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Fantasy » alt.fan.tolkien » Samwise the Strong
| Samwise the Strong [message #207452] |
Mi, 18 Januar 2006 21:17 |
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Hi there:
I haven't visited the groups in a long time, but I recently watched
Ringers and it made me think long about the story and what it means to
me, so I kind of wanted to share my thoughts. I hope you don't mind.
At the outset I found that I truly love this story. I would give up
reading nearly every other thing I ever read just to hold on to this
one. I love it, not in the way I love East of Eden, The Old Man and the
Sea, or The Sound and the Fury. Those I love for their richness and
quality, for the way I feel like I'm viewing a gorgeous work of art at
a museum, for the same sort of visceral reaction I have to viewing Van
Gogh, Picasso, Da Vinci, or Rodin, in which the beauty, the skill, the
craft are all overwhelming and sometimes beyond words.
Not to say it is not a work of art. Yet I love it more for the way it
makes me feel about me, about life, about people, about hope, faith,
love, friendship, and death. What many people (thought probably not
many on this ng) miss is that Tolkien, regardless of his sometimes
uneven craft, was eminently skillful at reaching into the hearts of his
readers to that deep, heroic, place inside of us where mythology lives.
He wove a story where faith, love, and friendship were the most
powerful weapons of war, and were sufficient to win the battle. He made
you feel that Middle Earth was a place, a place with history, love,
sadness, bitterness, regret, melancholy, happiness, and joy. He made it
feel real. His characters took you into your own heart and you smiled,
laughed, and wept with them as they experienced victory, friendship,
and loss. He gave you the sense that once you passed a place, you can
never go back. That death happened once, but it was not the worst that
could happen. What bittersweet joy resides at the docks of the Grey
Havens!
Most who have read and loved the story have felt these things. But I
feel most readers miss the true heart of the story. They miss why they
identify with it as they do, why it touches the ordinary, non-heroic,
everyday Joe and Jane, you and me.
I'll tell you what I think. I think it's because of who is at the heart
of the story.
I don't believe Frodo is at the heart of the story. Nor is it Gandalf,
Aragorn, Galadriel, the elves, the dwarves, or the men. No, I believe
the true heart of the story is Samwise Gamgee. It is because of
Samwise, and him representative of all the hobbits, the ordinary,
workaday hobbits, that Frodo goes on the quest. He endures so much for
the sake of those he loves, yet, in the end, he would have failed were
it not for Samwise. The quest was Frodo's, but it was ordinary Samwise
who rescued him from Shelob, and from Cirith Ungol. It was Samwise who
supported and even carried him on the path up the slopes of Mount Doom.
It was Samwise who was there all along, with Frodo, even at the end of
all things.
Samwise represents you and me. Without Samwise there is no need for a
quest, yet without him, no quest can succeed. Samwise is not the
quester, the hero of the age. Samwise is the one who labored long and
hard to give the hero the chance he needed to win the day, regardless
of the personal cost.
See this: Frodo failed. He failed. The temptation of the ring was too
much. But Samwise never did. He tarried on beyond hope. It was Samwise
who got Frodo there so Fate could do its work. And when Sam had made a
terrible mistake, he did not turn away from it, but he strode into
Cirith Ungol to undo it, knowing he would not survive, yet willing to
face his mistake and give his all to right it.
Sam chastised himself for his silly fantasies about being Samwise the
Strong. What he didn't know was that the ring wasn't trying to deceive
him by calling him Samwise the Strong, but had seen the truth in the
young hobbit's heart and tried to twist it to its own ends.
Sam truly was Samwise the Strong. Had he not been, all would have been
lost.
Yes, I love this story. I love it because I may never be a hero, but I
always hope to be Samwise to the heroes around me so that perhaps other
great works might someday be done.
Anyway, just my thoughts about it. I imagine I've got it all wrong,
but it's how I feel about it anyway. Thanks.
Looney
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| Re: Samwise the Strong [message #207490 ] |
Do, 19 Januar 2006 15:14 |
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Looney wrote:
>
> Hi there:
>
> I haven't visited the groups in a long time, but I recently watched
> Ringers and it made me think long about the story and what it means to
> me, so I kind of wanted to share my thoughts. I hope you don't mind.
No problem. Thanks for your thoughts!
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