The chapter I ended up writing about was Treebeard.
Many choices are made throughout this chapter, including Pippin and Merry don't freak out and get scared with Treebeard which is a moment of their growth. Treebeard decides to be hospitable, and he brings them to the Entmoot. One of the most important decisions in this chapter is when the Ents begin to march, deciding to take a stand against Sarumon.
I focused on the why of the Ents acting against Sarumon and marching to Isengard (THEY'RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD). They are definitely negatively influenced by the narrative so far. The orcs randomly and cruelly cut down trees of the forest. Ents are difficult to action but they're enraged by the mutant orcs and the destruction of the land to point of even possibly moving to their deaths. I think they decided to finally act because if they didn't, without their help, the lands and forests would've been ultimately hurt more in the long run than if they formed the alliance. I also think that to Tolkien (and to me at least) they did make the right choice because indecision is worse than decision from what I can tell. From what I can tell, Tolkien believes you should take action in the world you live in or else you can't be good (for example, Tom isn't exactly portrayed as good and he is very indifferent to most of the world despite being notably powerful). I would also argue they made the right decision not only for themselves but their world and other beings in it. I personally think it's right to be considerate for those outside of yourself, and the Ents are making the right decision. However, it should still be recognized that the Ents are acting out of selflessness but out of some extent of self preservation. I think that if Sarumon has ordered the Orcs to leave the forests alone, and even maybe help it and the lands, then the Ents probably would have stayed neutral and that could have vastly changed the course of the plot.
That's all for now,
Elendil
I think you make a great point here about what Tolkien considers to be "good" it is the active resistance of evil rather than simply not doing evil. It is a mistake that people make all too often that not doing evil makes you good.
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