The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It takes place after The Hobbit was written. In that particular book, a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins has stolen a dark and mysterious ring from a hideous creature named Gollum. Eventually, Bilbo is basically forced to pass down the dark and powerful ring to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. This is where The Fellowship of the Rings begins. The novel begins in a small village called "The Shire," unharmed by evil forces and full of rolling, lush green hills and tiny humans called "Hobbits" (Bilbo and Frodo are both hobbits). Since Frodo is unaware of the powers the ring possesses, his old friend Gandalf, who is a great and knowledgeable wizard, comes to warn him of it's evil. He tells Frodo to leave his safe and comfortable home in The Shire to avoid the wrath of the malicious forces that are after his ring. This ring holds more power than Frodo is aware of, like invisibility, the power to corrupt others, and the ability to understand other languages, which is why it is so desired. It also causes the possessor of the ring to become corrupted and evil when they possess it for too long. Frodo must travel a long and treacherous journey to Mordor to destroy the ring so it does not get into the hands of Sauron, the Dark Lord who is looming over Middle Earth, the world in which Tolkein has focused his trilogy around. If Frodo does not destroy this ring, the world will be ruled by the Dark Lord Sauron. Throughout the novel, Frodo and his other companions (which include 3 of his hobbit friends, Gandalf the wizard, an elf, a dwarf, and regular men) trek through Middle Earth to destroy the ring. But throughout their journey they come across many horrible and life-threatening dangers, like the nine Black Riders (the most terrible servants of the Dark Lord), which make their journey more dangerous and slow. The Fellowship of the Ring ends in sorrow, but it picks right back up in the next book, The Two Towers.
Discussion Questions:
1). If you were in Frodo's position, would you risk your life to travel to an evil, far away land to destroy a ring and save the Earth? Why or why not.
2). Since Gandalf knew of the evil the ring possessed, do you think it was wrong of him to make young, innocent and inexperienced Frodo trek across Middle Earth to destroy it when he could have done it himself?
9 comments:
2. I don't think it was wrong of Gandalf to let Frodo quest across Middle Earth to destroy the ring. Gandalf knew of the powers that the ring had and he also knew what it would do to him if he possessed it. He made the wise decision to not take the ring because he knew the powers of the ring combined with his own powers that he already possessed would end in a terrible manner.
1). If I were in Frodo's position, I would take the risk in order to save the earth. That would be a huge burden to carry with you knowing that so many people's lives depend on you, but I would feel that I wouldn't have a choice of whether to do it or not.
Answering the first question, i feel as though Frodo did not have a choice. It was either he attempted the mission and if failed, died, or he does not accept the mission and ends up dying like the rest of the world.
I agree with you, David. If Gandalf had taken the ring across Middle Earth, it could have eneded in great sorrow. Kaitlyn, I agree completely because if I decided not to take the ring to Mordor, the earth would be ruled by the powerful Sauron, which would end in the death of all of Frodo's loved ones in The Shire. Either way, he could die. And Tyler, you are right. Froro did not have a choice whether or not to take the ring. Like I said, he had the risk of dying either way.
For question one, it seems that Frodo didn't really have any choice because if he didn't the earth would be destroyed, so he mine as well try to destroy the ring while he can. It would be a tough decision because it would feel unfair that this responsibility was put on him through no fault of his own. I personally would take the journey to try to get rid of the ring because it was the right thing to do and I wouldn't know what would happen if I did nothing.
In my view frodo definitely did not have a choice because the ring wraiths would be after him either way so he basically had nothing to loose by going on the quest because chances were high that he was going to die either way.
I think part of the reason that Gandalf let Frodo take the ring is that he didn't want to risk himself being tainted by its evil (as with Smeagle and to a lesser extent Frodo himself). He wanted his mind to be clear so he would be able to provide reliable guidance to a person who might not have any clue what to do in a situation.
1. If i was Frodo i would probably take the quest if it meant protecting my way of life and all my friends and family.
2. Gandalf should have just called the eagles would have saved some time.
I think the only reason that Frodo takes the ring is because of his personality, I personally do not have the same personality that a Baggins such as Frodo has. I would leave it up to more important people than I, such as Gandalf
Gandlaf knew that the ring would have the least affect on Frodo because of his good-willed nature. Gandalf knew that the ring would tempt him and therefore gave it to Frodo, knowing it was in good hands
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