, the tallest, and as it appeared the chief among them. "Elves do not walk in Ithilien in these days. And Elves are wondrous fair to look upon, or so 'tis said."
"Meaning we're not, I take you," said Sam. "Thank you kindly. And when you've finished discussing us, perhaps you'll say who you are, and why you can't let two tired travellers rest." (4.4.68-71)
It's a sign of how far Frodo and Sam have come from the Shire that they have found men who do not even recognize what they are. Hobbits are so out-of-the-way in terms of Middle-earth geography that the men of Gondor don't even know what they are looking at when they find them (rather like Treebeard with Merry and Pippin). And of course since Frodo and Sam are so wildly different from anyone Faramir and his men have ever encountered, the humans regard the hobbits with a healthy dose of skepticism.