In praise of Sam's Pans

[Nar]

Evenstar1:

This is the sort of thing that gives Middle Earth its class. Hobbits didn't have religion? Pish-posh! They had proper meals and proper manners, come Orodruin or high water!

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Are you saying Miss Manners was actually a Hobbit? I suspected as much! I just loved the stewed coney at the gates of Mordor (well, practically at the gates) And that detail of the treasured salt in a little wooden box! I'll bet Sam kept the salt, and it was carried out of Mordor with him when the eagles rescued them! Hobbits know how to live. Even when staring death in the face, one must have standards!

Estelyn:

Pippin is lucky - he gets his treasure back. Sam doesn't, but he gets new pans back in the Shire, I'm sure. Only Frodo loses his 'precious' forever.

Very insightful, Estelyn. I was thinking the same -- the Shire is Frodo's precious. I think that the new pans would not be the same for Sam, because it was how Sam deployed those pans that made them precious -- they were his focus for memories of normal life in a strange place with his only companion withdrawn and in pain, and therefore stood in for the Shire, as I think towards the end of the quest, Sam himself stood in for the Shire in Frodo's mind. One thing to consider: insofar as Sam summed up the Shire for Frodo, and I think he did, Frodo got it back when Sam crossed the sea.

Sharku: yep. You are correct.

Arwen:

homely comfort would bring warmth and light to the heart

Well-put! I think that's exactly how they served -- like prayer beads, when used properly they triggered a much-needed frame of mind in Sam-- as well as being useful!

Squatter of Amon Rudh:

unfailing pragmatism … common sense

Yes, that's Sam all right. I certainly think that's why he threw the pans away. I think the story was very well-served by Tolkien's ability to imagine the practical details of that journey. Aside from the moving symbolism of throwing away something of such sentimental value, and the reader's feeling that this quest business is becoming serious if Sam's throwing away his treasured pans -- the 'atmosphere of hopelessness' as you put it -- throwing the pans away contributes to the verisimilitude of the journey-- it's HARD to get to the end, that's what exhausted travellers would do.

Taure: RE: tears: me too.

Frodo:

I only hope that maybe they were found and put to good use.
I only wish I were not "in fetters" … that I … had the ability to cast away a 'precious' when someone I love is in great need.

I think I could, couldn't you? That kind of thing one can't know until it happens. It's a good thing to think about. And as to your 'good use ... '

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Tinnu and Taure ... of all the answers I expected, ranging from 'symbolism' to empathic discourse on all Sam's pans meant to him, I NEVER expected that one! You two are FUNNY!

You know there'd be one crusty orc holdout ... ''S a HELMET I tells ya! The lot o' ya's are cracked, ya's are! Be some motherless Tark's DANDRUFF in that Fellbeast-egg omlette, Ar!' Thus civilization comes to the benighted! But it'll take more than elegant dining to turn them good, I fear. Still, it's a start. --but Sam would be horrified. Still, Sam doesn't know everything; he was wrong about Smeagol, at least for a while.