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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: Book I - Chapter 2 - The Shadow of the Past
Of course we have the first appearance of a very important name -- Mr. Underhill! What impresses me most about this chapter is the verisimilitude -- the quality of appearing to be real or true -- that JRRT is able to achieve. Almost every paragraph is fraught with a sense of vast history. The Ring takes on a sense of creepy malevolence. The way it wears on the owner’s mind, slowly but surely over the course of years. There’s this sense of implacable, patient evil. Sooner or later, the Ring will have you – even if it takes decades or centuries.
This is also the first time we start to get some solid information regarding Sauron – and oh my, you don’t want his eyes on you. I just love to imagine that scene that Gandalf describes – “And he has at last heard, I think, of hobbits and the Shire... Indeed, Frodo, I fear that he may even think that the long-unnoticed name of Baggins has become important.” You know that Frodo must be peeing in his breeches to think of Sauron turning his mind towards finding Baggins. Sauron is even more implacable than the ring, because he’s not patient. There’s nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. There’s no stopping Sauron – we’ve seen that even physical death isn’t the end of him – “Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.” In fact, the only real solution that Gandalf can see is to take the Ring towards him! JRRT has masterfully set up the ultimate underdog story. Frodo, a simple country hobbit, vs. Sauron, the most powerful evil force you can imagine. An impossible quest against overwhelming odds. We also get our first real meeting with Sam, and we hear of the Nine for the first time. This chapter is loaded.
The last thing that stands out for me is the articulation of an important theme which will become crucial later – compassion. Gandalf is able to empathize with even as twisted and lowly a creature as Gollum – “I think it is a sad story,” he says of Gollum’s history, and he even believes that Gollum may yet be cured of his wickedness. His prediction that “the pity of Bilbo [in sparing Gollum] may rule the fate of many – yours not least” is dead on.
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