[drigel]

I am glad that you posted and confirmed what I am feeling. I don't want to minimize the joy that is there in the ending. Indeed, one of the reasons I have trouble with some modern fiction is the underlying sense some authors convey that nothing has any intrinsic meaning. Instead, they point to a hollowness at the core of existence.

ty. i dont post much lately, just when the spirit moves me. i agree on current authors. No minimizing here either. It's IMO what exactly what the author felt his entire life concerning his inspiration: joy and loss of a bygone era of both a physical sencse and also man's natural state. The regret after leaving the Garden.

I am hoping that Davem will post on this thread. There have been discussions where we've debated what Frodo's fate and sacrifice actually mean. I think it's fair to say that his own view is generally not a sunny one.

Davem? Not sunny?? well, it cant always be cake for every meal, can it? How about this for davem baiting:

We stand on the shore and watch the boat recede, but we can not call it back to us or know what lies beyond.

I mentally add a picture of Frodo in Tol Eressea going on the assumption that he will find warmth and healing.

He did, because once the ship left the waters on the Straight Path, he died and went to heaven.