Oh my goodness! Only three more chapters to go before the end of the first book! As promised, I have a little giveaway planned to celebrate that milestone. At this rate, I'll be holding it in January at some point.
Also, I probably won't have another chapter read until after Christmas, so if you don't see a new chapter review up for more than a week, don't panic or anything.
So here we are at Lothlorien, hanging out, resting, learning about elves, mourning Gandalf, and seeing a bit of magic. Sam explains a little of why I probably wouldn't want to hang out at this particular Middle Earth location: "Nothing seems to be going on, and nobody seems to want it to" (p. 351). That's supposed to sound restful and contemplative, I think. To me, it sounds boring and wearisome. I actually like having things to do and getting them done.
Celeborn gets a lot more to say here than in the movie, doesn't he? Galadriel says that he "is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings" (p. 347). Totally not the impression the movie gives! Which is why, yet again, the books are just better.
Galadriel tells Frodo, "For the fate of Lothlorien you are not answerable, but only for the doing of your own task" (p. 356). This time through these books, I'm noticing what a major theme that is, the fact that each person is only responsible for their own task, their own life. Way back at the beginning of the book, Gandalf told Frodo, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us" (p. 50). Toward the end, Gandalf will tell Prince Imrahil, Aragorn, Elladan, and Elrohir that "it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till" (p. 861). I feel like this is supposed to be comforting, that we don't have to try to do everything or be everywhere. At the same time, it's very sobering, because if we fail to do the task we have in the time we're given, we're failing those who come after us and are depending on us.
Okay, those are all my deep thoughts for the day :-)
Favorite Lines:
The air was cool and soft, as if it were early spring, yet they felt about them the deep and thoughtful quiet of winter (p. 349).
Possible Discussion Questions: Would you look into the Mirror of Galadriel if you had the chance?
Book reviews by a Christian writer/wife/mother
Forgot to comment on this chapter!
ReplyDeleteI am always amused at how happy the hobbits are that they can sleep on the ground again. Me, I'd want to be up in the trees, which feel so much safer and defensible than the ground to me! But I am not a hobbit nor want to live in a hobbit hole. Hee.
I love how the friendship of Legolas and Gimli is deepening, and they go off together a lot in this chapter.
I love the line you highlight above too. It's one of my favorites in this chapter. Really makes me want to go to Lothlorien even more. I also love Sam's line "It's the job that's never started as takes the longest to finish, as my old gaffer used to say." So true!
I would most definitely look in the mirror. I'd want to know what it would show me, good or bad.
I'm torn between the solidity of the ground and the defensibility of the trees. I'd probably opt for the trees, and then spend the night hugging the tree so I didn't fall off.
DeleteI would probably think it unwise to look in the mirror... and then look anyway. I'm too curious for my own good.