[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

This is a transitional chapter. It takes place on the river that forms the border between two enemy forces, that demands a choice of goal before it ends.

It seems to me that this sense of transition is heightened by the fact that the Chapter opens and closes with a reminder that the Fellowship faces this choice:

Not that most of the Company were eager to hurry southwards: they were content that the decision, which they must make at the latest when they came to Rauros and the Tindrock Isle, still lay some days ahead; and they let the River bear them on at its own pace, having no desire to hasten towards the perils that lay beyond, whatever course they took in the end.

…

They could go no further without choice between the east-way and the west. The last stage of the Quest was before them.

So this Chapter, and the River itself, represents a kind of "limbo" in which the decision can be delayed. However, the choice must be made in the end, although not in the manner in which the Fellowship (and the reader) imagines. Ultimately, the Chapter represents a transition between the journey of the Fellowship and the separate Quests that they each pursue once it has broken.

And now, on to my current favourite subject: Boromir. There is ample evidence here that, following his experience in Lothlorien, he is suffering inner turmoil:

Merry and Pippin in the middle boat were ill at ease, for Boromir sat muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails, as if some restlessness or doubt consumed him, sometimes seizing a paddle and driving the boat close behind Aragorn's.

Classic signs of stress. And the object of his internal struggle is clear:

Then Pippin, who sat in the bow looking back, caught a queer gleam in his eye, as he peered forward gazing at Frodo.

Interesting that it is Pippin who picks up on this. Once again, he seems to have some (unconscious) connection with the presence of evil, this time the evil that the Ring is working within Boromir's heart.

Boromir's growing obsession with Frodo, and more particularly Frodo's burden, is also evident when he resolves to continue with the Fellowship to the Tindrock:

Boromir held out long against this choice; but when it became plain that Frodo would follow Aragorn, wherever he went, he gave in.

Boromir could leave the Company at this point and followed his proposed course, alone, to Minas Tirith. But he does not. Rather he chooses (or is compelled) to follow the same course as the Ringbearer. He explains his decision by asserting that it "is not the way of the Men of Minas Tirith to desert their friends at need" (and there is no doubt still some truth in this), but it is Frodo who is singled out here as Boromir's reason for continuing with the Company. Boromir makes clear that he will go no further than the Tindrock and it occurred to me to wonder whether he already has an idea that this might be the place for him to make his move, if he is to make it. In any event, his words which follow are tragically prophetic:

To the tall isle I will go, but no further.