I have nightmares like this chapter. Impossibly steep steps, winding trails going through mountains -- but usually someone's chasing me in those dreams, and at least no one's directly chasing Frodo and Sam here. Still, it's very tense and nail-biting-inducing.
I love the part where Sam and Frodo are talking about their journey like it's part of a story. Partly because they literally are in a story, so it's a neat moment just cuz it's true, but also because a lot of time, I feel like I'm living in a story. And in a way, I am. The ongoing story of people on earth. And the parts I don't enjoy may one day be the parts most worth remembering -- the hard or dangerous or unhappy parts might end up being the most important.
But I'm very sad over the moment where Gollum comes up to the sleeping Frodo and is almost a hobbit-like creature again, quiet and old and pitiable. And then Sam wakes up and speaks less-than-kindly too him and, without knowing it, pretty much sets Gollum's feet irretrievably on a dark path. Phooey.
Favorite Lines:
Frodo and Sam were plodding along with heavy hearts, no longer able to care greatly about their peril (p. 688).
Discussion Questions:
Sam says that all he's hoping for is "plain ordinary rest, and sleep, and waking up to a morning's work in the garden" (p. 697). Does going through something hard, or even going away on vacation for a while, make you value normal life more? Or does normal life make you value adventure more?
This is my favorite line and conversation in all of the LOTR books. I guess because there in the middle of an impossible task with no sight of a way back home, there is Sam, always looking toward the future with faith. I pray in the darkness that will come on my path that I will remember with God all things are possible and there is always hope and a path through what looks impossibly bad, and a joy that comes from following Him.
ReplyDeleteJulia, yes! Sam is such a shining example of not allowing despair to pull you down.
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