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Old 08-16-2002, 02:22 PM   #16
mark12_30
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Sting

All right, Kuruharan, I see your point, and I agree that formula should be avoided and would lessen the suprise quality of the eucatastrophe.

However, does that mean that one eucatastrophe must therefore not point to another? To me, the more I read the same story, the more the story layers connect together, and I see how things relate. So as I re-read through the story, I encounter more of them, especially as I learn more about relationships.

So when (for instance) Frodo dreams, again, about going over the sea, is it forbidden to be a eucatastrophe, simply because he has dreamed before? Or, do the dreams now mean far more to me-- and connect me with the distant, shining truth-- because now I know that he WILL sail?

All his mentions, references, dreams, and songs about the sea, scattered throughout the tale, now connect me to his final departure. That doesn't lessen his final departure; it deepens it. For me, anyway.

The way that I interpret "never to be counted on to recur" is, for instance, that the Ringbearers only sail once. But I don't interpret that as meaning, I'm only permitted one revelation about it. The revelations are scattered throughout the book. And the more I reread it the more of them I catch, until the big picture begins to form, the tapestry of revelation that was there all along, but I didn't have eyes to see it yet.
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