During Tuesday's meeting, our exercise focused on the choices and decisions made in Book 3, Chapters 1-5 of The Two Towers. I was given Chapter 4, "Treebeard," to look through and identify the various decisions that were made in that chapter. One choice that stood out to me in my list was Treebeard's decision to gather his fellow Ents and go to Isengard to bring an end to Saruman's destruction of the forest. As he comes to realize his decision to go to Isengard, he says: "'Curse him, root and branch! Many of those trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn; many had voices of their own that are lost for ever now.'"
Thus the motivation behind Treebeard's choice is not only his duty, as a shepherd of the forest, to protect but also to bring justice to the fallen trees, his fallen friends. It's clear to the reader how close Treebeard holds his friends to his heart since he gets heated when discussing it and even breaks his even, level-headed behavior as he grows "too hasty."
Another instance of this type of motivation is in Book 3, Chapter 1, "The Depature of Boromir." At the end of this Chapter, Gimli highlights their two choices: to attempt to follow Frodo or follow the Orcs. Aragorn makes the decision to follow the Orcs on foot to rescue Merry and Pippin, specifically stating that if he were to follow Frodo, he would "abandon the captives to torment and death" and he "cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left." This is the more physically demanding decision, as it will require traveling by foot across Rohan rather than taking the boats. This choice also diverges from the initial purpose of the Fellowship-to help Frodo get the Ring to Mordor. One could argue that loyalty to either pair of Hobbits acts a motivator for both these choices, but as Merry and Pippin are in more imminent danger, Aragorn is driven to follow them. Additionally, Legolas and Gimli raise no objection to this choice or to their choice to follow Aragorn as it is clear that they too strongly value their companions' safety.
I love that you brought up this idea of friendships being a motivator, I think it is a very important theme that Tolkien really wanted to get across. In his youth, Tolkien had a close group of friends that he relied on for support in his creative work and just in life. I think that Tolkien wants everyone to have those relationships because they are so integral to making it through the dark times. We can't go through life alone, just as Frodo couldn't take the Ring to Mordor alone, we need those rocks in our life to help us get through.
ReplyDeleteI also love that even though the Fellowship had to split up, at the end of the book they all group back together and tell their tales. That full circle idea, whole Fellowship to broken Fellowship back to whole Fellowship, is really profound because sometimes you are required to go through trials semi-alone, but you can always rely on those really strong friends to greet you with smiles on the other side.
I think that the reason you are seeing friendship as such a motivator in the story is that Tolkien made it one of the central themes to the books. I think that the most obvious friendships are the ones between Legolas and Gimli, Merry and Pippin, and Frodo and Sam. We see a lot of friendly banter and companionship between Legolas and Gimli, then stronger, closer friendship between Merry and Pippin. Frodo and Sam's is probably the most sacrificial, loving each other enough to be willing to lay down their lives for each other. It is sweet that at the conclusion of the story, the friendship between all of these characters lasts for the rest of their lives.
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