Did Gollum deserve death?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Raynor

You are missing my point and ignoring the concept of debate, in which common sense and logic ask one to not disregard evidences when they contradict one's position.

And you're missing the point that its a book & most readers will read the book & take from it what they will, that it will mean different things to different readers & they will be affected by it in different ways. It is not holy writ which has only a single 'proper' interpretation - which seems to be your understanding. What is 'relevant' & 'irrelevant' will be different for different readers. If a reader sees Gollum as a tragic victim of circumstances, a broken soul struggling for survival & wholeness (which is, for me, what the Ring symboises for him) you cannot state they are 'wrong' - this is not a maths test where 2+2 must = 4. To be forced to interpret Gollum (or anything else in the novel) in one specific way may ruin the story for the reader. It may no longer speak to them at all. Your position seems to boil down to 'You must read & understand the book in this way or you are WRONG!!!'