Let me begin by thanking
Estelyn for taking the time to start this thread even in the midst of her computer woes! Well might you have said, "Well, I'm back" because you are as faithful as Sam, Ghosted Princess!
I have a few points to offer which differ slightly from the topic developed here. I hope I have let that topic develop before I throw some other irons in the fire. With
Fordim being absent so much from the forum, I think I am safe to offer these ideas without having Freud thrown back at me!
The first point I noticed is how this chapter parallels the chapter which began
The Two Towers, "The Departure of Boromir." In that early chapter it is Merry and Pippin who are dragged away by orcs; here it is Frodo himself. But what I find particularly interesting is how Aragorn's quandry is echoed by Sam's, not only in word but in rhetoric as well, for both heroes work through their decision by a kind of internal dialogue.
Quote:
This is a bitter end. Now the Company is all in ruin. It is I that have failed. Vain was Gandalf's trust in me. What shall I do now? Boromir has laid it on me to go to Minas Tirith, and my heart desires it; but where are the Ring and the Bearer? How shall I find them and save the Quest from disaster?
. . .
He knelt for a while, bend with weeping, still clasping Boromir's hand. . . .
"Let me think!" said Aragorn [to Gimli and Legolas now.] "And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!" He stood silent for a moment. 'I will follow the Orcs,' he said at last. "I would have guided Frodo to Mordor and gone with him to the end' but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. "
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The cairn that they could not build for Boromir is reduced to two stones for Frodo, at his head and feet. When Sam recovers from his decent into the blackness of despair and loss, he begins his self-questioning, which is more extensive than that of Aragorn, but similar.
Quote:
'What shall I do? What shall I do?' he said. 'Did I come all this way with him for nothing?' And then he remembered his own voice speaking words that at the time he did not understand himself, at the beginning of the journey: I have something to do before the end. I must see it through, sir, if you understand.'
'But what can I do? Not leave Mr. Frodo dead, unburied on the top of the mountains, and go home? Or go on? Go on?' he repeated, and for a moment doubt and fear shook him. 'Go on? Is that what I've got to do? And leave him?'. . . .
'What? Me alone, go to the Crack of Doom and all?' He quailed still, but the resolve grew. 'What? Me take the Ring from him? The Council gave it to him.'
But the answer came at once: 'And the Council gave him companion, so that the errand should not fail. And you are the last of the Company. The errand must not fail.'
"I wish I wasn't the last,' he groaned. 'I wish old Gandalf was here, or somebody. Why am I left all alone to make up my mind? I'm sure to go wrong. And it's not for me to go taking theRing, putting myself forward.'
'But you haven't put yourself forward; you've been put forward. And as for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr. Frodo wasn't, as you might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They did't choose themselves."
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And so Sam takes the Ring upon himself in order to fulfil the Quest. Of course, the chapter is not over, but the structural parallels between the future king's choice and the humble hobbit hero's are interesting, for they underscore, I think, one of the themes of LotR, that even the most humble may serve, and that all heroes have moments of deep distress where they must search for the right answer. And by the chapter's--and book's--conclusion, we know that Sam's choice was the right choice for he has saved the Ring from the clutches of the enemy, even at the terrible loss of his friend.
Or at least, we hope it is the right decision. No Hollywood cliff hanger in the old serials was more poignant than this break before the next chapter.
I am called away. My other observations must await a later post.