This is my favorite part of the Fellowship. Community is something I have been thinking about a lot lately (foreshadowing of a future blog post). I love books that feature strong friendships/relationships and this is some of the best. Aragorn's pledge to the hobbits — "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will" — is but the first inkling of the kind of people who will eventually make up the Company of the Ring. Their word is their bond in a way that is hard for the modern reader to understand. Aragorn is pledging his life to protect Frodo as Frodo is pledging his life to bear the Ring to Mount Doom. What is even sweeter is the center of the Company, its foundation, is the four hobbits' relationship. They refuse to give up on the other. They are so far from anything any other hobbit has experienced in their lifetime (excepting Bilbo, of course) and they cannot even truly comprehend the terribleness that awaits them on each leg of the journey, yet in spite of all this they are of one mind, not letting Frodo shoulder the burden without help. Love, love, love.
1. Bilbo has an interesting reaction to the Ring when he asks Frodo to see it. Why do you think this is? What does he mean when he tells Frodo to put it away, that "now he understands"?
2. What started Saruman on the path to partner with Sauron? Do you agree with him when tells Gandalf that there won't be any change in their ends (quest for Knowledge) but only in their means? Does the end justify the means?
3. Tolkien does a wonderful job of giving the members of the Company distinct personalities from the very first. How/why are they able to work together? Is there a member you would have left out? If so, who would you replace them with?
4. The hobbits are very innocent of the world at large and do not understand the full measure of danger, yet the Ring gives Frodo the ability sense, to be aware of the unseen evils all around. Which takes more courage? Facing a known evil, one you can understand, or an unknown evil, on you have not encountered or heard of but know is there?
Things are pretty grim for the Company right now. If you had the will power to not finish off the book, that is what we ware going to be doing this week — Book 2, Chapters 6-10. If you devoured it, you can get a jump on The Two Towers or use this time to catch up on the discussion questions *wink*. Hope y'all have a wonderful week!
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