sungoddess is crown royal on ice
So I’ve officially finished reading “The Lord Of The Rings” for the tenth time.
The Scouring Of The Shire is one of my favourite chapters in the book, and was kind of sorry it wasn’t dealt with in Jackson’s film.
I liked it because, when I got to it in the reading of the novel, I was like, “Good grief, dem done fight all kind of battle, they reach home and must fight too?”
I guess the reason why I like this chapter so much, is because the dialogue is hilarious for one, and how in dealing with the ‘Sharkey’s ruffians’, you could SEE the change that had come over Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. Pippin finds his leadership, and the beginning of his authority for when he becomes “The Took”, Merry also shows the beginning of his coming into his status as a Brandybuck. Frodo, who although he never pulls his sword during the Battle of Bywater, you can see the beginning of the damage that was caused by the quest to destroy the Ring. Sam, finally starts to make headway and succeeds in wooing and marrying Rosie Cotton.
I always wonder about the people who watched the film, and said that it should have ended when Aragorn was crowned in Minas Tirith.
I always say, “That would have been so easy… too easy.”
For me, Tolkien’s extension, telling the story beyond the climax of the fighting and the destruction of the ring was necessary.
He had spent so much time building up the power of Ring over Frodo, and how in the end, at the very end, the Ring CLAIMED Frodo, it would have been too pat to just allow Frodo to go back to the Shire and live happily ever after. I don’t think it would have worked in the story.
The long time it took for the Ring to work on Frodo, rub down his resitance and to finally, at the moment of it’s greatest peril, exert such a force as to erode Frodo’s control, NEEDED to be resolved. Because although Frodo resisted long, he certainly did not last as long as Bilbo, and used the ring even less, he did ULTIMATELY give in.
And in giving in, he mourned the Ring after his passing. This is why he couldn’t find peace in the Shire when he returned. It’s a noble thing he did, but even he knew that the quest was going to claim him, and if it wasn’t for Sam and Gollum, he would have been altogether lost in every sense.
I love The Scouring of The Shire. In may ways, this chapter is the climax of the story, even though it’s very much a “wrapping it up” part of the story.
I read quite slowly this rounds. There have been other times when I read the whole story in a week or so, but this time I took my time and read very, very slowly.
I enjoyed it as always…. will probably read it for the 11th time this time next year.
Next: The Silmarillion (when I get my books from Trini.)
