![]() ![]() Sam was cocksure, and deep down a little conceited but his conceit had been transformed by his devotion to Frodo. Eileen Elgar in September 1963, Tolkien writes a telling passage that cuts to the quick of this question: Campbell’s observation for me is “what is Sam’s purpose after all?” Is he simply a servant of Frodo? Is he much more than that? Some of the comments made by Tolkien are quite puzzling indeed, but then we all take multiple roads when designing a novel, and since all of the quotes I have used so far have been from when Tolkien was formulating the epic, we need to look to comments he made after the epic had been received by the public and the fan letters began pouring in. Sam seems to be central to the story, and as it plays out in his letters we see more and more evidence of how important Samwise is to the story. I think the simple ‘rustic’ love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) is absolutely essential to the study of his (the chief hero’s) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the ‘longing for Elves’, and sheer beauty (161). He acknowledges that there may be a subtext not seen by the main narrative:Ī story must be told or they’ll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are the most moving (110).Īnother telling passage at the end of a long letter to Milton Waldman in Sept. In another letter to his son on January 30th of the following year, Tolkien writes about the problem of Sam and that it is a tragedy for both he and Frodo that happens at Mount Doom. Interestingly, he saw Sam as the one in the end who is left, and of course this is how things play out after Frodo goes to the Grey Havens. Frodo will naturally become too ennobled and rarefied by the achievement of the great Quest, and will pass West with all the great figures…(105) Frodo is not so interesting, because he has to be high minded, and has (as it were) a vocation. In a letter to his son Christopher on 12/24/44 he wrote about how he thought the book would end (this is before writing the end, of course):Ĭertainly Sam is the most closely drawn character, the successor to Bilbo of the first book, the genuine hobbit. It turns out that Tolkien had much to say about old Samwise Gamgee: ![]() It occurs to me, that unless Samwise actually told everyone what happened – because you can’t imagine that Frodo told anyone what actually happened – that everyone has to assume that Sam actually destroyed the ring, or killed Gollum while Gollum had the ring, because of Frodo’s telltale missing finger. The question is this: Who would history say destroyed the ring if Samwise had told the story? To quote Mr. The question was quite good, and caused me to peruse Tolkien’s letters for the answer. Over at Noel Campbell’s blog, he has posited an interesting question about Samwise Gamgee from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |